MacOS

Background: macOS is an operating system made by Apple, starting out as just "Mac OS" during the '80s. Originally being made as a development of the Apple Lisa interface, it debuted with the release of the Macintosh 128K in 1984. The operating system would later change over the time with various improvements. After 2001 with the release of version 10, the OS would change it's name to "Mac OS X". With the release of Mountain Lion, the name was changed to "OS X". The name of the OS is currently "macOS", starting with Sierra in 2016.

1st Screen
(January 24, 1984-February 1, 2002)

Nicknames:

* "Happy Mac", "B&W Happy Mac"
* For the error variant: "Sad Mac" "*The Mac from Hell/Of doom"*
* For the Mac OS 8.5 variant: "Colored Happy Mac"

"Screen: On a halftone gray background, an icon of a Macintosh with a happy face on the screen appears.

Variants:

* Whenever the Macintosh has a severe error (or happen to press the interrupt switch on the side of some Macs), it will display a black background with the same image of the Macintosh, but it will be displaying a frown and has X's over its eyes. Also, 2 hexadecimal codes with 8 digits (most commonly 0000000F; 00000003) will appear below the Macintosh. This is called the "Sad Mac", which was used in 1984 to 2002.
* In Macs that run Mac OS 7 to 10.1 Puma, the background is gray.
* Starting with Mac OS 8.5 to 10.1 Puma, the Happy Mac icon of the 1st logo appears, but colored. Starting with the release of Mac OS X 10.0, the Happy Mac became flatter and the spinning wait cursor (commonly known as the"spinning pin wheel of death") appears on the top right corner.

FX/SFX: None.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): The trademark Apple note has been known to evolve during the course of the Happy Mac startup, these include:

* Macintosh 128K, 512K, Plus, SE and Classic (1984-1992): A beeping sound.
* Macintosh II & Macintosh SE/30 (1987-1991): A synthesized guitar note.
* Macintosh LC Series & Macintosh Classic II (1990-1996): A quiet synth note.
* Macintosh Color Classic, Quadra/Centris Series and 68k Powerbooks (1991-1995): An airy keyboard note.
* Power Macintosh & Performa 5200/5300 Series (1995-1997): A string chord.
* NuBus Power Macintoshes (1994-1996): A live guitar note.
* Quadra/Centris AV Series (1993-1994): The trademark synth chime note that would later be used on newer computers.
* PCI Power Macintoshes (1996-1998): A lower pitch version of the same synth chime.
* 20th Anniversary Macintosh (1997-1998): An echoing light synth note.
* iMac G3 & Power Macintosh G3 Blue & White (1998-2002): An even lower pitch and lower quality version of the Quadra/Centris AV chime. The same chime would be used on newer and current Macs.

All these sounds can be heard here.

Startup Sound Variants: When the Sad Mac is displayed, depending on what Mac you're using, a noise will be heard in the background. These chimes are nicknamed the "Chimes of Death":

* Macintosh 128K, 512K, Plus, SE, Classic, iMac, & Power Macintosh G3 Blue & White (1984-1992, 1998-2002): None.
* Macintosh II and SE/30 (1987-1993): A synthesized guitar arpeggio. Depending on the error, this succeeds either a short chord, a single note, or two notes.
* Macintosh LC Series & Macintosh Classic II (1990-1996): A higher pitched version of the arpeggio played on a synth followed by four more notes.
* Quadra/Centris AV Series (1993-1994): A short, steady tempo tune ending with a detuned "boop" sound.
* Performa 5200/5300 Series & Macintoshes with PowerPC upgrade card (1995-1997): A dramatic three note brass fanfare followed by drumbeats.
* Performa 6100 series (1994-1996): A car engine sound followed by a car crash.
* PCI Power Macintoshes (1995-1998): An airy shattering/axe sound.

All of the chimes can be found here.

Availability: Appears on all Macintosh computers running System 0.97 to Mac OS 9.2.1 (when using a Old World ROM Mac). After the release of Mac OS System 3.0, this screen would appear before the next one, then before the 3rd logo in Mac OS 7.6.

Scare Factor:

* None to low, depending on the sound being used for the startups. However, it's a favorite of many Mac users and Apple fans alike.
* Low to high for the Sad Mac variants, as it‘s sudden jarring appearance and whatever noise it plays will startle you. The fact that your computer is in trouble might raise the scare factor for some.
* Low to nightmare for the Performa 5200/5300 and PowerPC Sad Mac variant. The dramatic theme may scare a lot of people. The scare factor will raise to those who were expecting the other chimes to start playing and this plays!
* Medium to nightmare for the Power Macintosh 6100 Sad Mac variant, the car sound effects come out of nowhere and the crash might be unsettling to a bunch of people. But, it's lower for those used to it, those that expected the car crash, and those that find it funny.

