There's always an actual Cat.
"Mac OS X 10.9 Kitty"
In that case, they should have named 10.7 "Kitty Litter"
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When does OS X end and OS XI begin?
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In that case, they should have named 10.7 "Kitty Litter"
What a lot of people here don't remember is that when Mac OS X 10.0 came out a lot of (re)sellors used the "X" in the name more to make a connection that the new OS was UNIX based than that it was version "10" to attract new customers.
It was a salespitch that worked, because it sparked my interest (as a MS DOS hardliner) and also that of a lot of ITilliterated people because for them UNIX was this perfect working OS that was just too complex to operate themselfs.
(yes, non-ICT people used to believe that in the nineties and 00ties!)
Unfortunally the price was in that time too much to make the change to Apple hardware (and in all my ICT classes all the software was MS windows based).
So while for the Apple early users and hardliners the "X" stands for "10", for the most "older new customers" it stood for "averige Joe easy usable UNIX" and for the new customers it's just "Ex".
So until Apple Inc really changes the UI, "OS X" is here to stay for a long time, even if the UNIX underneath the UI changes completely with every version (which I don't believe it has or ever will).
BTW, the "." character in the versioning name makes the difference, so that 10.2.1 is smaller than 10.11.1 or with other words 10.2.1 = 10.02.1 = 10.002.1
It was a salespitch that worked, because it sparked my interest (as a MS DOS hardliner) and also that of a lot of ITilliterated people because for them UNIX was this perfect working OS that was just too complex to operate themselfs.
(yes, non-ICT people used to believe that in the nineties and 00ties!)
Unfortunally the price was in that time too much to make the change to Apple hardware (and in all my ICT classes all the software was MS windows based).
So while for the Apple early users and hardliners the "X" stands for "10", for the most "older new customers" it stood for "averige Joe easy usable UNIX" and for the new customers it's just "Ex".
So until Apple Inc really changes the UI, "OS X" is here to stay for a long time, even if the UNIX underneath the UI changes completely with every version (which I don't believe it has or ever will).
BTW, the "." character in the versioning name makes the difference, so that 10.2.1 is smaller than 10.11.1 or with other words 10.2.1 = 10.02.1 = 10.002.1
I think for OS XI we'll see a true hybridization of iOS and OS X. A single operating system for mobile devices and computers, the only real difference being the power that each piece of equipment can provide. Each device may have some UI differences, iPhone in particular, but will essentially run the same operating system.
When this happens, I'd bank on Apple dropping both the iOS and OS X names and starting with something completely new--that probably won't involve numbers.
When this happens, I'd bank on Apple dropping both the iOS and OS X names and starting with something completely new--that probably won't involve numbers.
???
You do know that iOS is a port of OS X with iOS using SpringBoard as a UI and UIKit as its UI widget framework while OS X uses Finder as a UI and AppKit as its widget set.
It would be like a car manufacturor that makes a succesfull sedan uses the identical same parts to make a coupé where there are just some minor esthetic changes. If later they merge the coupé and the sedan line again, you would just end up with the sedan.
I really don't know if it's possible to merge Springboard/UIKit with Finder/AppKit and even if it would be possible it would only be a benefit for the portable iDevices.
Using a bluetooth mouse on an iPad would be a benefit (if it doesn't cut into MBA sales offcourse), but an iMac with a touchscreen would be hell.
Don't believe me: go to PC store, ask for the Dell desktop with touchscreen. After 5 minutes when the novelty works off you'll stop using the touchscreen. Ask the employees there how many they have sold, if they are honest it will be 1 or 0.
Well it's clear Apple is preparing itself for touch screen enabling on desktops and laptops. And there's probably some other features there that I'm not thinking of right now. Anyway, I'd say that a change like that; towards touch screens, would be the right time to introduce something like OS XI or something equivalent. I also don't believe that Apple will keep going with OS X as it is for the coming 10 years or so. I wouldn't be really suprised if they would do what they did with IOS either: kill the (visible) folder structure alltogether. They could also go much deeper with their multi-touch gesture stuff. All these kinds of features I'd find appropriate for a next major Mac OS release.
