These are NOT beta releases of any sort. It's Apple's "official" method of unifying release numbering, which itself is flawed and has caused untold confusion since it went into effect. This article has a detailed history and analysis of it:
http://homepage.mac.com/chinesemac/earlymacs/ Scott you are correct the .85 is the oldest you'll see. And we probably wouldn't have that peek into the development of the Mac if . 97 had worked with the Guided Tour program. In fact .97 was such a last minute change that the first edition of the Macintosh Manual depicts the .85 Finder attributes, such as the Twiggy disk Mac Icon and the method .85 used for copying disks, which essentially had one dragging files into the "unknown disk" icon permanently present on the desktop, before inserting the new disk. FYI, Elliott, if the disk icon doesn't show up on the desktop it is due to corruption from interacting with a later system. Rebuilding the desktop will restore it in some cases. New folders in the first versions are created by simply renaming the one on the desktop – a new "untitled" one miraculously appears to take its place. On Dec 18, 1:30 pm, Scott Holder <[email protected]> wrote: > There's a possible explanation of the problem with the icon > here:http://www.nd.edu/~jvanderk/sysone/. The main issue is I can't seem to > get the icon to move to the side at all to offset it. If I had to guess > otherwise, it might be data corruption or some other problem. I've been > meaning to open it up with Resedit to deep dive it but I haven't had a > chance. > > The other reason I don't think it's a beta has to do with the icons and > such that go along with the "System 0.85" on the 128k Guided Tour disk. > They're all somewhat older than the ones on both the 0.0 and 0.1 > designs. It doesn't make sense to me that they'd make betas with the > release design and icons, as well as the "Unknown Disk" thing missing, > change the icons to the Guided Tour, and then put it all back for the > later one. Also, the Finder on the Guided Tour has an earlier date, > despite being the same version. > > The one kind of curious thing is that the Guided Tour Finder 1.0 has a > mountain scene, which is missing from the 1.0 Finder in the 0.0, which > is back in a different form for the 1.1g. If I had to guess, they may > have removed it for the initial release and then got permission to put > it back in, or some such. > > I'd say the System 0.85 is probably the closest to Beta we'll have > unless someone digs up the really early stuff from the Developer's CD. > > I actually made an interesting discovery. Years ago I was given a copy > of an archive from a site "Vieuxmac" that had a bunch of vintage Mac > software. I was sifting through it the other day and found the same > System images, labelled just as Christian described them. But, inside of > them the filenames were very clearly giving the System/Finder versions > that went along with it. Also, much of the software is French, which > leads me to believe that Christian's source probably got it from the > Vieuxmac archive as well. > > Scott > > > > Elliott Price wrote: > > Seriously, I have a hard time believing that... There's no way to > > create a new folder, the dates are in french... the disk icon never > > shows up, it can't read other files off floppies... How did people > > actually use that? > > > -Elliott Price > > Mac Computer Repair - Santa Barbara > > Graphic Design - Artwork Setup > > Websites - Low Cost Custom Websites > > > On Dec 18, 2009, at 9:59 AM, Scott Holder wrote: > > >> he one labelled > >> "0.0" is the original release from the 128k Macintosh (Finder 1.0/ > >> System > >> 0.97) -- ----- You received this message because you are a member of the Vintage Macs group. The list FAQ is at http://lowendmac.com/lists/vintagemacs.shtml and our netiquette guide is at http://www.lowendmac.com/lists/netiquette.shtml To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To leave this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/vintage-macs Support for older Macs: http://lowendmac.com/services/
