It’s widely expected at this point that Apple will rebrand Mac OS X to simply ‘macOS’ next week at WWDC, but hidden in today’s announcements regarding the App Store was yet another hint at the change. In a FAQ from on the iTunes Connect website, Apple mistakenly refers to Mac OS X as ‘macOS,’ again prematurely hinting at the change.
I like dropping the X, but I really dislike Apple’s terrible use of case. iOS is horrible enough, but tvOS, watchOS and macOS look absolutely dreadful, each a stumbling block in any sentence they appear in. Nobody with any sense of style or legibility would abuse case like that.
Not at all unlike those people who style it as ‘OSnews’ instead of the obviously correct and only way to style it, namely ‘OSNews’. Yes, this is an internal struggle over here, and yes, this stuff matters.
If you don’t want people style it as ‘OSnews’ then start with your logo, which clearly says ‘OSnews’ and is the most prominent visual on your site.
Really, if you use two different visual identities on the site, of course readers will be confused.
That’s the joke. That’s why I referred to “internally”, and not to our readers (who can and should do whatever they want).
While I am OSNews, everyone else on the team is OSnews. Of course, they are all wrong.
Sure thing.
You get called on it, now it’s just a joke.
Come on you daft bugger, it was clearly a joke.
Mock solemnity, see?
I just go with plain old “osnews”.
People often mistake logos to be guidelines on how to write the names properly, although a logo is never a representation of the intended written form of the name. Logos are solely visual trademarks that allow for artistic liberties.
Edited 2016-06-09 06:39 UTC
Came here to say the exact same thing.
Also, OSNews it horrible to read. It looks much more like OSN + ews than like OS + News.
I can see the dislike for OSnews in written communication as well but it is better.
If I was emperor, I think I would mandate OS News as the proper way to refer to OS News in print.
Of course, my argument is not really about this site, which can mandate whatever it wishes, but about similar casing issues in general.
English didn’t have standardised spelling, capitalisaion or punctuation until the 19th century. If it didn’t bother Shakespeare or Milton it shouldn’t really bother us.
Edited 2016-06-09 06:53 UTC
The only thing that matters is whether or not you’re able to communicate with other people. Improper capitalization of words isn’t going to prevent that so I agree it’s nothing to lose sleep over. I also don’t give a shit what Shakespeare thought about such things so his opinions are no basis for what to think now days if you ask me.
As far as the <whatever>OS naming scheme, I think it looks and sounds dumb. Apple, is that really the best you can come up with?
Edited 2016-06-09 14:47 UTC
// As far as the <whatever>OS naming scheme, I think it looks and sounds dumb. Apple, is that really the best you can come up with? //
Remind me who buys Apple products again? Like they would care anything at all about the OS naming scheme?
I doubt many people actually care about it, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have an opinion.
I hate to see things like SecureHTTPRequest in code, because I tend to read the blocks of lowercase and the blocks of uppercase as separate words, like HTTPR and equest.
It works, though, when you camelcase proper words without any acronyms, like SecureHyperTextTransferProtocolRequest, because then there aren’t any blocks of consecutive capital letters that mess with the mind.
So with that in mind, I would rather *not* write OSNews, because I don’t like it. I’d rather write OS News, or even osnews when I can’t be bothered with whitespace and capitalisation.
So OperatingSystemsNews. Or is it operatingSystemsNews?
That depends: would you choose pascal case or camel case?
Customary is, after acronyms, no Uppercase. You’re right.
AlsoIfYouHaveAsingleLetterLikeThis…
It’s camel case. And it makes sense cause this is (or was haha) a tech site.
Regarding macOS… it’s ok, but I think OSX or Mac OS X were better.
BTW my favorite Apple OS name is “System”, System 6, System 7… super cool and simple.
Well no, OSnews is not proper camelcase, because for it to be proper camelcase each word should start with a capital. Since in this case (pun not intended) news does not start with a capital, it’s a violation of the camelcase rules.
Yeap, you are right, but hey if We follow camel casing rules strictly it must be: OsNews
Sucks. xD
PascalCase
Everyone should stop complaining and simply use os_news, it’s much more readable*!
(*) https://whathecode.wordpress.com/2011/02/10/camelcase-vs-underscores…
I agree, System 6, 7… was the best.
