My observations tell me that Apple is kind of "stuck between" the past, present, and the future, when it comes to vocabulary use across its platforms. Here's two examples:
a) Macintosh/Mac
For the most part, the term "Macintosh" has been replaced with the term "Mac", which assimilated the old "Macintosh" usage that used to be all over Apple marketing, products, and software. As far as I know, the "Macintosh" term currently exists only in two places in macOS: the "About Finder" dialog, and the default name for the hard drive/SSD boot volume ("Macintosh HD"). Of course, there is no reference to the "Macintosh" term within iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and on the Apple website, other than some press releases.
I can understand Apple wanting to stick with "Mac" for simplicity, but there's something about the old "Macintosh" term that is appealing, has old-school charm, and feels true to Apple's roots. I personally wish Apple could use the "Macintosh" term more.
b) Applications/Apps
Apple is all over the place with using "application/s" vs. "app/s" on all their platforms. For the most part, on macOS, "application/s" seem to be the overall default, proven by the main Applications folder, but there are some areas in macOS that use "app/s" instead. (Examples: the force quit dialog uses "apps", while "About This Mac" > Storage > Manage Storage uses "applications".)
For iOS, it's mostly "app/s", although there are a few references to "application/s" scattered around. (Examples: searching for an app in iOS' main search will show "Applications" as a category, while Settings show "apps" under the Control Center setting. A few setting panels do use "applications", though, such as Privacy and General.)
It would be nice to see Apple be more consistent with word use across all its platforms and on their website, although it's interesting to see differences, even within the same OS. Perhaps individual preferences are what creates the scattered use?
Thoughts? I know this is kind of minutiae and very micro, but I just find it interesting, and can use for some fascinating discussion.
a) Macintosh/Mac
For the most part, the term "Macintosh" has been replaced with the term "Mac", which assimilated the old "Macintosh" usage that used to be all over Apple marketing, products, and software. As far as I know, the "Macintosh" term currently exists only in two places in macOS: the "About Finder" dialog, and the default name for the hard drive/SSD boot volume ("Macintosh HD"). Of course, there is no reference to the "Macintosh" term within iOS, tvOS, watchOS, and on the Apple website, other than some press releases.
I can understand Apple wanting to stick with "Mac" for simplicity, but there's something about the old "Macintosh" term that is appealing, has old-school charm, and feels true to Apple's roots. I personally wish Apple could use the "Macintosh" term more.
b) Applications/Apps
Apple is all over the place with using "application/s" vs. "app/s" on all their platforms. For the most part, on macOS, "application/s" seem to be the overall default, proven by the main Applications folder, but there are some areas in macOS that use "app/s" instead. (Examples: the force quit dialog uses "apps", while "About This Mac" > Storage > Manage Storage uses "applications".)
For iOS, it's mostly "app/s", although there are a few references to "application/s" scattered around. (Examples: searching for an app in iOS' main search will show "Applications" as a category, while Settings show "apps" under the Control Center setting. A few setting panels do use "applications", though, such as Privacy and General.)
It would be nice to see Apple be more consistent with word use across all its platforms and on their website, although it's interesting to see differences, even within the same OS. Perhaps individual preferences are what creates the scattered use?
Thoughts? I know this is kind of minutiae and very micro, but I just find it interesting, and can use for some fascinating discussion.