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196:. As the successive Macintosh hardware models were released with much more RAM being the key feature, new programming techniques were developed as workarounds to allow users to run concurrent applications. Desk Accessories became a staple through the lifespan of System 6; and the Switcher would give way to the MultiFinder, which then became directly integrated into System 7.
338:. Its file manager is unusual due to its lack of a scrollbar, instead requiring to hold and drag the window background like a modern map app. One of its most interesting features is the first known implementation of wallpapers on the Macintosh, allowing users to replace the default grey background with
342:
or
ThunderScan images. In comparison to Switcher, Servant allows users to open apps as they see fit instead of requiring you to select which apps you want to run first, then launching them inside Switcher. Switcher also has a primitive ability to recover from application crashes as well as force quit
357:
MultiFinder, known before its release as "Juggler", was introduced on August 11, 1987. It is simply a way for windows from different applications to coexist by using a cooperative application layering model. Its initial release is able to handle only two concurrent applications, one of which runs in
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is severely restricted. They can only draw a single window, which by default is given a special round-bordered appearance. Although the system software does little to specifically support them, the popularity of Desk
Accessories led many application developers to ensure good cooperative multitasking
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tested the four mainstream desktop multitasking options: DESQView, OS/2 1.2, Windows 3.0, and System 6 with MultiFinder. MultiFinder was viewed overall positively for speed, ease of use, and value. Its presence halved the speed of file transfer and printing compared to the single-tasking System 6
313:
was merely an alias and that the program was actually from someone that worked at Apple and had significant knowledge on the
Macintosh's inner workings. The app itself adds a second apple menu on the right side of the menu bar which displays all currently running application and allows switching
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that were already documented. MultiFinder also provides a way for applications to supply their memory requirements ahead of time, so that MultiFinder can allocate a chunk of RAM to each according to need. This scheme, while functional, has severe limitations which cause many problems for users.
401:. However, the integration into the OS does nothing to fix MultiFinder's inherent idiosyncrasies and disadvantages. These problems were not overcome in the mainstream Macintosh operating system until the MultiFinder model was abandoned with the move to a modern
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Multi-Mac is another application switching utility designed specifically for the
Macintosh 512K, though it is more known for its mysteriousness. Showing up sometime in late 1985, after the introduction of Switcher, and being credited as being made by
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without MultiFinder, but this was still comparable to
Windows and DesqView and much faster than OS/2. These tradeoffs were seen as typical of contemporary add-on multitaskers compared to the natively architected but less friendly OS/2.
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stuck applications that are no longer responding. The result is a user experience more intuitive than
Switcher. While Servant's resource editing features are not as full featured as ResEdit, it does allow editing file icons.
251:
Switcher works by designating a number of fixed slots in memory into which applications could be loaded. The user can then switch between these applications by clicking a small button on the top of the
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the background; and later releases allow many more concurrent applications. When an application is activated, all of its windows are brought forward as a single layer. This approach is necessary for
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scheme, and applications need no special programming to work with
Switcher. This early work on Switcher led to the development of MultiFinder by Apple system software engineers Erich Ringewald and
330:
Servant was another attempt by Andy
Hertzfeld at multitasking on the Macintosh, intended to solve Switcher's shortcomings. Released in September 1986, it was effectively a Finder, Switcher and
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reported that "many
Macintosh owners are comfortable only when using more than one application at a time. Switcher and desk accessories are the two most common examples of that philosophy".
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and Apple wanted to purchase the utility. Hertzfeld chose the latter because of his belief that
Switcher should be bundled with the Macintosh system. Apple offered more money (
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multitasking operating system to market, and said the System with MultiFinder "isn't a true multitasking operating system, though it's much more than a context switcher".
