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A comment on An OS 9 odyssey: Why some Mac users won’t abandon 16-year-old software. Parent comment

Re:An OS 9 odyssey: Why some Mac users won’t abandon 16-year... by philwelch on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @01:57AM (#12485911)
Platinum was a very dramatic reskin at the time. It was originally designed to set Copland apart from System 7, but after Copland failed they just rolled it out in Mac OS 8. Aqua was then designed to set Mac OS X apart from Mac OS 8/9.

Overall Platinum lasted four years, which was just as long as the brushed metal phase between Panther and Leopard (2003-2007). Leopard was the next major revamp, which lasted until Yosemite (2007-2014).

So, if you wanted to be generous, you could divide the Mac UI eras like so:

1984-1991: Monochrome Classic

1991-1997: System 7 (colorized)

1997-2001: Platinum

2001-2003: Aqua

2003-2007: Aqua (Brushed Metal Remix)

2007-2014: Aqua 3.0

2014-pres: Flat Aqua

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Re:An OS 9 odyssey: Why some Mac users won’t abandon 16-year... by amyjess on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @10:38AM (#12488615)
Don't forget that Platinum was unveiled years before OS 8 was actually released, and one of the most popular System 7 extensions was Aaron, which provided the Platinum theme, and as such a large contingent of Mac users were using Platinum long before OS 8 came out.

I remember installing Aaron when it first came out, and I don't think I ever uninstalled it (though I remember playing around with the Hi-Tech version that Apple's lawyers killed).

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Re:An OS 9 odyssey: Why some Mac users won’t abandon 16-year... by philwelch on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @11:24AM (#12489071)
That's right! In fact, Aaron was used to provide the Platinum theme on Jeff Goldblum's character's PowerBook in Independence Day.
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Re:An OS 9 odyssey: Why some Mac users won’t abandon 16-year... by haroldp on Tuesday September 13, 2016 @01:14PM (#12490277)
Oh hell yes! I loved Aaron too.
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