Editing Rhapsody (operating system) (section)

== Background ==

=== Naming ===
Rhapsody follows Apple's pattern through the 1990s of music-related [[codename]]s for operating system releases (see [[Rhapsody (music)|''Rhapsody'' (music)]]). Apple had canceled its previous next-generation operating system strategy of [[Copland (operating system)|Copland]] (named for American composer, [[Aaron Copland]]) and its pre-announced successor Gershwin (named for [[George Gershwin]], composer of ''[[Rhapsody in Blue]]'').{{Sfn|Singh|2006|p=24}} Other musical code names include Harmony ([[System 7 (Macintosh)|Mac OS 7.6]]), Tempo ([[Mac OS 8]]), Allegro ([[Mac OS 8#Mac OS 8.5|Mac OS 8.5]]), and Sonata ([[Mac OS 9]]).

=== Previous attempts to develop a successor to the Classic Mac OS ===
{{See also|macOS version history#Development}}
In the mid-1990s, [[Classic Mac OS|Mac OS]] was falling behind Windows.{{Sfn|Schlender|Tetzeli|2015|pp=190-197}} In 1993, Microsoft had introduced the next-generation [[Windows NT]], which was a processor-independent, [[multiprocessing]] and [[multi-user]] operating system.<ref>{{Citation |last=Cutler |first=Dave |title=Microsoft Windows Internals |url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780735619173 |year=2005 |editor1-last=Russinovich |editor1-first=Mark |contribution=Preface |edition=fourth |publisher=Microsoft Press |isbn=0-7356-1917-4 |author-link=Dave Cutler |editor2-last=Solomon |editor2-first=David A |editor1-link=Mark Russinovich |editor2-link=David A. Solomon |url-access=registration}}.</ref> At the time, Mac OS was still a single-user OS, and had gained a reputation for being unstable. Apple made several attempts to develop modern replacements for Mac OS, which all failed, harming public confidence in the company, while [[Macintosh]] sales continued to decline. Apple's most promising next-generation operating system, [[Copland (operating system)|Copland]], was mismanaged and had to be abandoned in 1996. In response, Apple CEO [[Gil Amelio]] decided to acquire or license an already-built operating system from another company. Apple's executive team considered [[BeOS]], NeXT's [[NeXTSTEP]], Sun Microsystems' [[Oracle Solaris|Solaris]], and Windows NT, and eventually acquired [[NeXT]] in December 1996.{{Sfn|Schlender|Tetzeli|2015|pp=190-197}}