Mac OS X Ocelot? Apple’s running out of cats

141 Comments

“Apple is running out of big cats,” Brian Caulfield reports for Forbes.

“Ten years ago, Apple introduced the first major release of its OS X operating system, Cheetah,” Caulfield reports. “Since then, all seven new versions of the operating system have been named after big cats.”

“The problem: there are only so many kinds of cats,” Caulfield reports. “Lion — which incorporates a few tricks learned from Apple’s iPad — was released in July. Apple hasn’t said anything, publicly, about the next version of its OS X operating system.”

Caulfield reports, “First they’ll have to come up with a name. That could be hard. All of the animals Apple has used come from Felidae family in the Carnivora order of mammals… There are a lot of other cats left. None of them are particularly intimidating though. The Eurasian Lynx, can weigh as much as 66 pounds. Even less fearsome: the Eurasian Lynx’s North American cousin, the bobcat; the ocelot — the biggest of the dinky Leopardus genus; and felix catus, the domestic cat. Apple hasn’t tapped a third group of Felidae, now extinct, known as the Machairodontinae.”

Read more in the full article here.

MacDailyNews Note: What’s your OS X name of choice? Take our poll in the left column of the main site.

Mac OS X versions, names/codenames, and release dates:

• Mac OS X 10.7 Lion : July 20, 2011
• Mac OS X 10.6 Snow Leopard: August 28, 2009
• Mac OS X 10.5 Leopard: October 26, 2007
• Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger: April 29, 2005
• Mac OS X 10.3 Panther: October 24, 2003
• Mac OS X 10.2 Jaguar: August 24, 2002
• Mac OS X 10.1 Puma: September 25, 2001
• Mac OS X 10.0 Cheetah: March 24, 2001
• Mac OS X Public Beta: September 13, 2000.

[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Fred Mertz” for the heads up.]

141 Comments

    1. … do that? To start with, we’re talking Naming Conventions, here. Not internals. And, as far as naming conventions go … “X” is a huge “win”. Instantly recognizable! What’s the plus side of “XI”? Or would you rather write it “Xi”? Save dialing it up to “11” for a major change in OS internal code structure. Or, when “X” gets some serious bad press that you need to walk away from.

      Reply

    2. Apple took (almost) two years to move from a rather incremental update (Snow Leopard) to a rather major update (Lion). However, when SL came out (August 09), a few months later we already started hearing about the next OS, with rumours confirming the existence of a development build of 10.7 in November of the same year.

      We’re now almost five months after Lion hit the App Store. Other than some web traffic logs identifying some browsers as 10.8, no developer build has been reported yet.

      I wouldn’t be surprised if the Lion were the final cat in the OS X world, and the Mac hardware soon transitioned to iOS. Apple has done this transition before and they can do it again. Just build multi-touch Macs (no mouse, optional keyboard), make them ergonomically comfortable and force developers to port their UI to iOS (like 68k to PPC, System 9 to OSX, PPC to Intel, 32bit to 64bit… they’ve been there already, they’ll do it again). Put the mouse in the museum, where it rightfully belongs.

      Reply

      1. While I do believe that is coming, I don’t think it’s coming just yet. iOS is a fine OS for mobile but it lacks things a full desktop needs. I believe that Apple will continue to make desktops/laptops for a long while yet. Like Steve said, desktops/laptops will be like trucks. Car companies make tons of cars but they still make some trucks.

        Reply

    4. Yes, you are right. The next release of the Mac’s OS will be a major overhaul. No more big cat names, especially since there are no more good ones left except Cougar (and you can’t follow Lion with Cougar).

      However, if Lion has some “legs” and can go another two years with a Leopard-to-Snow-Leopard type of “technical” upgrade, perhaps Apple can use a name that is related to “Lion.”

      Since we are now “in the iCloud,” Apple should switch to birds of prey (raptors). Falcon, Hawk, Eagle, Osprey, Harrier, Owl… (and all the sub-species such as “Peregrine Falcon” and “Golden Eagle”).

