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dusk007

macrumors 68040
Dec 5, 2009
3,411
104
I read the blog post. I kind see myself agreeing to it wholeheartedly.
If the called it OSX Matterhorn it would mean something to me. Because that is my corner of the world, but El Capitan sounds like a mexican comic book hero in my head. It just does not ring well.

IMO they don't need any of that stuff. Just call it MacOS 22 already.
But if one does this whole fancy code naming, I agree El Capitan just sucks. At least use a mountain people outside of california know. K2, Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro, Matterhorn.
And if it has to be a mountain people don't know, can it at least have a cool name. El Capitan sounds so cheesy. It just does not ring in non spanish speaking ears. Sounds like Captain Morgan. Why not call the next iteration Bacardi Cola, or Irish Whisky.
 
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Takuro

macrumors 6502a
Jun 15, 2009
576
265
I think the naming scheme DOES suck - there is no rhyme or reason to it.

With Android, they've got all these strange names like Lollipop, Ice Cream Sandwich, Kit Kat, etc. - but you can tell the ORDER of the OSes because they are in alphabetical order.

If Apple just named them in some order, like north to south in California, or alphabetical order, or something else, fine, it would make sense. But not the way it is now.

At the end of the day, other than straight-up using a numerical system, any sort of naming convention will always fall short in some ways. What is Android going to do when they hit "Z" in a few years' time? They're already on "M" which is the middle of the alphabet. Naming OS X using locations from north to south is overly complex, and again, faces the same basic shortcoming: What do you do when you reach the southern-most part of California?

At the end of the day, you guys are missing a major point: Monikers for software development are seldom intended to be meaningful and are simply to make life a little less boring for the software team as they work on a project. Ie: Their intent is to have fun and avoid the tedium of constantly repeating a build number in discussions. If you need to accurately report the OS version, then... I don't know... just use the OS version number string and stop complaining?
 

navaira

macrumors 68040
May 28, 2015
3,914
5,138
Amsterdam, Netherlands
I was thinking they'd go with Redwood or Sequoia as well, but also that they might announce OS XI simply to score one above Windows 10. After initial doubts about El Capitan I realised I'm going to call it "Mac OS" anyway, so who cares really.
 

bbfc

macrumors 68040
Oct 22, 2011
3,849
1,612
Newcastle, England.
I was thinking they'd go with Redwood or Sequoia as well, but also that they might announce OS XI simply to score one above Windows 10. After initial doubts about El Capitan I realised I'm going to call it "Mac OS" anyway, so who cares really.
There never will be an OS XI. OS X is a brand name. Apple will use it for many years to come. I will put money on it!!
 

bankshot

macrumors 65816
Jan 23, 2003
1,367
416
Southern California
What was wrong with Half Dome?

Probably all of the inevitable "Half Done" jokes.

While the Yosemite tie-in makes sense for this release, I have to wonder if they'll continue to snub southern California for future names. Seems like something those snobby NorCal elitists would do. :rolleyes:

Actually, let me make a prediction: in 2017, the first SoCal name will be 10.13 Joshua Tree, which will come with a free copy of the 30th anniversary remaster of U2's The Joshua Tree that can't be removed, even when disabling rootless. :p
 

TechZeke

macrumors 68020
Jul 29, 2012
2,455
2,289
Dallas, TX
A) It's about California, and showing Apple's roots in California. They don't care that some random guy in Alabama doesn't know what Mavericks or El Capitan is.

B) I'm born and raised native of So Cal whose traveled to at least 70-80% of the states in the U.S.(California > rest of the US) and even I have never heard of Mavericks.

C) If they were naming places inside each of your individual states and countries few people knew about, nobody would be complaining.

D) It's a name for an OS for goodness sake. After you change the default wallpaper, you wont ever see anything related to El Captitan until you look at "about this Mac".
 

bunnspecial

macrumors G3
May 3, 2014
8,321
6,398
Kentucky
They should just call it OSX 11 or 10.11, and not advertise the names except internally. It's an OS not a movie.

