Mac OS X only booting in 2003

Apple on Tuesday told attendees of Apple Expo Paris that its Macintosh computers would lose the ability to boot in the older Mac OS 9 operating system in 2003. While customers will no longer be able to boot their machines in OS 9, they will still have the option to run the OS in the Classic environment in OS X.

"We expect that 20 percent of our entire installed base will be using Mac OS X by the end of this year, making it the fastest operating system transition in recent history," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "Now it's time for Apple and our third-party developers to focus all of our resources exclusively on Mac OS X, rather than dividing them between two different operating systems."

Apple switched its default boot operating system at Macworld Expo in San Francisco earlier this year -- according to Apple, 75 percent of customers have chosen to keep OS X as the default operating system.

Appple said in a statement today that the company has an estimated 3 million Mac OS X users and expects to reach 5 million Mac OS X users -- or more than 20 percent of the installed base -- by the end of this calendar year.

"We're happy to see Apple take this next step to drive adoption of Mac OS X," said Kevin Browne, general manager of the Macintosh Business Unit at Microsoft Corp. "Mac OS X has really come of age with the release of 'Jaguar,' and we think the combination of OS X v10.2 and Office v. X for Mac provides our customers with the power and compatibility they're seeking."