Late last week, Apple seeded Final Candidate 2 (f2) of Mac OS 9.1 to developers. Code-named Fortissimo, Mac OS 9.1 is a collection of bug fixes and primarily minor feature improvements to Mac OS 9. Fortissimo is also expected to be the last update of any significance to come out of Cupertino for what is now known as the "classic" Mac OS.
On the surface, a handful of changes distinguish Fortissimo from Mac OS 9. Immediately noticeable is the new Window menu in the Finder. Located between the View and Special menus, the Window menu gives users quick access to all open windows, although there is no way to cycle between open windows with the keyboard. Apple has, however, finally added keyboard shortcuts for the View Options and Empty Trash commands.
Other smaller changes include the removal of the Internet folder; its contents having been moved to the Applications folder, which now carries a (Mac OS 9) suffix. The Utilities folder has also been moved to the Applications (Mac OS 9) folder; a new icon graces the Documents folder.
Control panels remain largely unchanged under Mac OS 9.1. Three appearance themes for Apple's new iMacs are included (Indigo, Ruby, and Sage Foam), but sources report that Apple has scrapped any plans to release an Aqua-like theme for Mac OS 9, as previously noted. The General Controls and Mouse control panels receive updated looks, with General Controls 8.0 also representing the first rewrite of the control panel in several years, adding PowerPC nativity and support for Multiple Users.
Additionally, a new Startup Disk control panel allows you to specify which System Folder you would like to boot from if more than one is installed on a drive, as well as displaying the Mac OS version. This can also be used to select Mac OS X, although Mac OS 9.1 is not compatible with Mac OS X Public Beta, so no Classic environment will be available under Public Beta if Mac OS 9.1 is installed.
Apple has also removed the Network control panel from Fortissimo, which, as noted in an earlier report, was to consolidate AppleTalk, TCP/IP, Modem, Dial Assist, and Remote Access in one.
OpenGL 1.2 finally arrives after months of development, bringing with it the usual performance enhancements. Apple's security can also now take advantage of 128-bit encryption.
USB Printer Share 1.0, which enables users to share a USB printer connected to their Mac over a network, is installed by default under Mac OS 9.1, while USB Support 1.4.6 improves USB support and performance while enabling the four new keys (volume up/down, mute, and eject) found on Apple's Pro Keyboard on older Macs.
Sherlock 2 gains a new Entertainment channel under Mac OS 9.1, and also adds a small animation to the search button when a search is being performed.
Sources indicated that Mac OS 9.1 should perform on par with its predecessor, although some changes, such as a native processor manager, may give a slight performance increase to some tasks.
Fortissimo is being distributed to developers as a 300 MB image in nearly 30 parts, although a free, downloadable update is expected to be available when the software is finalized, with current indications pointing to a release date some time in November or early December.
As a side note, sources report that a good number of the Mac OS 9/9.1 development team have already been moved to Mac OS X development.