The "Big Cat" names were initially intended for internal use. I have a boxed copy of 10.1(Puma) sitting on my shelf, and you won't find the name "Puma" anywhere on it. I think 10.2(Jaguar) was the first explicitly advertised and marked as such. I know my Panther(10.3) disks say Panther on them.
 

quackers82

macrumors 6502
Mar 13, 2014
340
168
I really like the cats/lion naming, so when they switched to places i was a little unhappy. I really wanted OS X Sea Lion. Now there are 3 OS X's with places as the names its growing on me.
 

MagnusVonMagnum

macrumors 603
Jun 18, 2007
5,193
1,442
I actually like the name El Capitan (The Captain) as long as it can live up to the name. It should be like a freaking Captain's chair in use (the mountain, not so much).
 

crjackson2134

macrumors 601
Mar 6, 2013
4,826
1,950
Charlotte, NC
The name is fine, I just call it Cappy. It's just an OS so we shouldn't get too concerned about it.

Also, I don't feel it's JUST a polished version of Yosemite. The addition of Metal is a real game changer. It's too good compared to Yosemite to share it's name IMHO.
 

droplink

macrumors regular
Dec 7, 2014
156
127
I agree with OP, the new naming scheme is silly.
While "Tiger" "Leopard" and "Lion" are big cat names that are known throughout the world, naming the OS's after a US mountain is alack of foresight.
Also mountains and parks are static, animals are dynamic, moving and either dangerous or cuddly. Mountains are just piles of stone.
 

Thalesian

macrumors member
May 12, 2009
73
15
Albuquerque, NM
I read the blog post. I kind see myself agreeing to it wholeheartedly.
If the called it OSX Matterhorn it would mean something to me. Because that is my corner of the world, but El Capitan sounds like a mexican comic book hero in my head. It just does not ring well.

IMO they don't need any of that stuff. Just call it MacOS 22 already.
But if one does this whole fancy code naming, I agree El Capitan just sucks. At least use a mountain people outside of california know. K2, Mount Everest, Kilimanjaro, Matterhorn.
And if it has to be a mountain people don't know, can it at least have a cool name. El Capitan sounds so cheesy. It just does not ring in non spanish speaking ears. Sounds like Captain Morgan. Why not call the next iteration Bacardi Cola, or Irish Whisky.

Creo que el mundo es mas grande que Europa solamente.
 

mozzarella

macrumors newbie
Oct 4, 2013
11
13
Saying "El Capitan" in full sounds silly but I agree with the reasoning behind it and "El Cap" sounds pretty good to me.
 

east85

macrumors 65816
Jun 24, 2010
1,343
495
It's trivial. I have disliked the names since they've abandoned big cats, but that doesn't really matter. I usually just say "10.10, 10.9, 10.8" etc.
 

bbeagle

macrumors 68040
Oct 19, 2010
3,542
2,982
Buffalo, NY
Saying "El Capitan" in full sounds silly but I agree with the reasoning behind it and "El Cap" sounds pretty good to me.

I always think of Captain Obvious now when saying El Capitan.

captain-obvious.jpg
 

aevan

macrumors 601
Feb 5, 2015
4,359
6,921
Serbia
At first I didn't like it, but the more I think about it, the more I do. First of all, I think the name is important - Apple is pushing the names of their releases. Since Mavericks, you can see the name during install and in 'About this Mac' and in the App Store as well. No one calls Yosemite "10.10", everyone calls it Yosemite - as far as I know, anyway. Now, when I first heard El Capitan, I thought it was a joke. But now? It's a good name. Why? Because it's different. It sticks. It's somehow unique exactly because it doesn't sound like a fantasy name for little boys. No, they don't have to name it "Snow Leopard, or Death Valley, or Dragon" for it to be a good name.

It is the spanish version of an Indian word, meaning chieftain. That alone makes it cool!

Also - OS X El Capitan is great. The DP version is really fast and stable - just what I wanted. And I just love the new Mission Control and Split View. They might seem like little features, but for me, they actually changed how I use my Macs! And that's even before we get into Metal, which has potential to be a gamechanger. So, with all that - the name El Capitan somehow fills me with joy!
 
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