2nd Screen
(January 24, 1984-April 7, 1997)

Screen: On the same background as the 1st screen, a bordered rectangle appears, with an icon of an Apple logo, a Macintosh, and a mouse on the top left corner and the text "**Welcome to Macintosh.**" in the top center.

Variants:

* An earlier variant exists where the rectangle has a drop shadow rather than a border.
* In grayscale and colour monitor Macs that run Mac OS 7 up to 7.5.5, the background is gray.
* In colour monitor Macs running Mac OS 7 up to 7.5.5, the computer icon is coloured.

FX/SFX: None.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): None (since the "Happy Mac" actually serves the startup sound).

Availability: Rare. Appears on Macintosh computers beginning with the Macintosh 128k (System 0.97), presumably ending with the release of System 7.5.5 due to the introduction of the next startup screen with Mac OS 7.6.

Scare Factor: None.

3rd Screen
(January 7, 1997-February 1, 2002)

Nicknames: "The Finder Icon", "The Blue Face"

Screen: On a gray background, a bordered gray square appears with another bordered square inside, filled in white, with an icon of a blue/cyan face with a large nose, which makes it look like two faces if you look closely, one of them looking at the screen and the other pointing at the left. Below there's "'*Mac '***OS**", with a "TM" trademark above "**Mac**". Below the white square there's the text "**Starting up...**" and the download bar below. The background varies depending on the desktop background. Before Mac OS X, at the very bottom of the screen, icons representing the system's extensions appear one after another as they are loaded.

Trivia: Extensions were removed in Mac OS X due to extensions sometimes tending to make the system very unstable.

Variants: On every update, there are changes that happen to the boot screen.

* Mac OS 7.6 (1997): The "**U**" in "**up**" is now uppercase.
* Mac OS 8.0 (1997):The "TM" symbol is not above "**Mac**".
* Mac OS 8.5 (1998): The download bar has a new blue gradient fill.
* Mac OS 8.6 (1999): "**OS**" is no longer blue and a "**8.6**" is seen next to the wordmark, thus making it read as "**Mac OS 8.6**".
* Mac OS 9.0 (1999): The number is changed to "**9**", thus making it read as "**Mac OS 9**".
* Mac OS 9.1 (2001): The number is changed to "**9.1**", thus making it read as "**Mac OS 9.1**".
* Mac OS 9.2 (2001): The number is changed to "**9.2**", thus making it read as "**Mac OS 9.2**".

FX/SFX: The download bar.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): Same as above.

Availability: Uncommon. Appears on Macintosh computers running Mac OS 7.6, 8, and 9, such as the PCI Power Macintosh computers and the iconic iMac G3.

Scare Factor: None.

4th Screen
(March 24, 2001-November 14, 2007)

Nicknames: "The Blue Apple Logo (2001-2003)", "The Glossy Apple Logo (2003-2007)"

Screen:

* 2001 (10.0): On a blue background, a rectangle in the center with lines appears, with a metalic apple logo near the top, and the text "**Mac OS X**" below it. The progress bar is seen below. "**Welcome to Macintosh.**" is seen below the bar. Then, verbose information about the startup appears in place of "**Welcome to Macintosh**".
* 2001-2003 (10.1-10.2): Same concept, but with a blue, glassy apple logo.
* 2003-2007: (10.3-10.4): It's the same concept as before, but the apple logo is in white with a streak, "**Mac OS X**" is seen with a different font, and the loading bar and "**Welcome to Macintosh.**" text are inside a darker rectangle section. In Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger, the verbose information is replaced by "**Starting Mac OS X...**".

FX/SFX: Same as above.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): None (since the "Colored Happy Mac" and the next logo actually serve the startup sound).

Availability: Pretty rare. Appears in Mac OS X 10.0-10.4 computers.

Scare Factor: None.

5th Screen
(August 23, 2002- )

Nickname: "The Apple Logo"

Screen: A gray background fades in. A dark Apple logo then appears at the center. After a while, a loading circle appears below the logo.

Variant: Starting with 10.10 Yosemite, a progress bar appears instead of the circle. On newer Macs, the background is black and the Apple logo is white. Prior to 10.10 Yosemite, on safe boot, the progress bar appeared below the circle.

FX/SFX: The logo appearing.

Startup Sound (Music/Sounds): The 1998 iMac synth chime, again. On newer Macs, beginning with the MacBook Pro, nothing except on macOS Big Sur onwards, where a revamped version of the 1998 iMac synth chime is heard.

Availability: Current. Appears on all the Mac computers using 10.2 Jaguar onwards. This serves as the 1st screen that appears before the 2nd screen of the previous startup on 10.2 Jaguar, and also before the next logo on 10.3 Panther. Versions after 10.4 Tiger has no other screen following afterwards besides the desktop or log-on request.

Scare Factor: Minimal. It's appearance during the black screen may startle a few, but this logo's actually harmless.