Apple Officially Drops 'Mac' Name from OS X Mountain Lion

[faroZ06]

How about calling it "Mountain Lion" or whatever cat they're at in the system info but having the full name be "Mac OS" and dropping the "X"? So iOS and Mac OS.

The "X" was supposed to mean "10" (after OS 9), but they just stayed there because "XI" is lame. I'd call Cheetah and Mountain Lion different enough OSs for them to not both be OS 10. Windows at least only puts numbers on their OSs if they make sense (although they've come up with idiotic names like XP, Vista, and ME). Sadly, XP is still their best.

 

[Bear]

So Apple's ARM based laptops and desktops won't be Macs, but still run OS X?

(Who knows if Apple will ever release ARM based laptops and desktops, but...)

 

[Bheleu]

Ugh, Windows8 ???

They're not going to run the same OS on an iPad and a desktop Mac. That just wouldn't make sense. What's a PC without a file browser?

Have you tried Win 8 yet? It is designed just for that very purpose, but it does have a file browser, so my guess is that something is coming. M$ is trying to get into the tablet market, so might be playing their hand too and merging things such that they will get into the PC market or just merging tablets with their PC line instead of the industries. One way or the other, this is a message that something is headed our way.

 

[576316]

As a few have mentioned above, I too hope this name dropping is a suggestion that Mac is going to end up being available on devices other than those made by Apple. I think Apple could make a lot more money if they released Mac as an installable OS.

 

[miraclehobo]

As a few have mentioned above, I too hope this name dropping is a suggestion that Mac is going to end up being available on devices other than those made by Apple. I think Apple could make a lot more money if they released Mac as an installable OS.

Ha, I hope this is some sort of joke. Wow

 

[dashiel]

It's part of Apple's ongoing evolution. Remember when the company changed its name from Apple Computer, Incorporated to Apple Incorporated? That was in 2007. "Computer" had literally been the company's middle name for 30 years until then.

Exactly. There’s saying that I will butcher, but effectively it’s “keep what is necessary, remove everything else” Mac OS X is redundant, OS X is cleaner and more harmonious with iOS.

Because OS X is now basically iOS...

I keep hearing people moan on about the iOS-ification of OS X; how it’s not for “power users” anymore. Exactly what can’t you do on Lion that you could on Snow Leopard? From the scant publicly released features of Mountain Lion what drastic limitations are imposed? None.

I’m running Lion right now in a user account (like you’re supposed to), I have a terminal window open and logged in to my admin account so I can run ColdFusion Development Server. I’m running a customized install of Apache 2 & MySQL with virtual hosts set up. I have a virtualized Window XP and Windows 7 install running, both in full screen, also with modified host files. I’ve got two SSH sessions going to live servers. I just created a password protected zip from the command line. I usually have to connect to a VPN for secure access to servers and screen share a Windows NT install to nudge the SVN server when it fails to execute a post-commit hook.

I have a sneaking suspicion most of the grousing about the “iOS-ification” of OS X is coming from people who’ve never so much as opened Terminal.

 

[phillipduran]

This is exactly like when "iPhone OS" was renamed to "iOS".
Something's coming.

More signs pointing to the possibility of one OS across iPad, iPhone and Macs.

 

[iMikeT]

After doing some thinking in the last few minutes...

I just realized something. I think Apple's strategy is to bring us LCARS. Well not literally, but something similar. That is it's going to be a single operating system across multiple devices where everything is streamlined and seamless. Work that is being performed on a desktop doesn't have to stop there, swipe it over to your iPad and take it to go. This is exactly what Microsoft was trying to do all those years ago when they presented "The home of the future" at CES. Except this time, it's in the right hands.

 

[Krazy Bill]

"The Macintosh (as Tim Cook prefers to call it)"

A slip up if you ask me. His use of that term just shows how out of touch he is with the mainstream Mac user base IMO. I haven't heard "macintosh" used in over a decade.

 

[Mac21ND]

Well, dropping "Mac" I guess is better, than, say...

"Mac OS X Home Premium Edition 64 bit"

 

[Molecule]

As a few have mentioned above, I too hope this name dropping is a suggestion that Mac is going to end up being available on devices other than those made by Apple. I think Apple could make a lot more money if they released Mac as an installable OS.

