The Finder is the default application used on the Mac OS and Mac OS X operating systems that is responsible for the overall user-management of files, disks, network volumes and the launching of other applications. As such the Finder acts like the shell on other operating systems, but using a graphical user interface, and is described in its 'About' window as The Macintosh Desktop Experience . It was introduced with the very first Macintosh computer, and also existed as part of GS/OS on the Apple II. It underwent a complete rewrite with Apple's switch to a UNIX-based OS in Mac OS X.
The Finder is the first program a user interacts with after booting a Mac (and potentially logging in), and as such it is responsible for the general look and feel of the machine. One should be careful to distinguish this from the actual GUI of the machine, which is really provided by particular services within the operating system (eg, WindowServer). The Finder is just another application, albeit the default one. It can even be closed if the user knows how, although it is difficult to replace completely. In particular, many software installers quit the Finder, substituting their own interface to manipulate the System, including Apple's own System installation programs. One could compare it to Windows Explorer in Microsoft Windows, the Tracker in BeOS, Nautilus in GNOME, and Dolphin or the file management aspect of Konqueror in KDE.
The Finder maintains a view of the file system that is rendered using the desktop metaphor - that is, the files and folders are represented as appropriate icons, volumes are displayed on the desktop, and there is a trash can (on the Dock in OS X, on the desktop in previous versions) to which files can be dragged to mark them for deletion.
Finder 1.0 to 4.1
The original Finder, used with the MFS (Macintosh File System) always included a blank folder at the root level of every disk. A new blank folder would be created whenever that folder was renamed and used. Folders could not be placed inside of folders in Finder 1.0-4.1. The folders were maintained only by Finder, and were not stored by the file system. As such, no two files could have the same name on a drive; folders were absent in application "open" dialogs (instead there would be simply a list of all files); and all folder information would be lost after rebuilding the desktop, dumping all files into the root level of the drive.
Finder also provided a "trash folder": the only way to delete a file was to first drag it to the trash folder, then empty the folder. However, the trash folder was also an illusion, and was not reflected on disk. The list of files in the trash was held only in memory. Finder therefore emptied the trash before it terminated, including before running any other application. If a crash intervened in the process, items that had been in the trash went back in their original home.
The original Finder was also the cause of much early user frustration due to slow speed of file copying, which would lead to dozens of disk-swaps on the single-drive original Macintosh, which was caused by a bug in the original Finder where if you drag the floppy disk icon somewhere else on the desktop, then pick it up and drag it to another floppy to copy it, it would result in more disk swaps than needed because the Finder forgot to free memory before copying. Though much of this problem could be attributed to the small amount of memory available on the Macintosh 128K, Apple attempted to address the issue with Finder 1.1g in May 1984.
Finder 1.xx supported System 1.0 (.97) through 1.x only.
Finder 4.x
It was Finder 4.1 in April 1985 that really improved the speed of the Finder and added new features, including the "New Folder" command and a "Shut Down" command in the new "Special" menu, which also provided access to the "MiniFinder". MiniFinder was a simplified interface that held often-used applications and documents and launched them much more quickly, which helped ameliorate the slowness of switching between applications to some extent. Finder 4.x would support System 1.x through 2.0 only.
Finder 5.x
Apple replaced the MFS with the HFS (Hierarchical File System) in September 1985, as part of Finder 5.0 which was introduced along with the Mac's first hard drive, the Hard Disk 20. Nested folders were no longer an illusion, but rather a reflection of the data organization on the disk. Finder 5.0 also added several cosmetic changes to the look of the system's icons. More importantly, Finder 5.1 officially introduced the 800K double sided disk, doubling the previously supported disk capacity. Finder 5.4 added support for file system permissions in January 1987, as part of the AppleShare release.
Finder 5.x would support System 2.1 through 4.1.
Finder Software 6.x
Early versions of the Finder would shut down whenever another program was launched, due to the single-tasking nature of the original Mac OS. The first official Macintosh unified System Software 5.x version came with Finder 6.0 and the new MultiFinder, which allowed cooperative multitasking. MultiFinder was activated with a control panel whose setting took effect with the next restart. System Software 6.0.x came with Finder 6.1.x and introduced a much-improved version of MultiFinder, among other enhancements. From System 6 forward, the Finder would always match the macro System version number, thus alleviating much of the confusion caused by often significantly different System and Finder versions.
The original Mac OS Finder featured a "universal Desktop," which showed the union of the contents of the invisible "Desktop Folder" on the root level of every mounted disk in System 7. This meant that files dragged from a disk to the Desktop did not always copy to the Mac's hard drive, and would disappear when the disk in question was later ejected.
A "Put Away" command premiered in System 6 which allowed users to drag icons from anywhere on their computer to the Desktop, use the file from the Desktop, and then scoot the file back to its original location with a single command.
Finder 6 also provided support for the industry standard 1.44MB floppy disk, almost doubling the previous 800K disk capacity. More importantly this new SuperDrive continued to provide support for the earlier single-sided MFS and 800K disks as well as supporting ProDOS and popular MS-DOS formats.
Finder 7.0 to 9.2
In 1991 Apple released System 7, a significant rewrite of their operating system. Like every other component of the OS, the Finder received a major overhaul and it was completely rewritten using the C++ programming language. MultiFinder was now always active. Finder windows were colorized, and the list view was expanded to include "disclosure triangles" which allowed the user to drill down further into the file system without opening more windows. The Finder's trash icon took on a more refined appearance, and the Color feature in System 6 (on color Macintoshes only), which allowed the user to assign a color shade to files, was extended to let users assign a label. These labels had a user-definable name and color. The Finder's new search function could also locate files based on their labels. The trash folder was at last a real folder, meaning it wasn't emptied after each restart.
Finder 7.0 unveiled an "alias" functionality which allowed files to be represented in multiple locations by simple pointer files. Starting in System 7, the Put Away command could also be used as an alternate means to unmount floppy disks and CD-ROMs. It differed from the Eject command in that it didn't leave a 'ghost icon' on the desktop. This icon was intended to facilitate copying disks on single-drive machines but the capability was seldom used with the advent of hard drives and was later removed.Though the Macintosh System itself would undergo major changes in the intervening years, the Finder remained relatively unchanged until the release of Mac OS 8 in 1997.
Finder 8.x
Finder 8.0 was the first version to be multithreaded. For the first time copying a file or emptying the trash did not block other uses of the Finder. Like the rest of the system, Finder 8.0 took on a metallic platinum appearance. It also featured several new features, including Pop Up windows, which appeared as tabs on the bottom of the Mac's screen until clicked on, at which point they displayed their contents. Spring-loaded folders were also introduced in Finder 8.0, which allowed a user to drag and drop files deep into the system's folder hierarchy with a simple drill-down mechanism.
Finder 8.1 , released in early 1998, introduced support for the more efficient HFS+ file system.
Finder 9.x
Finder 9 , released in October 1999, introduced support for Multiple Users, Software Update, and the Classic Support Mode. Other features of Finder 9 were large (>2GB) file support, Encryption, Keychains, USB Printer Sharing, and CD Burning in 9.1. Finder 9 was the last major update to the classic Mac OS Finder. Apple stopped work on Mac OS 9, including the Finder, in December 2001 with Mac OS 9.2.
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