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256:. The current application horizontally slides out of view, and the next one slides in. Though awkward, this approach does fit well with the existing system's
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Later in 1987, System 6 engineer Erich Ringewald's desire to solve these architectural problems altogether would bring him to defiantly cofound and lead the
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conservation. In fact, they are device drivers which take advantage of the multitasking system designed for hardware peripheral support. As such, their
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between them. It also allows adjusting the applications' memory allocation size, disk cache and adds background multi-threaded copying similar to
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Virtual memory was only available to contemporary Macs with a PMMU chip (Mac II-class machines required) and an extension named Virtual from
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Microsoft saw Switcher as especially benefiting the company's highly memory-optimized Macintosh applications so the utility was shipped with
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on an IBM PC in October 1984. By the end of the year he had a working prototype, and he soon demonstrated it in public. Both
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To allow some degree of freedom and to deliver the GUI's promise of interface consistency, the original Macintosh includes
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of several applications at once – a great improvement over the previous Macintosh systems, which can only run one
72:
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208:, such as a calculator, that can be run concurrently. However, their functionality is deliberately limited in favor of
309:, it makes over 200 direct calls to undocumented addresses in the Macintosh ROMs. This led to the accusations that
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was so limited that they must abandon the application multitasking functionality that Apple had developed for the
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The first Macintosh was released in 1984, and Apple's developers made an early decision that the machine's 128
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said that Switcher used too much of the system's precious little RAM and was not reliable enough.
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271:. Microsoft stated that using multiple applications with Switcher was preferable to a single
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How I Hacked a 90's Mac Kernel: CPU Doubler, a QL-like Task Scheduler/Task Manager - YouTube
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in the classic Mac OS, though they were unable to solve its other issues, like the lack of
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project as the intended future of a new MacOS, and then become chief software architect at
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228:, one of Apple's original Macintosh software architects, wrote Switcher after seeing
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412:. Two utilities, CPU Doubler and Peek-A-Boo, did implement a form of priority based
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786:. Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley Publishing Company. 1992. pp. 3–5.
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plus royalties) and the company planned to ship Switcher with the
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in 1989 said that "while MultiFinder doesn't work very well yet,
248:. The first official version of Switcher appeared in April 1985.
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Multitasking and the Mysterious Multimac - Stories of Early Mac
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809:"Pink: Apple's First Stab at a Modern Operating System"
163:, MultiFinder became a standard integrated part of the
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60:. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed.
147:, introduced on August 11, 1987 and included with
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454:on a big 80386 machine certainly does". In 1990,
1333:Classic Mac OS-only software made by Apple Inc.
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8:
517:"Mac GUI :: Switching Mac Applications"
1338:Macintosh operating systems user interface
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908:
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504:Macintosh: System Software Version History
167:and remained so until the introduction of
840:. Vol. 3, no. 8. March 25, 1998
649:"The new seekers: Hypertext comes of age"
120:Learn how and when to remove this message
27:Multitasking extension for Classic Mac OS
590:"PCs, Peripherals, Programs, and People"
480:"Mac GUI :: MultiFinder Announced"
468:
7:
58:adding citations to reliable sources
588:Pournelle, Jerry (September 1985).
234:terminate-and-stay-resident program
217:support even from the early days.
25:
772:. September 24, 1990. p. 83.
428:Upon MultiFinder's 1987 release,
657:. November 24, 1987. p. 109
564:"Mac GUI :: Switcher hints"
34:
1100:Macintosh Programmer's Workshop
334:combined into one tool for the
45:needs additional citations for
807:Hormby, Tom (April 27, 2014).
159:at a time. With the advent of
1:
676:Multi-Mac - Macintosh Servant
622:Compute!'s Apple Applications
766:"Orchestrating applications"
720:Switcher - Macintosh Servant
859:Inspecting Gadget - TidBITS
731:ResEdit - Macintosh Servant
698:Servant - Macintosh Servant
362:with many of the windowing
322:'s improved copy function.
18:Switcher (computer program)
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709:Finder - Macintosh Servant
624:. December 1987. p. 6
350:
1221:Multiprocessing Services
1181:Hierarchical File System
784:Inside Macintosh: Memory
353:Mac OS memory management
153:cooperative multitasking
618:"Information On A Card"
403:preemptive multitasking
360:backward compatibility
1343:Discontinued software
1201:Macintosh File System
432:noted it for beating
284:'s Apple Applications
389:With the release of
305:with a copyright by
54:improve this article
1019:Graphing Calculator
273:integrated software
214:running environment
1126:Appearance Manager
1069:System Information
950:System 2, 3, and 4
311:Jwa van der Vuurst
303:Jwa van der Vuurst
1320:
1319:
1297:Memory management
1206:Macintosh Toolbox
749:. September 1987.
