Should Apple ditch the codenames from macOS?

[Corefile]

I don't want them to but think they will do it this year with macOS 27 aligned to the year. It is not done for any other OS release from Apple so I think they'll completely sanitize it.

 

[redheeler]

Nah they're fun

 

[sevoneone]

No. I think the names helps when discussing stuff on forums like this. Helps with clarity.

I like the names, but think 100% the opposite. Less than a decade on and how many people can remember if Mojave or High Sierra is the older OS? When someone says El Capitan, where is that in relative time? It's somewhere between Mavericks and Big Sur, but closer to which end? Does it support a feature you know was released with Sierra? Which came first?

The codenames are for marketing, everythign else should use the version number. Which makes even more sense now that the version is tied to the year.

 

[Mrbobb]

I am proud of my California heritage so no.

 

[benwiggy]

"It's 2035. The latest OS is OS 35. You're still running OS 29 on your 2026 MBP; but you can upgrade to OS 34."

"It's 2035. The latest OS is Snow Badger. You're still running Ocelot on your 2026 MBP; but you can upgrade to Wolverine."

One of these conveys more information, particularly to people who aren't tech nerds.

 

[Lounge vibes 05]

If anything, I wish Apple would just bring the name to all of the operating systems and unify around an entire theme each year.
Matching or contrasting macOS and iOS wallpapers, an accompanying tvOS screensaver and so on.
I think the names are fun, keeps around a little bit of the whimsy from the early days of the Internet and operating systems.

 

[mdcmdcmdc]

I voted yes, ditch the names, but I'm a numbers person. The names are arbitrary and provide no information about what version came before or after what, unless you (a) remember or (b) look it up. I'm glad Apple is at least going to year-based numbering.

 

[FatLouie]

They release the OS in September (or very early in October), leaving only 3 months of the year where the date is wrong. Doing it the way you're saying would make it wrong for 9 months of the year.

The only way to avoid the problem would be to release the OS' every January 1st. Or they could pull a Microsoft and keep the release year in the name for several years so the marketing team can take an extended multi-year sabbatical. 😆

True about Microsoft. On the other hand, instead of rushing out a new OS every year, they would let an OS percolate for a few years, then offer a newer OS. In the interim, Microsoft did patches, etc. Not that the damn OS ran any better, but they did try. 🙂

With Apple pushing a new OS every year, they are publishing updates, but at the same time, there is this internal push and diversion of resources to get a new OS ready in 9 months. Microsoft had a better way; OS was not necessarily better, but the user base had an easier go of it.

 

[FatLouie]

Well, should it?

I voted no for sentimental reasons.

I want to see them go to hex numbers. Yeah, that's the ticket. OK, if the OS is named after the year, like 2026, then they could just tell us:

MacOS 07EA

 

[DankeBrutus]

Yes. This is a persistent problem across the industry.

Look at Linux. No one can tell what version Ubuntu Manky Mutt is. Is it older or newer than Feral Ferret or Stoned Snake.

Numbers are by nature ordered.

I think the difference is I haven't heard anyone saying in the wild "I'm using jammy jellyfish." They'll say the year code, which I think is the better way of talking about Ubuntu. An even year + April is an LTS release (22.04, 24.04, 26.04) and everything else is a point release and not LTS.

macOS already has both a marketing name and a number. Compared older versions like Mountain Lion (10.8) to Sequoia (15) I find that anything fun about macOS has been stripped out. Like why doesn't the Time Machine menu bar icon animate when it is backing up? I think it would suck if Apple removed one of the only fun/personable things about the macOS release cycle. Plus it is a harmless legacy OS X thing. Maybe when they run out of California locations they'll retire it, who knows.