I've just discovered this website.

https://www.infinitemac.org

It is dedicated to emulating all classic versions of Mac OS from version 1 up to 9. So every one before OSX.

And it does this in a browser. Just pick the OS you want to try and the Virtual Mac will boot up in your browser and run, complete with some software and games included. And it runs perfectly. I even tested it in Chrome in my phone and it works.

You might be asking why I'm even looking at this because of my dislike for Apple. I actually have a soft support for the older beige Macs. They were rubbish for gaming, but in that late 90s they were the best platform for design software, as well as music and video. I had to use them for 3 years at university and before that at college for things like Adobe Photoshop, Illustrator, QuarkXpress and Adobe Premiere. So it's a nice nostalgia trip.

I first testing 7 as that's the first version I used to use, and that brought back some memories. But then I was messing around with 8.6 as that's the one I started to use more from University. They have even included a copy of Adobe Photoshop 3. The first version I used and learnt. That really brought back memories. It's mad to think Photoshop 3 is knocking on 29+ years old. The software has since evolved a long way, but version 3 stands out because all of the main features are still in place and for most design work you could still easily use this old version.

Mac OS had its charms and did do some things nicely, but it was also quite a clunky OS in other regards.
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I never really spent the time getting familiar with anything Mac prior to OSX, so I found those older versions pretty hard to navigate around on the rare occasions I had to.

A lab I worked in from 2005-2010 had one piece of equipment (a camera attached to a transilluminator) connected to gel doc software running on an old mac, with a zip drive and a little thermal printer.

I suspect that thing is still knocking around somewhere - it was simple and basic and just did the job but man did i find the OS (I think it was OS9) a bit of a pain and I hated the stupid puck mouse too. The computer seemed pretty old even back in 2005 when I arrived into the lab so it could have been OS8 even - I can't remember all that much about the computer, but I can still picture where in the lab it sat.

However Mac OSX and beyond, I've always had pretty good experiences with
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Those Puck mice were stupid. Who would design something that doesn't actually fit into the palm of anyones hand? Most Mac users I knew, and the university I was at, upgraded them to the supermouse. Basically exactly the same one button mouse, but it fitted your hand.

They do the same with their keyboards for a long time. As standard even the most expensive Mac comes with the smallest keyboard you have ever seen. You have to pay a lot to upgrade to a proper sized one with a number pad.

I wouldn't be surprised if they don't go down the BMW route soon. Supply everyone with a top spec system, but you have to subscribe to unlock each feature or increased speed.
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I really never got on with OSX. Maybe it was just too different to Windows or the Amiga. It was quite different to MacOS9 too. I always hated the application dock bar at the bottom centre. Something Windows 11 has finally copied (I changed it back to the Win 10 bar on mine).

But having used Steam OS in Desktop mode a lot recently I starting to prefer Linux over Windows.
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First thing I do on any Mac I set up is move the dock to the side.
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