BetaWiki:Featured article/2022-09

Mac OS X Public Beta is the original public beta for Mac OS X 10.0 released in retail by Apple on 13 September 2000. This version marks the debut Aqua UI and the Darwin operating system kernel. It is also one of the few instances where a software beta has appeared in retail stores. The Public Beta intends to allow Mac OS 9 and Mac OS X Server 1.x users to test the new operating system and develop software before the final release.

Following the failure of the Copland and Rhapsody projects, Apple created the Carbon API at the 1998 WDDC to provide backwards compatibility to running classic Mac OS applications under the existing NeXTSTEP kernel. After four developer previews sent out during Apple expo conferences, the Public Beta would release to polarized reception, owing to compatibility issues and lack of driver support compared to Mac OS 9. The Public Beta expired on 14 May 2001.