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How Apple names things

nicolas.kruchten.com

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Re: How Apple names things

#171

Post by Kwpolska »

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... ).

The internal version number is just that: an internal number, maybe useful for developers making a check. To quote the great Raymond Chen [0]:

> Poseurs will call Windows versions by their programmatic version numbers. For example, they will call Windows Vista “NT6” and Windows 7 “NT6.1”. Trust me, nobody on the Windows team calls the products by their programmatic version numbers. Whenever anybody says “NT6” I have to go to Wikipedia and look up what they’re actually talking about. If I even care to bother, and usually I don’t.

[0] https://devblogs.microsoft.com/oldnewthing/20130507-00/?p=44...

Re: How Apple names things

#172

Post by Kwpolska »

knolan wrote: post #65

One of the nice things I liked about OS X when I moved from Windows/Ubuntu around 2010 was the clear but playful naming of apps and utilities. They seemed to have presence. The large and beautiful high resolution icons helped too. In Windows Disk Management was hidden away and searching for it would return a nebulous list with long winded descriptions but never name Disk Management forcing me to carefully read each r…

In Windows 11, when you type "disk", you get disk cleanup, defragment/optimize, and then disk management. You can also type "partitions" and get what you want as the first result.

Re: How Apple names things

#173

Post by error503 »

marban wrote: post #15

Can anyone elaborate on the process how companies like Apple can get registered TMs on pretty much any seemingly generic term — Is it that they simply buy out any existing mark that would be remotely conflicting? Some extremes: Soundtrack, Afterburner, Aperture, Cocoa, Exposé, etc.

Trademarks are allowed to be 'generic' English words, they just can't be purely descriptive of the product/service/company. You can't trademark a name like 'Computer Store' for your computer store, for example. In the cases you list, I don't think any of these purely describe the app/feature's function (these are pretty opaque names actually, except maybe Soundtrack and Aperture), so should be eligible.

'App Store', 'Multi-Touch', 'FaceID', and others that Apple claims though are definitely questionable IMO. When you have to jump through linguistic hoops to describe your product because someone's trademarked the obvious descriptive language, there's a problem. I don't know either. I guess, considering how the legal system generally works in the US, that someone would have to legally challenge their validity, and nobody wants to go against Apple in court.

To be fair I'd say most of the trademarks they claim are pretty reasonable, though: https://www.apple.com/legal/intellectual-property/trademark/...

Edit: Did a bit of looking into the App Store trademark and it looks like both Amazon and Microsoft did challenge this, but both settled out of court with unknown terms, and the trademark stands as a result.

Re: How Apple names things

#174

Post by layer8 »

basch wrote: post #169
karaterobot wrote: post #154

Wow, I disagree strongly with this one. It's so frustrating that I have to describe a feature to a search engine to find out what it's called, just so I can find it in the Settings (sorry, I mean System Preferences) panel. Continuity, Stage Manager, Exposé, Spotlight, Launchpad, Mission Control. These names don't mean anything, and aren't helpful. They're features, not products, yet they are named like products and y…

The article is missing the best/worst named apple product. I'm in the camp of best. For sure its the ugly ducking, odd ball out, named unlike any other apple product. Safari. Like Explorer, Navigator before it, it invokes adventure and exploration. It doesn't mean anything per se in technical terms. It is however, a product.

It would be fun if Finder was called File Safari and Safari was called Internet Safari and Activity Monitor was called Process Safari.

Re: How Apple names things

#175

Post by nicolaskruchten »

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…?

Author here... it pretty much is fanboi stuff, yes :) And sure, there are flaws in Apple's naming scheme as well as things I love.

Re: How Apple names things

#176

Post by coldtea »

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…?

>There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes, just look at the pro, max, se nonsense they cooked up.

Nothing bad about those names in utility. They designate 3 different models/spec levels, and they're infinitely better than all crap names DELL or SONY etc ever came up with ("NZ4X5-324DD" and such). As for aesthetics, they're short, easy to remember, and pleasurably sounding.

What's not to like? That "pro" ain't for "real" professionals gatekeeping BS, as if video editors and graphic designers are the only real professionals, and a CEO isn't pro enough...

>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.

Aside the fact that they coming with an associated dead simple numeric version, they're out there for a year before the next one comes. You have like a year to learn and remember that Ventura is the latest and had one year to become familiar with Monterey before it was replaced (so it's quite easy to remember Ventura was next). Now, if you some reason you want to determine if some OS from 10-15 years ago like Snow Leopard came before or after Tiger, yeah, that would be more difficult (also more pointless).

Re: How Apple names things

#177

Post by coldtea »

Jerrrry wrote: post #152
latexr wrote: post #110

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> There are a lot of things to also hate about apples naming schemes Which you’re free to do, and could have done without insulting the author. The submitted post’s very first sentence is “I love the way Apple names things”. The author likes them. They’re sharing a opinion, at no point do they imply they’re the voice of reason or that you should agree with them. What I see from their post is someone who made an effor…

>instant tribalism Im sure you feel similarly about anything related to Elon Musk, right? HN circle jerks are so prevalent it's nearly transparent.

And the worse thing is that for any X, there are also many anti-X circle jerks and hate-bois with no self-awareness...

Re: How Apple names things

#178

Post by Jemaclus »

layer8 wrote: post #174
basch wrote: post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The article is missing the best/worst named apple product. I'm in the camp of best. For sure its the ugly ducking, odd ball out, named unlike any other apple product. Safari. Like Explorer, Navigator before it, it invokes adventure and exploration. It doesn't mean anything per se in technical terms. It is however, a product.

It would be fun if Finder was called File Safari and Safari was called Internet Safari and Activity Monitor was called Process Safari.

I always imagined it was a play on "surfing" the web and a Beach Boys reference to "Surfin' Safari".

Re: How Apple names things

#179

Post by knolan »

Kwpolska wrote: post #172
knolan wrote: post #65

One of the nice things I liked about OS X when I moved from Windows/Ubuntu around 2010 was the clear but playful naming of apps and utilities. They seemed to have presence. The large and beautiful high resolution icons helped too. In Windows Disk Management was hidden away and searching for it would return a nebulous list with long winded descriptions but never name Disk Management forcing me to carefully read each r…

In Windows 11, when you type "disk", you get disk cleanup, defragment/optimize, and then disk management. You can also type "partitions" and get what you want as the first result.

That’s about ten years too late.

Re: How Apple names things

#180

Post by basch »

Jemaclus wrote: post #178
layer8 wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It would be fun if Finder was called File Safari and Safari was called Internet Safari and Activity Monitor was called Process Safari.

I always imagined it was a play on "surfing" the web and a Beach Boys reference to "Surfin' Safari".

https://donmelton.com/2012/12/19/when-i-first-heard-the-name...
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