Games - System 7

Features

• Built-in co-operative multitasking. In System 6, this function was optional through the MultiFinder
  .
• Trash was now a formal directory, allowing items to be preserved between reboots instead of being purged.

• Personal File Sharing. Along with various UI improvements for AppleTalk
  setup, System 7 also included a basic file sharing server allowing any machine to publish folders to the AppleTalk
  network.
• Aliases. An alias
  is a small file that represents another object in the file system. A typical alias is small, between 1 and 5 KB. It acts as a redirect to any object in the file system, such as a document, an application, a folder, a hard disk, a network share or removable medium or a printer. When double-clicked, the computer will act the same way as if the original file had been double-clicked. Likewise, choosing an alias file from within an "Open" dialog box would open the original file. (Unlike the path-base approach of Microsoft Windows
  95
  , aliases also store a reference to the file's catalog entry, so they continue work even if the file is moved or renamed. Aliases can be best described as a cross between a hard link and a symbolic link on Unix-based systems, including Mac OS X
  .)
• "System Extension
  s" (small pieces of code that extended the system's functionality) were improved by relocating them to their own subfolder (rather than in the System Folder
  itself as on earlier versions), and by allowing the user to hold down the shift key during bootup to disable them. Later versions of System 7 offered a feature called "Extensions Manager" which simplified the process of enabling/disabling individual extensions. Extensions were often a source of instability and these changes made them more manageable and assisted trouble-shooting.
• The Control Panel Desk Accessory
  became the Control Panels folder (found in the System Folder, and accessible to the user from an alias in the Apple menu). The control panels themselves became separate files, stored within this directory.
• The Apple menu (previously home only to Desk Accessories pulled from 'DRVR' resources in the System file) now listed the contents of a folder ("Apple Menu Items"), including aliases. Desk Accessories had originally been intended to provide a form of multitasking and were no longer necessary now that real multitasking was always enabled. The Desk Accessory technology was deprecated, with System 7 treating them largely the same as other applications. Desk Accessories now run in their own address space rather than borrowing that of a host application.
• The Application menu, a list of running applications formerly at the bottom of the Apple menu under MultiFinder, became its own menu on the right. In addition, Unhide/Hide functionality was introduced, allowing the user to hide applications from view while still keeping them running.
• Balloon Help, a widget-identification system similar to tool tips.
• AppleScript
  , a scripting language for automating tasks. While fairly complex for application programmers to implement support for it, this feature was powerful and popular with users, and a version of it is still available to this day as part of Mac OS X
  .
• AppleEvents. Supporting AppleScript was a new model for "high-level" events to be sent into applications, along with support to allow this to take place over the AppleTalk
  network.
• 32-bit QuickDraw
  , supporting so-called "true color" imaging was included as standard; it was previously available as a system extension. QuickDraw was used in Mac OS
  for fast on-screen drawing.
• Publish and Subscribe
  . This feature permitted data "published" by one application to be imported ("subscribed") by another, and the data could be updated dynamically. Programmers complained that the API was unwieldy, and relatively few applications ended up adopting it.
• TrueType fonts were integrated into the operating system. TrueType was also available as an INIT for System 6.0.7, but including it in System 7 essentially guaranteed widespread availability of the technology.
• A new full-color user interface. Although this feature made for a visually appealing interface, it was optional. On machines not capable of displaying color, or those with their display preferences set to monochrome, the interface defaulted back to the black-and-white of previous versions. Only some widgets were colorized — scrollbars, for instance, had a new look, but buttons remained in black-and-white.
• A new Sound Manager API, version 3.0, replaced the older ad hoc APIs. The new APIs featured significantly improved hardware abstraction, as well as higher-quality playback. Although technically not a new feature for System 7 (these features were available for System 6.0.7), Sound Manager 3.0 was the first widespread implementation of this technology to make it to most Mac users.
• System 7 paved the way for a full 32-bit address space, from the previous 24-bit address space. This process involved making all of the routines in OS code use the full 32-bits of a pointer as an address — prior systems used the upper bits as flags. This change was known as being "32-bit clean". While System 7 itself was 32-bit clean, many existing machines and thousands of applications were not, so it was some time before the process was completed. To ease the transition, the "Memory" control panel contained a switch to disable this feature, allowing for compatibility with older applications.

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