MacX is an X11 server implementation that ran on System 7

System 7 (Macintosh)

System 7 is a single-user graphical user interface-based operating system for Macintosh computers. It was introduced on May 13, 1991 by Apple Computer. It succeeded System 6, and was the main Macintosh operating system until it was succeeded by Mac OS 8 in 1997...

, Mac OS 8

Mac OS 8

Mac OS 8 is an operating system that was released by Apple Computer on July 26, 1997. It represented the largest overhaul of the Mac OS since the release of System 7, some six years previously. It puts more emphasis on color than previous operating systems...

, and Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9

Mac OS 9 is the final major release of Apple's Mac OS before the launch of Mac OS X. Introduced on October 23, 1999, Apple positioned it as "The Best Internet Operating System Ever," highlighting Sherlock 2's Internet search capabilities, integration with Apple's free online services known as...

. It also ran under A/UX

A/UX

A/UX was Apple Computer’s implementation of the Unix operating system for some of their Macintosh computers. The later versions of A/UX ran on the Macintosh II, Quadra and Centris series of machines as well as the SE/30. A/UX was first released in 1988, with the final version released in 1995...

. Prior to X11R4 and the introduction of the PowerPC

PowerPC

PowerPC is a RISC architecture created by the 1991 Apple–IBM–Motorola alliance, known as AIM...

-based Power Macintosh

Power Macintosh

Power Macintosh, later Power Mac, was a line of Apple Macintosh workstation-class personal computers based on various models of PowerPC microprocessors that were developed, marketed, and supported by Apple Inc. from March 1994 until August 2006. The first models were the Power Macintosh 6100,...

, this server was developed internally by Apple Inc. for the Motorola 68000

Motorola 68000

The Motorola 68000 is a 16/32-bit CISC microprocessor core designed and marketed by Freescale Semiconductor...

 based Macintoshes. Versions supporting X11R4 and X11R5 were developed for Apple by a small team of engineers at AGE Logic, Inc., a San Diego, California

San Diego, California

San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...

 company. AGE also OEMed the MacX software under the trade name XoftWare for Macintosh. Apple provided early versions of the Power Macintosh to AGE Logic, and the result was a binary that supported both the Power Macintosh as well as earlier, 68000-based systems.

AGE Logic was later acquired by a Silicon Valley company named NetManage

NetManage

NetManage Inc. was a software company based in Cupertino, California, founded in 1990 by Zvi Alon, an Israeli engineer . The company’s development centre was located at the MATAM technology park, in Haifa, Israel...

 in the mid-1990s. NetManage was headquartered directly across the street from Apple in Cupertino, California

Cupertino, California

Cupertino is an affluent suburban city in Santa Clara County, California in the U.S., directly west of San Jose on the western edge of the Santa Clara Valley with portions extending into the foothills of the Santa Cruz Mountains. The population was 58,302 at the time of the 2010 census. Forbes...

. XoftWare for Macintosh was merged into NetManage's product offering for the Macintosh, which included a wide variety of standalone Internet

Internet

The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...

 desktop applications (e.g., telnet

TELNET

Telnet is a network protocol used on the Internet or local area networks to provide a bidirectional interactive text-oriented communications facility using a virtual terminal connection...

, archie search engine

Archie search engine

Archie is a tool for indexing FTP archives, allowing people to find specific files. It is considered to be the first Internet search engine. The original implementation was written in 1990 by Alan Emtage, Bill Heelan, and J...

, gopher protocol, FTP), along with various software titles, mainly terminal emulator

Terminal emulator

A terminal emulator, terminal application, term, or tty for short, is a program that emulates a video terminal within some other display architecture....

s that were acquired by AGE Logic when it purchased Pacer Software earlier in the decade.

By 1998, Apple had discontinued MacX as it transitioned from traditional Mac OS to the Unix

Unix

Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...

-like Mac OS X

Mac OS X

Mac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...

, which had ample support for X11 (earlier versions of Mac OS X did not directly support X11, but as of Mac OS X v10.3

Mac OS X v10.3

Mac OS X Panther is the fourth major release of Mac OS X, Apple’s desktop and server operating system. It followed Mac OS X v10.2 "Jaguar" and preceded Mac OS X Tiger...

, X11.app

X11.app

XQuartz is Apple Inc.'s version of the X server, a component of the X Window System, for Mac OS X. The current version of XQuartz is a DDX included in the X.Org Server and implements support for hardware-accelerated 2D graphics , hardware OpenGL acceleration and integration with Aqua, the Mac OS...

has been made available directly from Apple). NetManage disbanded its Macintosh group earlier, around 1996, and as a result, discontinued support of XoftWare for Macintosh.