OS X goes to the dogs

Do you know those things that you take for granted, but when you stop and think about them you realise that they could have so easily been something else? I can only think of one, actually, but that’s ok because by happy coincidence that’s the only one I want to write about.

Since the introduction of OS X in 2001, Apple has been using cat breeds for each iteration’s pre-release codename. 10.0 was Cheetah, 10.1 Puma, 10.2 Jaguar, 10.3 Panther, 10.4 Tiger, and 10.5 will be Leopard. Apple has also registered Lynx and Cougar as trademarks, so I imagine we’ll see them eventually too. I find no mentions of Lion, but maybe they’re saving that for the final version of System 10: The King of the OS Jungle? Jaguar was the first release to be openly marketed with its codename, and has been the only one so far to use the cat’s coat as a part of its imagery.


So they’re using cats, brilliant, but how easily could it have been something else?! Just because I would have made it cats, doesn’t mean that anyone else would. I’d love to know how the decision was made. Was it the result of extensive polling and months of intensive focus groups, or did some guy in marketing just like cats? Lucky he didn’t like dogs. Not that that’d work though. No matter how you feel about dogs, who’d be able to pitch that successfully? Ok, we’ll start off with 10.0 Bloodhound, move onto 10.1 Pit Bull, followed by 10.2 Doberman, 10.3 Rottweiler and 10.4 German Shepherd-Dingo cross who’s really never done anything like that before and has always been so good around the children...

Alright, alright, let’s be gracious and go with your most popular, non-face eating breeds: Mac OS X 10.0 Collie, 10.1 Corgi, 10.2 Dalmatian, 10.3 Poodle, 10.4 Samoyed, and 10.5 Scottish Terrier from the Chum ads. Well I’m not impressed, although I guess those aren’t actually the equivalents of the majestic big cats, are they? So what would be? Umm… 10.0 Wolf, 10.1 Coyote, 10.2 Dingo, 10.3 Jackal, 10.4 Fox and… I think I’m out! Maybe we’d have to go back to wolves and have 10.5 Grey Wolf, 10.6 Red Wolf, and so on? Doesn’t make much of a difference though really. Doesn’t inspire me or fill me with confidence; just unease and suspicion. It’d possibly be enough to drive me back to Winblows!

Well, for whatever reason, I’m glad Apple went with cats for codenames. They’re better than Windows’ set of ski-resort inspired codenames (um, Longhorn, hello?), and they’re much, much better than dog names. It’s nice to have such an alignment of two of my favourite things.