One of the biggest disappointments in the recent launch extravaganza was lack of a multitasking operating system, but Apple Computer Inc, Cupertino, California, is working on a true multitasking system for its Macintosh II, according to Microbytes Daily. Code-named Juggler, it will initially use software-protection – as opposed to hardware protection that would be provided by a memory manager such as the Motorola MC68851 paged memory management unit, although the Motorola chip will be supported in later releases of the operating system. Applications will have to check with the Toolbox’s memory manager before doing anything that could affect memory. This extra overhead is strongly encouraged by Apple as part of standard Macintosh practice but may not always be followed.
