MacOS version history
The history of macOS, Apple's current Mac operating system (formerly named Mac OS X until 2011 and then OS X until 2016), began with the company's project to replace its classic Mac OS. That system, up to and including its final release Mac OS 9, was a direct descendant of the operating system Apple had used in its Mac computers since their introduction in 1984. The current macOS is a UNIX operating system built on technology that had been developed at NeXT from the 1980s until Apple purchased the company in early 1997.