macOS

What is macOS?

macOS (previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple"s Mac computers.

 

The entire lifecycle of macOS

The following figure shows you the visualised product life cycle of macOS. You can see all releases with the latest patch version, the long-term support characteristics (orange flag in the green circle, the periods for version provision, maintenance and support.

Figure: Release, patch and end-of-life cycle of product macOS (Apple)

 

What is the macOS release strategy?

The major versions of macOS are now released once a year and are usually maintained for three years. Apple usually provides security updates for the latest 3 versions, but this is not guaranteed and some security fixes are not available for the non-latest versions.

Facts and figures about macOS

 

 

Keywords

macOS

 

Apple

 

Operating system

 

Release

 

Version

 

Major

 

Minor

 

Patch

 

End-of-life

 

EOL

 

Support

 

End-of-support

 

EOS

 

Maintenance

 

End-of-maintenance

 

EOM

 

Security

 

Long-term support

 

LTS

 

Vulnerabilities

 

Common vulnerabilities & exposures

 

CVE

 

Security