The Correct Pronounciation of Mac OS X

[jsw]

I say "Oh Sex" or "Oh Sex Tiger".

And, when XI comes out, I'll say "Oh sexy".

OS Ten sounds wrong. OS Ten Version ten dot four dot ten sounds awkward.

I know SJ says "OS Ten". Even he can be wrong at times.

 

[cube]

What I am saying is that OS X is "lame Unix whose native GUI is not based on X Window". All other current desktop Unices are based on X Window. Apple's native GUI is inferior with respect to remoting, it's non-standard tech at the core, and the window manager cannot be replaced by something else.
If Mac OS X were "Mac OS based on X Window", the term would be acceptable, but still not great because ot would refer to a whole OS, not just the GUI.

Just because Unix has an x in the name, it doesn't mean X clearly refers to it. By that reasoning, it could be VAX, as well. (Yes, I know VAX's OS is called VMS).

 

[jsw]

What I am saying is that OS X is "lame Unix whose native GUI is not based on X Window".

Leopard is fully compliant.

I don't think having a GUI based on X is necessary to be called UNIX, nor is it sufficient - Linux isn't UNIX, either.

Not that any of this really applies to the pronunciation of the OS.

 

[sonicboom]

There's ONE piece of software called "X": the X Window System.
Apple behaved badly when they called the operating system OS X, as one is continually forced in these forums to call X Window by its current protocol version, X11, instead of just X.

cube... you're wrong.

X refers to version 10 of the Mac Operating System.

Sure, X (or X11) is also a window system that supports several window managers but it really has nothing to do with the underlying OS or whether it qualifies as a unix variant or not. The X window system is simply an application (which Mac OS also bundles in). I sometimes use it on my mac to run some of my traditional unix apps, like: xemacs, xterm, xdiff.

 

[Sean Dempsey]

This is a pretty funny thread.

It must be regional or something. Every mac guy that I have been around, and convinced me to buy my first mac computers, has said OS "ex". And, I swear I remember hearing that in the Apple stores in Vegas and So. Cal.

 

[cube]

Leopard is fully compliant.

I don't think having a GUI based on X is necessary to be called UNIX, nor is it sufficient - Linux isn't UNIX, either.

I didn't say the GUI not being based on X is not enough to be called Unix. I say it is not so good.

I say it is bad calling it the "X" version of Mac OS, even if X is pronounced 10 (it does not only mean 10, as there is also the UniX association).

 

[kolax]

I call it OS ex.

Calling it OS10 just sounds weird and boring.

I don't know, I've always heard folk say "Mac OSX 10.4" or "Mac OSX Tiger"

Sound's slicker.

 

[sonicboom]

I didn't say the GUI not being based on X is not enough to be called Unix. I say it is not so good.

I say it is bad calling it the "X" version of Mac OS, even if X is pronounced 10 (it does not only mean 10, as there is also the UniX association).

I think you're saying lots of things, but let's take that last point.

Using the roman numeral "X" is bad in this case why? So what if some people see a Unix association... it is a unix-based system. That's a fair claim. Almost all of my unix apps compile and run on it.

Linux is also a unix-based system (yes Linus didn't base the code on the original unix, but he preserved all the concepts and APIs - hence unix-based). Linux (and Mac OS X) are even POSIX complaint, which was an attempt to get a common API across all unix variants.

So what's your beef with Mac OS X being associated with unix?

I'm a long time unix OS developer... and quite frankly I consider OS X to be unix done right. It has all the power of unix, a killer desktop, and a beautiful suite of graphical applications. Everything "just works" out of the box, and users are spared configuration nightmares.

 

[cube]

So what's your beef with Mac OS X being associated with unix?

I have no problem with Mac OS X being associated with Unix. My problem is with the "X" name overloading the real meaning of X (software).

 

[sonicboom]

I have no problem with Mac OS X being associated with Unix. My problem is with the "X" name overloading the real meaning of X (software).

The real meaning of "X" in this case is 10.

It also has the loose association with unix... which was smart (same trick Linus and many unix vendors used mind you).

Do you really think Apple intended it to also mean X11? No way. Their target customer base doesn't even know what X11 is. X11 isn't even that important to them. Apple only included it in the distribution to give unix users an easy means of running their legacy apps (a port of open source XFree86 existed for OS X prior to Apple bundling it).

 

[cube]

The real meaning of "X" in this case is 10.

I knew you wre going to say this, that's why I wrote "(software)"

They put "X" in the name of a software when they had used arabic numerals up to that when "10" would have been fine and avoiding overloading the term "X" which was already used by another software.

As a result, you can't just say X in this forums to refer to the real thing.

 

[sonicboom]

I knew you wre going to say this, that's why I wrote "(software)"

They put "X" in the name of a software when they had used arabic numerals up to that when "10" would have been fine and avoiding overloading the term "X" which was already used by another software.

As a result, you can't just say X in this forums to refer to the real thing.

The "real thing" is relative I suppose. Lots of software products have "X" in them. I think you're logic is a bit clouded by your fondness for the X window system.

I don't think anyone refers to Apples operating system as just "X". They call it one of the following: OS X, Mac OS, Mac OS X, Tiger, Panther, Leopard, etc.