Because that worked out so well for them last time... /s

 

[Liquinn]

As a few have mentioned above, I too hope this name dropping is a suggestion that Mac is going to end up being available on devices other than those made by Apple. I think Apple could make a lot more money if they released Mac as an installable OS.

Hm, then you lose the hardware/software combo.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Wow, I really nailed it this time.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14322247/
Not only is OSX toast, so is the Mac.
Welcome to your iFuture of locked down iToys,
operating systems, apps and upgrades.
You have totally surrendered control.

 

[Apple Knowledge Navigator]

It's just a name... Get a grip of yourselves!

 

[notjustjay]

Think of it this way: you visit a website with a desktop browser, you get the normal desktop version of the site. You visit that same website with an iPhone and you get an iPhone-optimized, mobile version of the site. Same website, same codebase, same information, but different views into it.

I suspect the ultimate goal is to have one version of OS X that runs on both iOS devices and Macs, but offers different features in each. They already started off with the same kernel, now they're extending that reach somewhat.

 

[faroZ06]

Have you tried Win 8 yet? It is designed just for that very purpose, but it does have a file browser, so my guess is that something is coming. M$ is trying to get into the tablet market, so might be playing their hand too and merging things such that they will get into the PC market or just merging tablets with their PC line instead of the industries. One way or the other, this is a message that something is headed our way.

MS and Apple are different. Having a file browser on a mobile OS is just clunky and annoying, which is Microsoft's speciality.

 

[igorleandro]

I kind of like it...

When you come to think of it, it makes total sense. iOS is for the "i" devices while OS is for the others. It is called Mac OS because it started with the Mac, but then we had notebooks, and we don't have a MacBook OS. Since the X became part of the name for so long now, that is where they might be going to, with OS X being the "Apple OS" name for all the hardware that are not "i"Devices.

To me, OS X makes more sense than Mac OS X because the OS powers much more than just "the mac".

 

[georgemann]

Maybe Apple thinks that they are finally in a position to go head to head with Microsoft (and of course Google) and are planning to try the OS licensing route again. Samsung selling OSX computers (and iOS phones) could be quite profitable for Apple.

 

[NoIdeasOriginal]

I'm not concerned about them dropping the Mac in OSX, just don't take any of the Macs functionality away.

 

[baleensavage]

Apple will never put OS X on an iPad. That would be counter to everything they've done so far. They may put iOS on a laptop though or eventually merge the two. This just looks like a brand consolidation thing. Macs are the names of the hardware computers. Not the names of the OS, so you have iOS and OSX. Like someone else mentioned, it's just like when they removed the iPhone from the iOS name.

With that said, it is a curiously timed move. It could be simply a brand consolidation thing or we could be seeing some new device that has Mac OS on it hence the move to separate the hardware from the software branding. Though for the life of me, I can't think of anything that they would make that they would put OSX on instead of iOS.

Though... If they put Mac OS X on a TV instead of iOS, they would instantly have a TV with access to Hulu, Netflix, Amazon and all the other streaming media sites without having to have paid apps like they do on iOS, not to mention iTunes and Steam and other apps. It doesn't seem likely, but it would solve the content issues for sure. Of course the interface issues would be another thing entirely. No one wants to navigate their TV with a mouse and Front Row is DOA. Which would mean, Siri for Mac OS. And really, you put Mac OS on a TV and you may as well just stick an iMac in your living room, it would basically be just the same thing. All in all iOS on a TV seems like a much safer bet.

 

[faroZ06]

Wow, I really nailed it this time.
https://forums.macrumors.com/posts/14322247/
Not only is OSX toast, so is the Mac.
Welcome to your iFuture of locked down iToys,
operating systems, apps and upgrades.
You have totally surrendered control.

No?
"No worries. OSX will be gone in two years." <--- OSX is not gone...
That is what you said. They got rid of "Mac" in "Mac OS X" to clean up the redundant name.

 

[Apple Key]

They should have dropped the "X" instead. Mac OS.

 

[stisdal]

OS X on the iPad in the future?

 

[RedRaven571]

I hope they just leave Macbook a Macbook and it wont be iSomething

Wasn't there an iBook sometime in the past?

 

[baleensavage]

Also, it's very doubtful that Apple will be licensing OS X. They've been that road before and remember how well it worked for them? Seriously, Apple is a hardware company first and foremost. There's no way they are going to open up that can of worms again. Apple wants complete control of every aspect of the user experience from manufacturing down to software.