OS X, or, new and short, just X is such a strong branding I don't see the much weaker name XI coming up ever.
We'll have 10.9 10.10...
And when Apple rewrites the OS in a more distant future, it'll come up with a new naming scheme, like the switch from OS 9 to OS X. maybe it'll be A or ALPHA or the first letter of the Mayan alphabet or the name of an ancient Greek or Egyptian god
We'll have 10.9 10.10...
And when Apple rewrites the OS in a more distant future, it'll come up with a new naming scheme, like the switch from OS 9 to OS X. maybe it'll be A or ALPHA or the first letter of the Mayan alphabet or the name of an ancient Greek or Egyptian god
It would go like this:
2012 = Mountain Lion 10.8 + iOS 6
2013 = iOs 7
2014 = Osx 10.9 + iOS 8
2015= iOs 9
2016 = Merged! iOS x
OS x every two years because 2009 = Snow Leopard then 2011 = Lion
I worked hard thinking and writing this on Notepad on my PC xD
2012 = Mountain Lion 10.8 + iOS 6
2013 = iOs 7
2014 = Osx 10.9 + iOS 8
2015= iOs 9
2016 = Merged! iOS x
OS x every two years because 2009 = Snow Leopard then 2011 = Lion
I worked hard thinking and writing this on Notepad on my PC xD
Mad Mac Maniac
macrumors 601
Would be plausible, but when Apple released ML beta, they announced they will be having yearly OS X updates, same as iOS. I don't see them immediately retracting that.
Cats aplenty
Plenty of cats remaining: Ocelot, Caracal, alley cat, Sylvester, Cat in the Hat, Catwomen...heck, they could go all the way to OS VXL.
Plenty of cats remaining: Ocelot, Caracal, alley cat, Sylvester, Cat in the Hat, Catwomen...heck, they could go all the way to OS VXL.
I personally have a feeling the the X in OSX has become a letter over the last 10 years, and the version number will be the thing that keeps changing in number - i.e. OSX 11.0, OSX 12.0, etc...
Or they may just com up with a new line of animals to use
Or they may just com up with a new line of animals to use
List of names:
iOS X
OS Xi ("i" is intended to be small)
AppleOS (Because this OS will run on all apple products)
AppOS (Because apple loves apps and we know it
)
Yes. Classic Mac OS was retired because it was tired and dated, and everyone knew it at the time. However I don't think anyone reckons Mac OSX is tired and dated yet?
Don't forget Felix the Cat. Of course after Mountain Lion, they could use The Lion King.Plenty of cats remaining: Ocelot, Caracal, alley cat, Sylvester, Cat in the Hat, Catwomen...heck, they could go all the way to OS VXL.
OS 11 rambling
The next huge change in Mac OS to happen within the next 1 or 2 years and I wouldn't be surprised if Mountain Lion was the last variant of OSX. I predict that Apple will continue to have two separate computer OSs one for mobile and one for desktop (power users), though I do imagine that crossover will continue to occur (like launchpad). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple released an easel touch iMac that had iOS in place of Dashboard, embedded right into OSX. I also do expect a third OS to happen in the living room, but that's a comment for another post.
OSX has reached a point of maturity where the tweaks are so minor that they won't garner the kinds of headlines or create the kind of excitement that Apple needs to expand their user base and move forward for the next 10 years. As much as Apple is focusing on iOS, they aren't going to give up entirely on expanding their computer market share. More money is more money. Switching from OSX to OSXI (or OS 11, or OS whatever) doesn't mean the "brain transplant" that OS 9 to OSX was, but it does mean a huge change to the OS.
Windows 8 is an interesting situation. While it will most likely be a disaster (too huge a paradigm shift for existing users especially in business), it does feel like a fresh take on the OS. I think Apple is taking a wait and see approach to gauge just how far they can take their next desktop OS. That's not to say that OS 11 isn't already in the works... just that they haven't finalised the UI.