544:Hertzfeld, Andy.
275:application like
258:memory management
149:System Software 5
130:
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122:
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16:(Redirected from
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1290:Related articles
1261:Startup sequence
1039:QuickTime Player
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884:(January 1989).
882:Pournelle, Jerry
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892:. p. 109.
886:"To the Stars"
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743:"Mac Bulletin"
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336:Macintosh Plus
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307:Aubrac Systems
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277:Lotus Symphony
246:Macintosh 512K
226:Andy Hertzfeld
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145:classic Mac OS
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71: –
70:
69:"MultiFinder"
66:
65:Find sources:
59:
55:
49:
48:
43:This article
41:
37:
32:
31:
19:
1256:Sosumi sound
1215:
1166:Creator code
1141:Balloon help
989:Applications
889:
876:
865:
854:
842:. Retrieved
837:
828:
816:. Retrieved
812:
802:
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693:
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659:. Retrieved
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626:. Retrieved
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600:. Retrieved
593:
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571:. Retrieved
567:
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550:Folklore.org
549:
526:February 15,
524:. Retrieved
520:
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487:. Retrieved
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329:
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306:
302:
299:
287:
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266:
262:Phil Goldman
250:
230:John Markoff
224:
203:
183:
132:
131:
116:
110:October 2021
107:
97:
90:
83:
76:
64:
52:Please help
47:verification
44:
1281:WorldScript
1216:MultiFinder
1005:Drive Setup
844:February 1,
818:February 1,
813:Low End Mac
654:PC Magazine
430:PC Magazine
347:MultiFinder
289:PC Magazine
279:. By 1987,
242:US$ 100,000
157:application
133:MultiFinder
1327:Categories
1176:Extensions
1146:Bomb error
1131:Apple menu
1114:Technology
1074:SimpleText
1009:DVD Player
996:Calculator
628:August 18,
573:October 9,
568:macgui.com
546:"Switcher"
521:macgui.com
489:October 9,
484:macgui.com
463:References
382:to design
351:See also:
180:Background
151:. It adds
80:newspapers
1276:Type code
1246:QuickTime
1241:QuickDraw
1090:HyperCard
1083:Developer
1049:Scrapbook
1034:PowerTalk
770:InfoWorld
602:March 20,
456:InfoWorld
424:Reception
386:in 1990.
369:Connectix
296:Multi-Mac
238:Microsoft
137:extension
1312:Software
1211:Managers
1191:Keychain
1186:HFS Plus
1064:Stickies
1054:Sherlock
980:Mac OS 9
975:Mac OS 8
969:Mac OS 7
965:System 7
960:System 6
955:System 5
945:System 1
938:Versions
747:MacWorld
661:March 8,
452:DESQView
410:Mac OS X
399:Mac OS 9
395:Mac OS 8
391:System 7
340:MacPaint
320:Mac OS 8
282:Compute!
254:menu bar
221:Switcher
169:Mac OS X
161:System 7
139:for the
1136:At Ease
1105:ResEdit
1095:MacsBug
1001:Chooser
506:, Apple
380:Be Inc.
332:ResEdit
326:Servant
175:History
94:scholar
1231:OSType
1196:Labels
1171:Dogcow
1014:Finder
790:
232:use a
135:is an
96:
89:
82:
75:
67:
1121:Alias
269:Excel
101:JSTOR
87:books
1236:PICT
890:BYTE
846:2019
820:2019
788:ISBN
663:2019
630:2014
604:2016
595:Byte
575:2017
528:2019
491:2017
447:Byte
438:OS/2
406:Unix
397:and
384:BeOS
376:Pink
318:and
194:Lisa
73:news
444:of
434:IBM
210:RAM
190:RAM
188:of
143:'s
56:by
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916:t
909:v
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