“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.]
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.
Lion is the king of the jungle
Right. Let’s see an adult lion single-handedly take on an adult elephant.
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)
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.
Oh no! It’s a Cat-astophe!
no, no.. it’s a cat ass trophy
I’ve been wondering the same thing for ages already.
Pussycat hasn’t been used yet…
Catwoman
Best two names from the comments so far are…
OS X Pussy
OS X Liger
Priceless!
Everybody knows the name of Mac OS 10.8,
it’s iOS
😉
Puddy Cat?
Maybe a transition is needed.
How about a Tiger Shark
Hamerhead Shark
Great White Shark
Maybe only a transition is needed with the big cat name in it.
How about ‘SaberTooth’
Maybe Apple will move to System 11, and name each iteration after another animal!
Hmmm. Birds?
Hawks?
How about Dinosaurs? Maybe T-Rex or Raptor?
How many Nashville Cats are there?
LOLCAT.
And of course, Nyan Cat
Smilodon
Birds Of Prey is the answer
Kilrathi
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…
Th..th..thh…thylvethter (wipe screen)
Next cat discussions… again.
Think a bit, next iteration will be… iOS 6. Maybe 7. Didn’t Steve and all his “post-PC” era remarks teach you anything?
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!
Mac OS X Tigris! Sponsor Kung Fu Panda! The mighty paw of just, the fearful fist tougher than iron. Tigris, the salvation, the solution, to the world of personal computing. Tigris will provide the fearful yet just force to reconcile all threats to the user, and provide the comfort as soft as a felines tamed fur. Soft and gentle to the touch.
Just an idea. Made up on the spot!
Love the ad at the top! Some kinda cat poo box
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?
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.
Top Cat…,close friends get to call him TC. 😉