Seriously, Lion is LESS than a year old! And already they're talking about the next OS? Was there something wrong with Lion? Did apple just in a snap-decision decide to suddenly release a new operating system every 12 months? Or... is this intended to compete with Windows 8?
Alright, bear with me here for a moment and let me explain my contrived logic here. As some of you may know, a game console known as Sony's PlayStation 2 was released over a decade ago, and it competed against the Nintendo Gamecube and the newest company in the gaming industry: Microsoft and their Xbox game console.
Over the years, the three game consoles started to show their age and gamers wanted better graphics and stuff. So a new line of consoles was scheduled to come out. Nobody knew what Nintendo was planning (they eventually made the Wii, which of course turned out to be a huge hit when it first came out) but everybody pretty much assumed Sony's next console would be called the PlayStation 3. Those assumptions proved to be right.
But what about Microsoft's Xbox? It was the first console of its brand, and with such an uninspiring name, a lot of people assumed Microsoft's next console would be called the Xbox 2. Of course, this would put Microsoft in a tricky spot: they'd have to compete against the PlayStation
3 with an Xbox
2. Which game console do you think your typical know-nothing-about-gaming mother is going to buy little Jimmy for Christmas? Of COURSE she's going to buy the PlayStation 3 and not the Xbox 2... IT HAS A BIGGER NUMBER, SO THAT MUST MEAN IT'S BETTER/NEWER/MORE DESIRED BY MY CHILD!
This all may sound very silly at this point, (caps lock notwithstanding) but understand that I'm talking about a company's perceptions of what consumer perceptions will be. Any slip-up in this situation could mean severe financial losses later on when a product is unveiled, so the presentation and design must be scrutinized.
So, Microsoft did not release a console named the Xbox 2. They released a console named the Xbox 360. Now, as an owner of the game console in question, I can testify there is absolutely nothing circular about the console's design or internal mechanics. 360 is a very arbitrary way to describe the very rectangular, if slightly curvy game console.
But how was this presented? "Exbox three-sixty!" all the commercials said. NOT "Exbox three hundred and sixty", just "Exbox
three-sixty" which was obviously intended to compete against the "Play station
three".
Bringing us back to the topic at hand here, I think the same logic is being applied by Apple to their operating system. They don't want to be caught in the awkward situation of selling an OS with
seven in the name during the same year their competitor is selling an
eight!
And that, I believe, is one of the main reasons why Apple is pushing this new OS so soon after the release of Lion. Anybody else share this sentiment? Does this make any sense at all?
