Apple Plays a Rhapsody

The initial release offers OpenStep classes, Java support, and multiplatform versions.

Tom Thompson

In October 1997, Apple Computer shipped the developer release of Rhapsody, its next-generation OS, to 10,000 developers. Rhapsody will prove to be a modern OS that provides attractive features that are bound to please users. Its Mach 2.5 kernel includes memory protection, threading, and preemptive multitasking. This first release runs on Macintosh systems based on the PowerPC 604 and 604e processors. But Rhapsody isn't a one-processor pony: A version for x86 PCs shipped several weeks later. This version supports the Pentium and Pentium II processors.

Develop ers will also find goodies for them in Rhapsody. A Unix BSD4.4 shell provides ready access to scripting features, plus a set of bundled development tools. You can build applications out of a set of object-class libraries dubbed the "Yellow Box." These libraries are based on Next's OpenStep, which has powerful GUI support and has been extensively field-tested for over a decade. In fact, much of Rhapsody has its basis in work that was done at Next.

Note that Rhapsody is an OS in itself. The Yellow Box libraries are an application framework that can run under Windows NT and 95, as well as certain flavors of Unix without Rhapsody.

Rhapsody does not ignore the Java boomers. You can call the Yellow Box APIs directly from Java. On a Power Mac, Rhapsody supports Java using a Java virtual machine (VM) based on Sun Microsystems' JDK1.1.3. The Windows-based Yellow Box libraries use the Windows Java VM, so in theory you can write a Java application tha t relies on the Yellow Box APIs and count on it to run on the Mac, Windows, and Unix.

While Rhapsody sports a number of Mac user-interface elements, this first release is primarily an OpenStep port to the PowerPC. It's for those developers who wish to start work with the Yellow Box APIs. There's no Mac OS-compatibility environment present (the "Blue Box"); that comes in the next major release, which is termed "Premier." The Premier release is slated to ship in the first quarter of this year. The first widely available release of Rhapsody, which is termed "Unified," will ship about midyear.

Can Apple make these deadlines? So far, the track record looks good: The Developer release was scheduled to ship at summer's end, and despite Apple's travails last year, engineers got it out only several weeks late.

For the time being, Mac developers have to work in a foreign environment to pursue Yellow Box development. But if the Blue Box in the Premier release offers good Mac OS-application compatibilit y, the job will be much easier. Developers might face a tough decision for a while: Either face a lot of pain now to get up to speed on the Yellow Box or wait it out for the Blue Box. Another option is to use Metrowerks Latitude, which routes Mac OS API calls to low-level kernel calls. Latitude thus provides a valuable shortcut for migrating existing Mac OS program code to Rhapsody and several flavors of Unix.

With all these cross-platform out-of-Mac experiences, we can only wait and see what more surprises Rhapsody will bring.

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Where to Find

Apple Computer, Inc.

Cupertino, CA
Phone:    408-996-1010
Internet: 
http://www.apple.com/




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Rhapsody OS Architecture

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Rhapsody provides extensive Java support and a set of class libraries (the Yellow Box) that run on any platform.

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Apple Computer, Inc. in 1998

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AT A GLANCE: Apple's next-generation OS is based on Next's OpenStep and can run on x86-based PCs and Unix.

WHO SUPPORTS IT: Apple Computer and every Macintosh user.