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How Apple names things

nicolas.kruchten.com

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Re: How Apple names things

#51

Post by hnlmorg »

codetrotter wrote: post #33
tacker2000 wrote: post #19

This reads like some typical fanboi stuff. There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up. Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?

> the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…? The human names of the macOS versions are not meant for that purpose. Every version of macOS also has a version number. If you need to ever know which version came before another you compare the version number…

Why even have a version name then if it’s not intended to communicate anything?

I too find their naming conventions confusing. Apple TV is another example. It could refer to 3 different things depending on how it’s used. I have an Apple TV and an Apple TV subscription but I have no idea which is technically called what.

I also disagree with their casual use of the term “Pro” too. But at least that isn’t an Apple specific problem but rather endemic across the entire tech landscape.

The Microsoft example given by the GP isn’t great though. Microsoft are, in my personal opinion, even worse at naming things than Apple. But as someone who’s released a fair amount of open source, I do acknowledge that naming things is hard.

Re: How Apple names things

#52

Post by [deleted] »

sbuk wrote: post #22
tacker2000 wrote: post #19

This reads like some typical fanboi stuff. There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up. Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?

> * Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?* They do. Ventura is macOS 13. In fact, when they dropped OS X, they did a bit in the key note explaining that instead of it being OS X 10.16 Catalina, it would now now be macOS 11 Catalina. See  > Abo…

[deleted]

Re: How Apple names things

#53

Post by nicky0 »

aaronharnly wrote: post #40

Hmm, the topic is a nice one, but I think it proves the adage, “a force-directed graph visualization is never the right way to articulate anything.” It’s very hard to discern much of interest.

Ah yes, Harnly's law

Re: How Apple names things

#54

Post by hollerith »

hnlmorg wrote: post #51
codetrotter wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…? The human names of the macOS versions are not meant for that purpose. Every version of macOS also has a version number. If you need to ever know which version came before another you compare the version number…

Why even have a version name then if it’s not intended to communicate anything? I too find their naming conventions confusing. Apple TV is another example. It could refer to 3 different things depending on how it’s used. I have an Apple TV and an Apple TV subscription but I have no idea which is technically called what. I also disagree with their casual use of the term “Pro” too. But at least that isn’t an Apple spec…

The subscrption is called Apple TV+.

Re: How Apple names things

#55

Post by Edd314159 »

tacker2000 wrote: post #19

This reads like some typical fanboi stuff. There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up. Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?

Is it so hard to just let someone enjoy something? Apple has a lot of problems right now, but it's still OK to say something positive about them once in a while. We don't need to fight about it and discredit it.

Apple names are fun! It's a nice thing!

Re: How Apple names things

#56

Post by gregoriol »

codetrotter wrote: post #31
ralfd wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But did Mojave come before or after Sierra? The cat names were more memorable and spanned a longer time line instead of being yearly releases.

> But did Mojave come before or after Sierra? Idk, but it doesn’t matter. If you need to know which version came before or after just compare the version numbers instead. The human names are not meant for that.

That is not true: when some good logic is applied to naming, human names are too in order, with the alphabetic order, so that at any time you could know what you are talking about (at least easily if it is "before" or "after" each one)

Re: How Apple names things

#57

Post by nicky0 »

ChuckNorris89 wrote: post #36
emadabdulrahim wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because Apple is a tech company, but also considered a luxury brand. A watch is mostly a fashionable accessory. iWatch would've been a gadget-first name. Apple Watch sounds much better if you're trying to sell it to fashion aware people, besides people interested in the best tech. That's my theory anyway. Probably wrong lol.

>Apple Watch sounds much better if you're trying to sell it to fashion aware people Fashion aware people are mostly wearing traditional watches or go for colorful oversized G-Shocks if they're some celebrity looking to make a bold statement or something. I recommend 'The Urban Gentry' on Youtube.

The real elite are wearing F-91W's thanks very much. :)

But Apple is not necessarily selling to watch aficionados, they are selling (partly) to people who want to be seen as fashionable in a general sense. Calling it "Apple Watch" instead of iWatch, and putting it next to Hermès straps is about adding that gleam of luxury and glamour.

Re: How Apple names things

#58

Post by als0 »

Edd314159 wrote: post #55
tacker2000 wrote: post #19

This reads like some typical fanboi stuff. There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up. Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?

Is it so hard to just let someone enjoy something? Apple has a lot of problems right now, but it's still OK to say something positive about them once in a while. We don't need to fight about it and discredit it. Apple names are fun! It's a nice thing!

What's fun about SE, XR and XDR?

Re: How Apple names things

#59

Post by codetrotter »

hnlmorg wrote: post #51
codetrotter wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…? The human names of the macOS versions are not meant for that purpose. Every version of macOS also has a version number. If you need to ever know which version came before another you compare the version number…

Why even have a version name then if it’s not intended to communicate anything? I too find their naming conventions confusing. Apple TV is another example. It could refer to 3 different things depending on how it’s used. I have an Apple TV and an Apple TV subscription but I have no idea which is technically called what. I also disagree with their casual use of the term “Pro” too. But at least that isn’t an Apple spec…

> Why even have a version name then if it’s not intended to communicate anything?

It does communicate something. But it's not for comparing release dates of versions.

It's for marketing.

Go to Apples website, navigate to the Mac section and then to the macOS section.

That lands you on this page: https://www.apple.com/macos/ventura/

The names are used in marketing when new versions are launched.

Read the page I linked about macOS Ventura. The way that they use the name of that version here is the way that they use the OS version names in general. For marketing, when a new version is released.

Re: How Apple names things

#60

Post by KptMarchewa »

rob74 wrote: post #46
tacker2000 wrote: post #19

This reads like some typical fanboi stuff. There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up. Also the naming scheme of Mac OS versions, i can never figure out which one came before or after the other, there is no rhyme or reason. Why dont they use alphabetical sorted names? Or years/numbers like Windows…?

Ok, Microsoft is not a shining example for naming either, I mean, they had a product called "Windows 8" which actually had version number 6.2 - do I need to say more? At least they fixed this with the first release of Windows 10 - and then got rid of the version numbers in the very next release (at least according to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_Windows_vers... ).

Like on this chart? https://i.redd.it/n9zkfwj43kn01.jpg
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