The Mac OS X Unix-based operating system was built using technologies developed at NeXT between the late 1980's and the purchase of the company by Apple in 1996. Since the sixth version of the software, called Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard, all Mac OS X versions come with UNIX03 certification while running on Intel processors.
The first version of the Mac OS X is the Mac OS X Server 1.0 which was released in 1999. A desktop-intended version arrived on March 24, 2001, and was called Mac OS X 10.0 "Cheetah". You might have noticed that all Mac OS X releases are named after big cats. For example, the Mac OS X 10.6 is referred to by Apple and users as "Snow Leopard". The server version the software, Mac OS X Server, is identical (from the architectural point of view) with the desktop version of the same release. It contains tools that makes life easier for users and helps them access network connections and also access management data regarding Mac OS X computer work groups. Such tools are the Samba server, the domain name server, the LDAP server and the mail transfer agent.
Although it can run on almost any current Apple computer model, it is pre-loaded on the Xserve server hardware. Apple also makes available special Mac OS X version for its consumer devices. The iOS operating system, which runs Apple's iPhone internet and multimedia enabled smartphone, the iPod portable media player and the Apple iPad tablet computer is based on the Mac OS X. The second generation Apple TV also runs the iOS, as the first generation used an unnamed version of the Mac OS X.
The standard hardware specification that were compatible with Apple's operating system listed the full line of Machintosh based computer systems (desktop computers, laptop computers and servers). Newer versions of the software do no support hardware that old. For example, the Max OS X" Panther" does not support "beige" G3 computers, and the Mac OS X "Tiger" does not support any hardware piece existent before the introduction of the FireWire ports into the Machintosh computers (the ports themselves are an incompatible requirement).