Nick Bilton of the NYT writes about the shrinking number of cat names remaining for future versions of OS X. Thus far, Apple has used Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard, and Snow Leopard for its OS X releases. What remains? Well, you’ve got Cougar, which, because of its meaning in the pop culture lexicon, Apple won’t be able to touch. You’ve also got Lynx, Lion, and an assortment of lesser known and pretty random choices – Clouded Leopard, anyone?
The most interesting part of Bilton’s piece, though, is a blurb from a former Apple employee about Apple’s philosophy regarding product names.
An employee who recently left Apple said the company takes its product names very seriously. It believes, for example, that consumers are confused by names that mix of words and numbers, like a Lenovo X41 laptop or an Epson WT7900 printer.
Nothing groundbreaking here, of course, but it goes to show you just how closely Apple pays attention to all facets of a new product, right down to the name.
If you were running Apple, what big cat would you choose for OS X 10.7?
February 11th, 2010 at 2:46 pm
“Well, you’ve got Cougar, which, because of its meaning in the pop culture lexicon, Apple won’t be able to touch.”
Well, I’m not sure about this.
Remember, Apple recently named its new creation iPad 😉
And, to be honest, I find the word ‘Cougar’, apart from any meaning, somewhat cool.
‘Lynx’ would be cool too. I’m not into Lion, though it may be the last OS X 10.x release (Lion is the king ! 😉
February 11th, 2010 at 4:49 pm
Clearly, Mac OS 10.7 should be Hello Kitty.
February 11th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
MacOS 10.7: Ocelot
February 12th, 2010 at 5:33 am
10.7 lolcat ??
February 12th, 2010 at 2:20 pm
10.7 Cheetah, and make it faster than spit.
February 13th, 2010 at 8:46 am
Somone forgot to include a link to the article: .
Video of a clouded leopard: .
February 13th, 2010 at 8:47 am
Whoops, here are the links:
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/is-it-time-for-apple-to-retire-the-cats/
http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8505000/8505785.stm