Mac OS version 8, which came out in
1997, is considered by
Mac users (I am not one,
btw) to be a major
improvement. Most
noticable is the
UI. Many new
widgets were added to the
API,
Mac programmers have told me. I'd imagine other parts of the API were also
streamlined. It requires a
68040 or
PowerPC Mac with 16
MB of
RAM and a
32-bit clean ROM (the first Mac with a 32-bit clean ROM was the
68030-based
Mac IIci).
If you have a PowerPC Mac, it'd be best to get
Mac OS 8.6 instead, as it has tons of PowerPC
optimzation. If you own Mac OS 8, you can get a
Mac OS 8.1 upgrade for free at
Apple's
FTP site.