Depending on the context of the discussion, you can use "X11" to refer to the X Window System.

 

[MacsRgr8]

Just type in Terminal:
say Mac OS X



BTW.. anyone thought about the other X-10 relaed Mac OS stuff..?

- Microsoft Office v. X:
10 or Ex?

- X11:
10-11 or Ex-11?

- Xserve:
10-serve or Ex-serve?

 

[cube]

Depending on the context of the discussion, you can use "X11" to refer to the X Window System.

That's what I do here, refer to the current version of the protocol, which is annoying (the original one was X10, there could be an X12 based on SOAP or whatever). Elsewhere I can just say X.

 

[cube]

The "real thing" is relative I suppose. Lots of software products have "X" in them. I think you're logic is a bit clouded by your fondness for the X window system.

Maybe other products have X in them, but their are not desktop Unixes with the precise characteristic of not being based on X Window.

 

[kolax]

I think people are looking way to far into the whole OS "X"...

 

[killmoms]

There shouldn't even be any debate here. I don't care how you think one or the other sounds. "Mac OS Ecks" is wrong. "Mac OS Ten" is right. End of discussion.

 

[killerrobot]

Dude, is it Malcom "Ecks" or Malcom "Ten"?

I can totally see the problem here.

Although yes, even if some are taking it a little too seriously, Apple says "Ten".

 

[Macmadant]

Here is my video on The Correct Pronounciation of Mac OS X http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU43md18D9o

AHh it is my pet peeve with mac users! Say it right people, TEN TEN TEN!!!!

If your getting annoyed by that, what do you think of people calling Mac OS Ten point five, leopard, the X is more recognisable than the word 10, plus it sounds much more snazzy saying Mac OS X, than saying Mac OS 10, also how do you know if this is the right way to say this, it's a matter of opinion that it should be said as 10, i know it's Roman numerals, but what if apple intended for it to be pronounced as 'X' rather than 10, if apple wanted people to say Mac OS '10' they would have called it that, but as i said earlier 'X' sounds much people snazzy

 

[Kashchei]

just for your curiosity, i'm a portuguese guy and here in portugal, we pronounce it translated. while translating the X, we say MAC OS "Xis", but if we translate the 10, we would say MAC OS "Dez". but more often we use the "xis".

with MAC OS 9, we say "Sistema Nove", which translated to english is "The Nineth System" or "System Nine".

so for me, this discussion about the pronunciation os "X" sounds a bit awkward and funny at the same time.

I agree wholeheartedly that language makes a tremendous difference here. All my French friends refer to the OS as X rather than 10. I don't know why, but there you have it. Any members from France want to fill me in (or let me know if my friends are in the minority)?

 

[Jasonbot]

I might be generalising here so please don't kill me but from what I've seen using 'Ten' seems more american, whereas 'Ex" is what the rest of the world is saying.

 

[cube]

The difference is not language. It's exposure to Apple.
They would say "dix" in French instead of "ix" if people were more Apple-oriented.

 

[daveL]

Sorry, but I've always said 'ex'. If you are talking to someone and say OS 10, and that person isn't a Mac person, they'll go off and write it the way you said it, i.e. OS 10. If, however, you say OS EX, they'll write it correctly.

Not a big deal, either way.

 

[RacerX]

It is really strange to see people attempting to explain why Apple used "X" in the name Mac OS X. It has been over 9 years since Mac OS X was announced (with Steve Jobs saying "Mac OS 10" in his keynote at WWDC 98), and still people want to link the "X" to an "x" in some way.

But this is nothing new. Even though NeXT Computer (originally Next Computer) had it's name long before the company decided to use BSD in it's operating system, people have since tried to link the X in NeXT with their using of Unix.

As for the X Windows stuff, from the original version of NEXTSTEP through to Mac OS X v10.2.8 no version of X Windows was included with the operating system. If you wanted to run X apps with NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, Rhapsody or Mac OS X, you had to use a third party installation of X Windows.

Apple's native GUI is inferior with respect to remoting, it's non-standard tech at the core, and the window manager cannot be replaced by something else.

The current version of the OS is rather inferior when it comes to remoting, but it wasn't always like that. NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP and Rhapsody were all quite good at it. You can even run NeXT apps remotely off a NeXT system in Rhapsody.

As for it being inferior in any other respect, if it was, then why have so many other Unix window managers attempted to duplicate it over the years?

If you want to replace it with something else... use something else. Easy enough.

The simple fact of the matter is that all of the environments (NEXTSTEP, OPENSTEP, Rhapsody and Mac OS X) are far superior to anything out there because they aren't geared towards the lowest common denominator development and they provide a much richer development environment which keeps developers from implementing hacks to do some pretty standard stuff (which has been one of the biggest stumbling blocks for X Windows over the years).

but what if apple intended for it to be pronounced as 'X' rather than 10...

Then they would have started out calling it that... But what was announced (verbally before being written) was "Mac OS 10".





And for the record, my name is not pronounced "Racer 10".

 

[janey]

Well, if Apple does it ... they're the ones who decide what to call their operating system, right?

Apple doesn't call it Mac OS X 10.5, they call it Mac OS X v.10.5. Slight difference.