In the mid–1990s, Apple worked on an operating system called Copland, which was announced but never commercially released because of project management issues and feature creep. Parts of Copland were eventually included in Mac OS 7.6 and Mac OS 8, but it was so problematic as a whole that Apple nixed it before it was finished.
Michael Steil, who works to reverse engineer vintage hardware and software, was recently able to get Copland running in emulation. He modified the open-source Power Mac emulator DingusPPC, and he said it took 11 patches to get Copland up and running. He has a browser version of Copland you can try on his website, and shared the patches needed to boot Copland.
During Copland's development, Apple released three beta versions. The last beta was D11E4, which is what Steil got to work. He said Copland is "notoriously hard to run on real hardware," and wasn't previously available in emulation.
After Apple canceled Copland in August 1996, it looked outside the company for a new operating system. That led to the purchase of NeXT in 1997 and the return of Steve Jobs. NeXTSTEP, NeXT's operating system, was the precursor to Mac OS X.
Friday September 25, 2026 8:16 am PDT by Joe Rossignol
MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris has uncovered an image file from Apple for an unreleased Apple TV 4K, suggesting that a new model will finally be released soon. The image is specifically for an "Apple TV 4K (4th generation)" model.
Apple TV 4K (4th generation) image (on a gradient)
The image reveals that the Apple TV will have the same external design as the current model, with all of its...
Amazon has introduced a major discount on the 16-inch MacBook Pro with the M5 Max chip, 32-Core GPU, 36GB RAM, and 2TB SSD, now available for $3,499.00, down from $4,399.00. This is a massive $900 markdown on the high-end MacBook Pro, and it's joining a few other MacBook Pro discounts on Amazon this week.
Note: MacRumors is an affiliate partner with Amazon. When you click a link and make a...
Apple's next-generation iPad mini will feature the A20 Pro chip, a rearranged front-facing camera, and a new speaker system, leaked code reveals.
The information originates from Apple's own code (spotted by MacRumors contributor Aaron Perris) and also shows clear product images of the new iPad mini. Although images of the device only show the front, leaving any design changes of the rear or ...
Anyone remember Aaron? The extension that was meant to make os9 look like Copland while we waited? All I remember is it made the window opening animations spiral out.
Apple's first foldable iPhone, with a book-style design featuring a 5.4-inch outer display and a 7.6-inch inner display with a minimal crease down the middle.