Comment by pjmlp
3 days ago
It used to be, Tahoe is generations away from NeXTSTEP.
NeXTSTEP drivers were written in Objective-C, originally OS X used C++ subset based on COM (IO Kit), now moved into userspace and called Driver Kit, in homage to the NeXTSTEP DriverKit name.
NeXTSTEP was focused on OpenGL and Renderman, OS X used OpenGL, macOS is now using Metal.
NeXTSTEP drivers were on kernel space, now everything is moving into userspace.
NeXTSTEP used Display Postscript, OS X moved into PDF subset, nowadays that is only part of the rendering stack.
NeXTSTEP had a X Windows Server as well, on macOS that is now gone.
macOS Finder is nothing like the NeXTSTEP file application.
NeXTSTEP supported a concept similar to OLE, it is nowhere to be seen on macOS.
Is macOS in any recognizable way still a micro-kernal operating system or did that get removed as well?
OS X was never a proper micro-kernel, rather an hybrid one like Windows NT, using still a micro-kernel like approach but with subsystems on the same process space.
https://fahrplan.events.ccc.de/congress/2007/Fahrplan/attach...
https://www.amazon.de/-/en/Mac-OS-Internals-Approach-paperba...
If anything it is going more into that direction, after Apple announced removing all kernel extensions, and having userspace counterparts to them.
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/SystemExtensions
https://developer.apple.com/documentation/systemextensions/i...
Usually it takes one OS version between introducing new userspace APIs, and removing the old way on the following version.
Apple removed third-party kernel extensions (and even so only removed the ability to install them without going into recovery and changing a scary box). There are still lots of .kext files in the /System folder for hardware drivers.
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I don't know if it shares ancestry with the NextStep X server, but the one that used to be bundled with OS X (Xquartz) is still availsble for download (even on Tahoe) and I for one still keep it installed as I run various X11 based programs on my Macs.