      Reply

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    2. Liger and/or tigon would make sense once Siri is ported over to really help drive the point home that 2 “species” of operating system have been bred together to create a hybrid that is bigger and stronger than either of the original “parents”…

      Reply

        6. I was only trying to say that Apple could re-use both Cheetah and Puma and very few would be the wiser. I started with 10 in its beta days, and was only aware of any _public_ display of name when Jaguar hit the stage. So I wouldn’t get a hair on my ass if 10.8 was called Cheetah. But, there is Lynx, Cougar, Bobcat, Margay, Ocelot, Serval, Caracal, Colocolo, Oncilla, and Kodkod left to use, from common names.

    1. Aside from the obvious social reference, I think a Cougar is the same thing as a Puma, Mountain Lion, etc…

      An extinct animal might not be a great choice either. Too easy to joke about that fact.

      I’m thinking something futuristic. Maybe Constellations, stars, Star Trek starship classes or names. Mac OS X Dreadnaught.

      Reply

      1. You’re correct it is the same but Cougar is still a different name. I’m guessing Cupertino is probably more interested in using a name that is part of a theme as opposed to wether or not the genus has already been used.

        Reply

  25. Or… Mac OS X Mountain Lion

    If we had a Snow Leopard, we can have a mountain lios. How much American can it be?

    OK, a mountain lion and a puma are the same thing, I guess, but who cares? LOL!!!

    Perhaps its time to Mac OS XI, and switch to birds: Eagle, Falcon, Condor, Vulture, Tweety Bird….

    Sorry, guys, I’m just foling around….

    Reply

  26. Lion is the king of the jungle, with Lion there is no way to up from there, and I think I saw an article to that effect too when Lion first came out. Maybe this is the end of the road for OS X, I assume the X came from it being based on the NXT OS it was based on, my guess it will be macOS or maybe just mOS to go with iOS, so the first will be macOS 1.0. No more animals or names.

    Reply

    2. Did a doc a few years back on big african cats…. So while not an expert I play one on TV… 😉

      First off the king of the jungle is the tiger not the lion. The lion is a savanna dweller (open plains) Second (as metryq pointed out) they are several more powerful animals that no cat (alive today) would even consider messing with (the elephant rhino and the hippo quickly come to mind)

      You could say that the Lion is the apex predator of his domain (but so are most large cats like the tiger, leopard puma, cougar, mountain lion , panther (the last 4 of these are actually the same species (Felis concolor) in different environments)

      Reply

      1. Oh forgot the point…

        So Apple could easily go with Cougar or Mountain Lion. I like the Sabertooth (the most powerful cat (at least that we are aware of) that has ever walked the earth.) But it is of course extinct so I don’t know how good an idea naming something after an extinct animal would be.

        Reply

  42. People, the whole idea behind the names was to use something that sounded fast, powerful, agile and natural (i.e., the way you want your OS to be). There are lots of other kinds of names (rivers are natural but evoke speed, fighter planes are powerful but destructive, Star Trek ship names are fast, but not natural). Anyway, the cats fit all four categories. Nothing artificial or destructive, fast, “quick on a dime” and powerful.

    My guess is that they will need to come up with something else (vultures is NOT a good idea- I hope it’s obvious why), but fast and powerful birds might work. Maybe bears? Probably not.

    it’s not so easy coming up with a whole class of names (look how bad Google is at it- I mean really: Ice Cream Sandwich?? Horrible…)

    Maybe, in the end, they’ll just go back to plain old numbers…

    Reply

  45. The next animal is going to be a different species of mammals, and there are plenty of impressive mammals to choose from. Apple is already thinking hard on this. Just type “www.mammals.org” into your browser and see for yourself!

    Reply

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    Just an idea. Made up on the spot!

