DP2 is pre-Aqua, so it stil has a strange NeXT/OS 9 look and feel. Resizing windows and general use is slower than the final versions of OS X.

Mac OS X Developer Preview 2 is a weird mix of OS 9, OpenStep and what we would call OS 10.

After installing, the Setup Assistant will guide you through a very basic setup process.

That's probably the worst looking map Apple has ever used.

Choosing to request an IP automatically at startup will enable BootP via a NetInfo server. DHCP is not supported in this version of Mac OS.

When you're done with the setup, you need to restart unlike previous versions of Mac OS.

I think Classic under DP2 was much cooler than the one that made it into the final versions. Unlike a newer version - such as 10.3 - Classic is much more than just a menu change when running a Classic application. Under DP2 loading Classic will let you switch into a full working copy of OS 9.0 where you can mess around opening windows, transfering files or anything else. Notice how the Finder is using all of the 384MB of installed RAM? Because the Classic environment is slapped onto a UNIX-ish subsystem, it uses a totaly new memory and swap system that totally messes with the math 9 uses in that window it seems.

One of the only ways you can tell you're in DP2's Classic mode is the 'Mac OS X' menu item that will switch you back to OS X. Shutting down or logging out will do the same thing.

Mac OS X Server 1.2 lets you tear-off almost every menu, however, in DP2 it will only work on a few of them. I don't really see much of a use for this seeing as you can add keyboard shortcuts to any menu item (at least in the Finder) using the Apple Menu Options application (see next photo.)

This is really cool, you have full control over menus under DP2, you can rename them, bind them to keys or add seperators.

These options are mostly to change between classic Mac OS behavior and NeXT-style behavior. Mac OS Preferences as a whole is very NeXT-like in design.

This lets you customize some of the more advanced parts of the login window. Take a look at the Mouse icon - how many mice on Macs have you seen like that?

The network settings are quite basic under DP2, there are only two options for TCP/IP addressing (BootP and static).

The force quit window hasn't changed much over the years, however, in DP2 it shows the path of the application you've selected.

These are the applications that come preinstalled on a fresh system.

Nobody should make anything in Java... Yellow Box gave Java full access to its APIs, letting a Java application written for Yellow Box take advantage of advanced multitasking and memory systems (I think...)

Chess had many problems. The first one noticed was after moving the Knight on the right it was removed from the board - for no reason. It was also saying 'Illegal move' in the menu the whole game.

Mail 1.0 was very basic and ugly.

Here's an example of a new mail message.

NewsWatcher - one of the preinstalled applications - is a basic new reader.

This is some of the Cocoa (Yellow Box) developer documentation included in this release in HTML format.

Here are the build attributes for compiling an application using the Yellow Box for Windows compiler. One of the big questions was would Apple come thought and release Yellow Box for Windows, letting any Yellow Box (Cocoa) application run on both Macs and PCs. Of course, they didn't, but it was still a kind of interesting idea.

These are the build attributes for compiling an application using the Mac OS X compiler.

The ScriptEditor application was basically the same as in OS 9.

Sketch is really interesting, I wish Apple included it in the final version. It's like MS Paint, only better. I have been told by the tester that this application, like most applications written for DP2 will not run under any final version of Mac OS.

Basically the same as the final OS X version of the program.

Like Stickies, not much changed when this was released in the final version of Mac OS X.

Funny how it doesn't know what a G4 is, this was tested on a G4 400 MHz (AGP Graphics).

That's not the most attractive window I've seen before.

Sherlock was not included in this release, giving you only local file searches.

The level of web server control is nice, saves you from editing your httpd.conf file. This tab also lets you change the other services relating to remote administration, mail server, and some other stuff.

The Finder's 'connect to server' box is much better here than in Panther. Everything is in one nice window.

Many, many settings are there for use with a NetInfo server.