What I'd like to see is Apple radically changing what file management means and premtively providing simpler answers to current workflows like sub versioning, remote file management, etc. to allow their replacement. What we need are the solutions they provided but without any complexity. What would Mac OS look like if they started all over again and built with everything we now know about the cloud, iOSs success, style preference changes, possibly touch, human/computer psychology, Siri, IBM's Watson, security and biometrics, and search.... Because we knew a lot less about these when OS X was conceived.
Finally, I'd like to see what Apple has lined up after Aqua (or whatever our current variant is called). I like Windows 8 and credit Microsoft's boldness, but I don't think it's the future. I think Microsoft, with the good intentions of being current, threw out the baby with the bathwater. We have decades of research showing that a person is more likely to recognise a button if it looks like a button, rather than an outlined rectangle. There is a purpose to at least some of the skeumorphism. There is still value in icons for instantly finding information. Cutting off words (Zune OS) is not a clever typography.. it's lazy design that doesn't further any purpose. Apple needs to radically update Mac OS's look and feel without going trendy. They need an update that looks like it could feel fresh for the next 20 years.
The next huge change in Mac OS to happen within the next 1 or 2 years and I wouldn't be surprised if Mountain Lion was the last variant of OSX. I predict that Apple will continue to have two separate computer OSs one for mobile and one for desktop (power users), though I do imagine that crossover will continue to occur (like launchpad). In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple released an easel touch iMac that had iOS in place of Dashboard, embedded right into OSX. I also do expect a third OS to happen in the living room, but that's a comment for another post.
OSX has reached a point of maturity where the tweaks are so minor that they won't garner the kinds of headlines or create the kind of excitement that Apple needs to expand their user base and move forward for the next 10 years. As much as Apple is focusing on iOS, they aren't going to give up entirely on expanding their computer market share. More money is more money. Switching from OSX to OSXI (or OS 11, or OS whatever) doesn't mean the "brain transplant" that OS 9 to OSX was, but it does mean a huge change to the OS.
Windows 8 is an interesting situation. While it will most likely be a disaster (too huge a paradigm shift for existing users especially in business), it does feel like a fresh take on the OS. I think Apple is taking a wait and see approach to gauge just how far they can take their next desktop OS. That's not to say that OS 11 isn't already in the works... just that they haven't finalised the UI.
What I'd like to see is Apple radically changing what file management means and premtively providing simpler answers to current workflows like sub versioning, remote file management, etc. to allow their replacement. What we need are the solutions they provided but without any complexity. What would Mac OS look like if they started all over again and built with everything we now know about the cloud, iOSs success, style preference changes, possibly touch, human/computer psychology, Siri, IBM's Watson, security and biometrics, and search.... Because we knew a lot less about these when OS X was conceived.
Finally, I'd like to see what Apple has lined up after Aqua (or whatever our current variant is called). I like Windows 8 and credit Microsoft's boldness, but I don't think it's the future. I think Microsoft, with the good intentions of being current, threw out the baby with the bathwater. We have decades of research showing that a person is more likely to recognise a button if it looks like a button, rather than an outlined rectangle. There is a purpose to at least some of the skeumorphism. There is still value in icons for instantly finding information. Cutting off words (Zune OS) is not a clever typography.. it's lazy design that doesn't further any purpose. Apple needs to radically update Mac OS's look and feel without going trendy. They need an update that looks like it could feel fresh for the next 20 years.
I agree with KnightWRX in his assertion that input paradigm is what differentiates, and will continue to differentiate, the function and ultimately the branding of the Apple personal computer and mobile varieties of OS. In fact, I find the integrationist idea of branding (differentiation based on delivery rather than on user interaction) to be absurd. The only way that you would ever have a true merging, and by extension reason to unify branding under a single marketing schema, was if you a had the transition of both platforms to a common interactive method, such as gestures.
