what is mac os x?

This document attempts to give an answer to the question "What is Mac OS X?". My original motivation in writing this was that somebody had proxy-volunteered me to give a talk introducing Mac OS X to the Linux Users Group at my work place. While thinking over what to say to those folks, most (if not all) of whom are strangers to Mac OS X, I decided to write a supplementary document that they could refer to at their leisure.

Since I moved to Mac OS X, I have had a few discussions with people who are curious about Apple and Mac OS X, but have not used the platform. Often, what they think is a somewhat distorted, perhaps even incorrect version of the "truth": there are many areas in which they think the Mac is worse or better than it really is. Consider (with colloquialisms preserved):

• Macs are good only for graphics/media work.
• Macs suck for hackers.
• There is very little software for the Mac.
• Macs are overpriced/not worth the price.
• Mac OS X is Unix.
• Mac OS X is not Unix.
• Mac OS X rocks. Linux is crap.
• Mac OS X is crap. Linux rocks.