OS X is Apple's biggest release since the iMac. Some upgraders might (possibly) say goodbye to Mac OS 9.1 with tears in their eyes, but we suspect that Mac OS X will replace it in their affections rather quickly.

Although the OS is in its infancy, planned updates and work by key application vendors such as Adobe, Macromedia and Microsoft should allow OS X to become a serious operating system in no time at all. It's worth noting that OS X will run quite well on most compatible Macs. We ran it very successfully on an old beige G3 machine with 160MB of RAM. Therefore the move to Mac OS X probably won't involve a hardware upgrade for most Mac owners.

Based on a BSD UNIX system, OS X represents a radical departure for Apple and provides much needed credentials of stability. The fact that it is POSIX-compliant also means that many UNIX applications can be ported to the Mac, which should mean that third party application development is more varied and rapid than was the case with OS 9.

Apple has taken a sensible approach to the UNIX origins of the new OS. Rather than altogether ditching the underlying command prompt, it has chosen to keep it available, which may in the long term tempt some UNIX/Linux users to the Apple platform. Apple will in time support not only the favoured Apache web server and various other server-oriented products, but also the tools of the designer such as Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash, and it is for this reason that we expect it will become the OS of choice for multimedia and web content developers.

Not a company to pass over the marketing potential of the UNIX origins of the OS, Apple has names for all the key elements of OS X. The UNIX element is called Darwin (we suppose the reference to evolution is an acknowledgement of the length of time it's taken Apple to release this OS...). The trendy and very flash user interface is dubbed 'Aqua', and features a number of interface features that we expect will be copied by the competition before long, such as scalable icons rather than the usual fixed sizes.

You might be able to tell that Mac OS X gets us excited. Expect bugs to be found early and ironed out quickly, and key applications such as Adobe Photoshop to be available by late summer. Before long, this OS will be pre-installed on new Macs, and we expect it will be well received.