Consolidation of branding between two products of dissimilar method of interaction would be a terrible idea for Apple. iOS is universally understood by the consumer to be Apple's mobile OS solution, which has a specific, stable, and popular means of interaction. If they were to re-brand OS X with a non-touch or hybrid IO implementation, all you would have is a bunch of consumers saying, "This is nothing like my iPhone. Why did they call it iOS?"
The entire question is just another variation the integrationist vs. specifist argument. My brother, who prefers integrationism, likes the idea of a single tool that fits most situations and does many things, even if it doesn't do them with any degree of excellence, while I like specifism, in that I prefer the cost of numerous tools that are perfectly suited to perform their task. There are times when integrationism works; there are times when it's a joke. The spork comes to mind.
Consolidation of branding between two products of dissimilar method of interaction would be a terrible idea for Apple. iOS is universally understood by the consumer to be Apple's mobile OS solution, which has a specific, stable, and popular means of interaction. If they were to re-brand OS X with a non-touch or hybrid IO implementation, all you would have is a bunch of consumers saying, "This is nothing like my iPhone. Why did they call it iOS?"
The entire question is just another variation the integrationist vs. specifist argument. My brother, who prefers integrationism, likes the idea of a single tool that fits most situations and does many things, even if it doesn't do them with any degree of excellence, while I like specifism, in that I prefer the cost of numerous tools that are perfectly suited to perform their task. There are times when integrationism works; there are times when it's a joke. The spork comes to mind.
Does no one pay attention in Maths class? 10.10 and 10.1 are the same thing. The 0 at the end has no value. Apple have already release Mac OS 10.1.
When differentiating software versions it does have value. Otherwise Mac OS X 10.4.10 would have been the same version as 10.4.1 which it wasn't.
Does no one pay attention to things that have been discussed on this forum for years?
Did you think of reading this topic to see if this was discussed before you posted? Because it's been discussed and answered three times in this thread.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14592812/
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14594029/
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14767030/
For the 5,343,343rd time, Version numbers are not decimals!
I don't see iOS and Mac OSX being integrated into a new OS... it doesnt make sense for the reasons others have already discussed. I do think that either 10.8 or 10.9 will be the last OSX... but thats only as far as the name and marketing go the next OS will most likely be based on OSX. But I could be wrong, they could also just have similar names such as iOS and iOS Pro
I foresee several ways this could go, it could be Mac OS 11, Mac OSXI, Mac OSXi (pronounced Ex eye), or the could phase out the mac branding entirely going with the "i" moniker for their computers, we already know they plan to phase out the Mac Pro so it wouldn't be a stretch to go back to iBook for laptops and then lets say iDesk for the iMac, and iBox for the mac mini... then they would be free to drop the Mac from the OS name. It just seems redundant to say "Apple Macintosh Macbook Pro 15 with Mac OSX 10.8" (I know no one would say it that way but you get the point). At this point apple is famous for being apple, "Macintosh" is just a vestigial brand name from days long gone.
It would be cleaner and therefore more inline with apples minimalist product and branding strategy to simplify things. For example, "Apple iBook 15 with iOS Pro 2.1" for a laptop, which would complement yet still differentiate from "Apple iPhone 6s with iOS 7.2" ... of course the two OS's would be very different just have similar names.
They could also drop he fancy model names and stick to years and size, since most of their products are on a 1 year timeline anyway. Example, "Apple iBook 2014 with iOS Pro 2.1" (for a 15 inch laptop), "Apple iBook Mini 2014 with iOS Pro 2.1" (for a 13 inch laptop), "Apple iBook Nano 2014 with iOS Pro 2.1"... then on the mobile side "Apple iPad 2014 with iOS 7.2" (for 10 inch iPad), "Apple iPad Mini 2014 with iOS 7.2" (7 inch iPad), and then just a single name for "Apple iPhone 2014 with iOS 7.2".
