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I say Mac OS Ex, it sounds cool. If Apple wanted people to say 'ten' then they'd call it mac OS 10 just like OS 8,9.
No, they wouldn't, since most people know that "X" is the Roman numeral for ten. It's pronounced just like you would pronounce the Arabic numeral, 10.
 
Here is my video on The Correct Pronounciation of Mac OS X http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU43md18D9o


You know what my pet peeve is? People who make YouTube videos but can't hold the camera still if their lives depended on it.

This constant movement gave me a headache 15 seconds in. :rolleyes:

Also: I don't care HOW people pronounce it. As long as they willing to try using it. :) And frankly, people who cop an attitude about piddly thinkgs like correct pronunciation are the same types who perpetuate the stereotype of Mac users being smug, smarmy, self-important, and elitist. If we nitpick on how people new to the platform pronounce the name, how can we expect them to want to associate themselves with the likes of "us?"
 
Wow, I guess this guy will hate me then. I just bought a new shiny iMac a couple of weeks ago, and I've been calling it OS X [EX] not OS X [Ten]. :confused:

I didn't make a video of it though...should I?
 
I'm fairly new to Apple (~1yr), and it was only recently that I learned OS9 was the architectural predecessor since every version of Mac OS I had seen for years was OS X - 'cat name'. I don't care what you call it, but in either case Apple has forsaken the validity of the sequential number theory when they stopped incrementing nearly a decade ago. At the time it was obviously a play on usage and caused a good amount of confusion. I knew OS X signified the transition to BSD and therefor 'eX' seemed a logical name. (That, and the box art being one giant 'X' with no indication that it should be signifying a roman numeral as opposed to the common and trendy usage as a letter) ;)
Regardless of what Apple calls it in their press conferences (which very few people experience in an audio format), there as absolutely no reason for a typical consumer to consider that it is anything other then 'eX'. I admit that I was a bit blindsided to find out that I was saying it 'wrong' since at first glance the seemingly random 'ten' made no sense. The OS I switched for will always be OS 'eX' to me. :p (but I'm also happy to hear of OS 'ten' users)

In any case OS X has become a brand, not a version.
Just like all MS operating systems will be 'windows', all Apple operating systems will be OS X.

PS - The current version is known as "Mac OS X Leopard" as per the Apple site. 10.5 is the build. Calling it by the build version would be like me saying my work machine is Windows 5.1.2600 (it's correct, but not generally meaningful).
Reading a product name should not require a history lesson on the company.
 
I thought this was funny:
OS X is not the numerical successor to OS 9 being that it shipped first.

Mac OS X Server 1.0 (note that 10 is not in the version number) shipped in Jan of 1999 where as OS 9 shipped in Oct of 1999
 
You can pronounce it any way you like, but officially, according to Apple, it is "pronounced Mac O-S ten".

I'm tempted to report that as an inaccuracy in Apple's article ;)

Seriously though. I was trying to point out to people who get agitated over this, that you should basically expect people to call it OS 'eX'. Other then a few obscure references to the approved pronunciation, to the casual observer the use of a roman numeral is not logical or apparent.
 
Look at it in reverse. Then saying OS "Ex" is like calling System 9...System "Enn Eye Enn Eee".

What the heck are people thinking?!

I have to say there is a definite duality to X. It sounds great either way. Maybe to some geeks X sounds more cool.

The same cannot be said for OS-XI. I have to believe Apple is going to drop roman numerals for System-11. I predict "Mac OS 11" will be it.


Regards,
A Deagle Mark XIX and Mark VII owner.
 
Apple has been shipping an OS X product for more then 9 years. The improvements in that time are far greater then any past Mac OS. Since they didn't increment to 11 after the intel transition, I don't think that there will be an OS11. OS X is a brand, like windows is a brand. Apples products run OS X, and will continue to do so for years. There will need to be a major paradigm shift before they drop the brand, and a new moniker at that time probably will not be a ++ to the old vanguard.
 
For god sakes... it doesn't matter.

I like to switch it up... but more often than not I just call it by the cat name.

Nobody says Windows Vista or Windows XP.. it's Vista or XP or Piece-of-@*#$-Operating-System
 
This seems to be much ado about nothing, but then what do I know? Even
Mac has added to my Mac OS X 10.4.11 designation .... "Dual 1.42 GHz PowerPC G4".
I thought a Mac was a Mac and "PC" implied that you were doing Windows.
"I don't do Windows.", and am constantly having to tell people that when they ask me a Windows question when I have never used one and don't want to. Mac
just ain't in the same league with what most people use for a PC. Sounds
degrading to me that Mac would go and tack "PC" on it now. A marketing ploy to make it sound less scary to PC people I would guess? They are afraid of Macs since they don't know they are better and more user friendly than Windows. When I pay a bundle for a Mac I don't want to be lumped in with PC Windows folks. Frivolous? Perhaps, but no more so than how to pronounce "X".
 
A little history may bring clarity...

Guys,

I think there is a split here between the old-time Mac guys and gals (from OS9 and before) and the Unix guys and gals (who joined the Mac community since OS X)...

The mac guys see OS X as OS 10 because it (spiritually, if not temporally) came after OS 9.

The Unix guys see OS X as just another in the LONG line of Unixes, all of which end in X (which is pronounced "ex"). For example:

From AT&T: UNIX
From HP: HP/UX
From IBM: AIX
From Linus Torvalds: Linux
From Apple: A/UX :rolleyes:

See the pattern...?

I am in both old mac and Unix camps, but I've spent much, much longer in Unix than in OS9 or previous, (and I also used OS/2 from IBM) so I pronounce it "OSS EX". Except in Apple stores where I can't be bothered with an argument ;)

It seems that Apple deliberately chose the suffix X to highlight the new OS's Unix ancestry with its stability, security, multitasking abilities etc. and to invite unattractive comparisons with Windows. Which isn't actually fair on Windows, because NT had VMS ancestry which was much more like the Mac ethos than Unix was (just as stable as Unix, but far more friendly, from a single company provider of both hardware and software).

Let's all chill out and accept that some people think different.

Cheers
YS
 
Let's all chill out and accept that some people think different.
I like the name OS X. It looks attractive in writing and expresses the duality of its heritage. While Apple has a stance as OS 10, they don't seem to care if it is spoken in either form.

(I just wish they'd drop the space so I could Google it more consistently. OSX is a better search term them OS X)
 
this is why i'm convinced we'll be using OS X for a long time. os 9, os 10, os 11, etc is a revision. OS (e)X is a brand name, even if it's ~meant~ to be os 10. :apple:
 
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