Why Are Operating System Version Names So Absurd?

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Why Are Operating System Version Names So Absurd?

Posted by timothy on Tuesday September 11, 2012 @05:09AM from the bet-you-can-think-of-a-few-reasons dept.

jfruh writes "Apple's spent more than a decade on version 10 — or, rather, X — of its flagship operating system, with .x versions named after big cats (and many of them, it turns out, after the same big cats). Ubuntu Linux is scrambling to find ever more obscure animals to alliteratively name its versions after. And let's not even talk about Windows, whose current shipping OS is sold as Windows 7 but is really Windows NT 6.1. Why is this area of software marketing so ridiculous?"

23 of 460 comments (clear)

And what's the deal with names anyway? by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-11 05:10 · Score: 5, Funny

My friend Peter is not a rock, and my friend Thomas isn't even a twin.
1. Re:And what's the deal with names anyway? by Beardo+the+Bearded · 2012-09-11 06:15 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I've been shaving since 2004.
  
  --
  
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  ECHELON is a government program to find words like bomb, jihad, plutonium, assassinate, and anarchy.
Or Fifa 98 by Mr.+Kinky · 2012-09-11 05:12 · Score: 5, Funny

Can you believe that Fifa 98 was really made in 1997?! WOOOHOO!
Re:Marketing by 0racle · 2012-09-11 05:16 · Score: 4, Funny

Not very faithful then are they.

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"I use a Mac because I'm just better than you are."
Absurd? by 3vi1 · 2012-09-11 05:21 · Score: 3, Funny

Absurd? I don't know what you're talking about.
[posted from Quantal Quetzal 12.10b1]
If they avoided numbers... by msauve · 2012-09-11 05:22 · Score: 4, Funny

...the might end up with something like:
OS
OS:The Animated Series
OS:The Next Generation
OS: Deep Space 9
OS: Voyager
OS: Enterprise

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Re:Marketing by Dogtanian · 2012-09-11 05:30 · Score: 5, Funny

Probably true, but they're going downhill on the feline names already.
I hope they don't change before we get "OS X Domestic Cat".

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Re:Marketing by thePowerOfGrayskull · 2012-09-11 05:32 · Score: 4, Funny

Probably true, but they're going downhill on the feline names already.
I hope they don't change before we get "OS X Domestic Cat".
OS X Kitty has a better ring to it.
Re:Newsworthy? by Nimey · 2012-09-11 05:34 · Score: 4, Funny

Pfft. They'd abuse it like the "story" tag that gets put onto non-stories all the time.

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Hail Eris, full of mischief...

E pluribus sanguinem
Re:Marketing by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-11 05:37 · Score: 4, Funny

OS X Kitty has a better ring to it.

How about OSX Dangerous Pussy?
talk about it on /.? by udachny · 2012-09-11 05:42 · Score: 2, Funny

Yeah, names. Like /.
http:///..com gotcha.

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MY OTHER COMMENTS
1. Re:talk about it on /.? by OhSoLaMeow · 2012-09-11 07:28 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  A site about proctologists???
  
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  They can take my LifeAlert pendant when they pry it from my cold dead fingers.
Re:Marketing by crazyjj · 2012-09-11 05:44 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, for some reason, they already rejected my suggestion: "OS X Pussy"

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Re:Easy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-11 06:03 · Score: 5, Funny

Which came first, Debian Potatoe or Debian Sarge?
Which came first, Debian Chicken or Debian Egg?
Re:Easy by Anonymous Coward · 2012-09-11 06:04 · Score: 3, Funny

If they were really smart, the would release every six months. Like maybe in April and October. Then they could follow a year.month format for their releases. So 11.10 could be released October 2011, and 12.04 could be released April 2012, maybe a 12.10 in October 2012.
Re:Marketing by Ralphus+Maximus · 2012-09-11 06:41 · Score: 5, Funny

OS X Hello Kitty

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Nobody's as dumb, as I appear to be
Re:Easy by RaceProUK · 2012-09-11 06:53 · Score: 1, Funny

We at ACME Products Ltd apologise for the fault in your Sarcasm Detector, and have shipped a replacement for immediate installation. Please dispose of the old part responsibly.

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No colour or religion ever stopped the bullet from a gun
Re:Easy by EGSonikku · 2012-09-11 07:07 · Score: 4, Funny

Newer iPad. Followed by Newest iPad & Shut Up And Take My Money iPad.

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- "Scientia non habet inimicum nisp ignorantem"
Re:Marketing by PixetaledPikachu · 2012-09-11 07:10 · Score: 4, Funny

OS X Kitty has a better ring to it.
How about OSX Dangerous Pussy?
That would be OSXXX Dangerous Pussy
Re:Marketing by acid_andy · 2012-09-11 07:12 · Score: 3, Funny

Well, for some reason, they already rejected my suggestion: "OS X Pussy"
or vagina.

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Re:Marketing by AragornSonOfArathorn · 2012-09-11 07:56 · Score: 3, Funny

Mac OS X Cringer.
Then they can license "By the power of Greyskull! I have the POWER!!!!" as a marketing gimmick to promote the following release, Mac OS X Battle Cat.

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sudo eat my shorts
Re:Marketing by Hotawa+Hawk-eye · 2012-09-11 08:37 · Score: 4, Funny

OS X Soft Kitty
OS X Warm Kitty
OS X Happy Kitty
OS X Sleepy Kitty
But those are bug fix releases ... for a computer program, having a bug is kind of like being sick, right?
Re:The real reason Windows has the version number. by SteveFoerster · 2012-09-11 08:43 · Score: 3, Funny

To get around this issue, Windows internally names it 6.1, so the offending software thinks it's on some Vista service pack.
Correctly, many would say.

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