Of course they would have the branding of the devices and OS's separate so it would just be "Apple iBook Mini 2014". As far as individual specifications such as 32GB iPhone vs 64GB iPhone.. well its really not necessary to differentiate them from a branding standpoint... and iPhone is an iPhone even though their may be several different bin's for each model.
Some of these may sound silly and of course I am just shooting in the dark, but what I am getting at is this... I don't expect the technical aspects of iOS and Mac OS being integrated at all, but I definitely see the branding strategy being integrated. I also think you going to start seeing a more tightly controlled design language. Right now a Macbook doesn't resemble an iPhone in the slightest and an iPad only slightly resembles and iPhone, and the new iPad mini will more closely resemble the iPhone but not the Macbook. Apple is going to put this on lock down soon I can assure you of that. The reason the devices are different now may have had a research component to it, in other words "lets field some different design languages and see which ones are the most successful", at this point its time for them to start putting that knowledge to good use.
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Sorry that was loooooong, I got my Master's in Entertainment business from FullSail so I am pretty interested in marketing and branding strategies... my B.S. is in IT from FSU, so yea this kinda thing is what I live for and apple is a good company to study.
I foresee several ways this could go, it could be Mac OS 11, Mac OSXI, Mac OSXi (pronounced Ex eye), or the could phase out the mac branding entirely going with the "i" moniker for their computers, we already know they plan to phase out the Mac Pro so it wouldn't be a stretch to go back to iBook for laptops and then lets say iDesk for the iMac, and iBox for the mac mini... then they would be free to drop the Mac from the OS name. It just seems redundant to say "Apple Macintosh Macbook Pro 15 with Mac OSX 10.8" (I know no one would say it that way but you get the point). At this point apple is famous for being apple, "Macintosh" is just a vestigial brand name from days long gone.
It would be cleaner and therefore more inline with apples minimalist product and branding strategy to simplify things. For example, "Apple iBook 15 with iOS Pro 2.1" for a laptop, which would complement yet still differentiate from "Apple iPhone 6s with iOS 7.2" ... of course the two OS's would be very different just have similar names.
They could also drop he fancy model names and stick to years and size, since most of their products are on a 1 year timeline anyway. Example, "Apple iBook 2014 with iOS Pro 2.1" (for a 15 inch laptop), "Apple iBook Mini 2014 with iOS Pro 2.1" (for a 13 inch laptop), "Apple iBook Nano 2014 with iOS Pro 2.1"... then on the mobile side "Apple iPad 2014 with iOS 7.2" (for 10 inch iPad), "Apple iPad Mini 2014 with iOS 7.2" (7 inch iPad), and then just a single name for "Apple iPhone 2014 with iOS 7.2".
Of course they would have the branding of the devices and OS's separate so it would just be "Apple iBook Mini 2014". As far as individual specifications such as 32GB iPhone vs 64GB iPhone.. well its really not necessary to differentiate them from a branding standpoint... and iPhone is an iPhone even though their may be several different bin's for each model.
Some of these may sound silly and of course I am just shooting in the dark, but what I am getting at is this... I don't expect the technical aspects of iOS and Mac OS being integrated at all, but I definitely see the branding strategy being integrated. I also think you going to start seeing a more tightly controlled design language. Right now a Macbook doesn't resemble an iPhone in the slightest and an iPad only slightly resembles and iPhone, and the new iPad mini will more closely resemble the iPhone but not the Macbook. Apple is going to put this on lock down soon I can assure you of that. The reason the devices are different now may have had a research component to it, in other words "lets field some different design languages and see which ones are the most successful", at this point its time for them to start putting that knowledge to good use.
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Sorry that was loooooong, I got my Master's in Entertainment business from FullSail so I am pretty interested in marketing and branding strategies... my B.S. is in IT from FSU, so yea this kinda thing is what I live for and apple is a good company to study.
OS X is too strong of a brand for Apple to let go, iOS is based on OS X so they already are about as integrated as you can get practically between a computer and a smartphone OS. If they tried to integrate the UI more you would either end up with a horrible user experience on one or the other, or end up with an OS that doesn't do anything well.