    Reply

  48. Why does it have to be a dangerous cat? For people using OS X at home, something more domestic might appeal. House Cat? Or with a little more edge: Alley Cat, Stray Cat, Hell Cat, Tom Cat? Or reaching for the gentler side: Kitty, Kit-Kat, Kitten, Pussy?

    Reply

  49. Saber Tooth Tiger – seems likely

    WHO SAID apple NEEDS to CONTINUE the cat theme?
    Who thought APPLE planned TEN NAMES out or TWENTY names of CATS to ROLL out OSX?

    as said OSX 11 perhaps is a ALL NEW project to come.

    Reply

  52. I like the idea of moving to mythical creatures. I think the logical segue would be the gryphon.

    The body of a lion with the head, wings and talons of an eagle.
    The lion is king of beasts while the eagle is the king of birds and flight.

    Gryphons are said to mate for life and are known to be guardians of treasures and priceless possessions. What could be a better analog for Mac OS X security?

    Reply

  56. Some people have suggested that Cupertino would name the next release of OS X this or that, but I don’t think the city council will have any say in how Apple names its operating systems.

    Apple seems to have hit to the top with Lion, the king of the beasts. Extinct cats aren’t a good idea, because they are zoologically old fashioned and the competition can joke that they are dinosaurs. Better the future than the past. The default desktop backgrounds might be a clue. If they stick with “OS X” they might switch to names like Galaxy and Quasar (but not Black Hole!)

    There are two problems, really. The cats and the X. The ten in the version number is the name of the operating system, so OS X 10.7 is OS ten ten seven. We’ve been in OS 10 for a very long time. Somewhere along the line, the whole name has to change, or we’ll have OS X 10.10.10 (OS ten ten ten ten). They used a Roman numeral (itself a bit dated) to keep 10 a single digit.

    I think the whole name is going to change, eventually. Whatever’s the case, I’m sure they’re already thinking about it if they haven’t decided on a new naming scheme already. The marketing impact is greater if they don’t disclose the name until they introduce the product.

    Reply

  58. Had a fluffy black cat in the 70s, a real freak of nature, smarter than any other cat, or dog for that matter. He understood many words and phrases, could climb in ways seemingly impossible, preternaturally skilled hunter (even bats and rabbits). He didn’t take commands but was open to suggestion, liked cars and tv, and would convert the most obdurate cat hater. Even his hard bitten vat wept when he died. His name was Mojo. You can have it, that’s fine.

    Reply

  65. Keep OS X but switch from cat names since Lion was already the top cat.

    I never liked that Apple went with a space theme for the desktop and Time Machine but used cat names for the OS.

    I like consistency. The OS, desktop wallpaper, user icons, etc should all convey the same thing. Then the users can personalize.

    Reply

  68. Mac os 10.8 may well become iOS 6, a single unified operating system. At some point mobile devices and desktop devices will merge seamlessly together, we already have dual core processors in the iPhone and multi touch on the desktop, so we’re really not that far away.

    Reply

  74. Back in the day, working versions of MS ‘Windoze’ used to be tagged with city names whose relative distance from Redmond was some indication about how far those versions were from being unleashed on the public; so I am not suggesting city names.
    Bird names are good, but the list of good bird names (like good cat names) are also somewhat limited.

    For a rather more extensive name resource, perhaps star names should be considered (not necessarily constellation names, but not excluding it either).

    Reply

  79. Mac OS X beta had a name: Rhapsody.

    We discussed here last year at length all the remaining cat species. Besides ocelot I also recall lynx. Those two would take us up through 10.8 and 10.9. At that point Apple can come up with other fun working titles.

    Therefore, a more fun speculation would be:
    What animal, vegetable or mineral Apple will use for Mac OS X 11?!

    Reply

  88. The Roman numeral for the number eleven is XI. Therefore to remain consistent, it would be logical for the the operating system that follows OS X , to be named OS XI. As to the nickname to go along with it, Fat Cat seems about right.

    Reply

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