Like diversity in opinion, Sergio.
As for me, the new macOS brings trademark integrity, and -developer|user side- intergenerational continuity.
I agree, macOS makes sense, it’s ok.
..and the server version can be “Big Mac OS”!
– Brendan
OSX or OS ten
Yes.
Could not agree more with you. Actually I think Jobs would scream and yell at them if they came up with this spelling.
And to me it should read ‘OS News’, naturally. Think of how awkward it would be to switch to ‘NYTimes’.
I would prefer “os_news”, but yes, I know that would be very unpopular.
Too bad stuff like that matters, but you have “Preview Comment” right next to “Submit comment” after clicking “Post a Comment” and “Edit comment” and plenty of articles about ‘every OS sucks because it is inconsistent’
I am sure you can bugfix this incredible overside before the next such article. I am also sure it should be OS-News, OS-news, OS News or OS news but surely not OSnews or OSNews so you are all wrong
Edited 2016-06-09 07:50 UTC
Now that there is macOS, tvOS and watchOS, I would really like the iOS to be rebranded as phoneOS
Shouldn’t macOS have to be rebranded computerOS then aswell?
Not really:
tvOS is for Apple TV
watchOS is for Apple Watch
phoneOS would be for Apple iPhone
So that means macOS would be for Apple Macs. They are all computers at heart in some shape or form.
Edited 2016-06-09 13:32 UTC
Nope, iPad and iPod Touch too.
Thats why its iOS = iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch
Sorted…
padOS
podOS
How about the iMac?
They simply merge iOS with macOS. No touch, sorry 🙂
computerOS rules!! I love that name.
Apple coming down to the generic computer market? They’ve branded and marketed the mac name to no ends.
Right. And Apple should be renamed computerCOMPANY.
Except that iOS is also used for tablets..
featurelessglassslabOS?
The issue there is that iOS runs on the phone and tablets (previously iPods too – and Apple has a history of resurrecting old brands periodically – see Mac Book). They’d have to fork that to be consistent. They are already two different publish targets, so maybe they will.
I keep wondering when they’ll rebrand all their “i” stuff – Apple Pad, Apple Phone.
iOS renaming is trickier – would it become two – phoneOS, padOS (maybe ipodOS or musicOS/tunesOS). Harder to do since it’s all one platform. Could be simply mobileOS, portableOS.
First world problems, buddy.
It doesn’t matter at all, really. It’s almost irrelevant to anybody who has real problems in life. It’s just a brand. It’s just letters on a screen.
The entire tech sector is one big, endless first world problem.
lol did you really just delete my comment?
Er? No. People need technology for their jobs, all the way from end users down to those digging in the dirt to get the materials to build them. The tech sector is incredibly important to humanity, and it’s effects on the world range from awe inspiring and revolutionary to depressing (environmental damage).
To say the tech sector is a first world problem as a retort to me dismissing the your claim that the capitalization of a brand “matters” is, frankly, quite eye opening to your lack of perspective.
Considering you’re the person responding so seriously to a silly topic, you might not want to throw so many stones in your glass house.
“…to depressing (environmental damage).” A lot more more depressing to Them is the rapacity over their economic and politic systems.
After plunder and abandonment those populations struggle to stand up again, on their own feet.
No, not really.
Sure an enormous amount of research ( and hence money ) goes into ridiculous stuff like figuring out how best to show you more ads you are likely to click on but there is also really tangible research that will profoundly reshape the world as we know it.
Consider how significantly the job market will change with the advent of self driving vehicles alone – and not just for the first world, the whole world.
K
Or you could return to 19th naming norms, and call yourselves “The Personal Computer, Smartphone, and Electronic Device Operating System News, Analysis, and Information Website”.
You forgot “Ye Olde”…
Back then it was “Þe Olde”!
It reminds me of that movie, “Dude, where’s my camel?”
I dont think I could cope with the current naming much longer
OS 10.11 or OSX.11 ?!?!?
if you are going to use Roman numerals, USE THEM
OSX.XI done….
But Romans didn’t have decimals… I give up
Edited 2016-06-09 14:23 UTC
Except that the X was part of the name, not the version number: MacOS X 10.11
I was told the “X” comes from the Unix-like base (Mach).
So they kick out the Mach-kernel for macOS ?!
No, the X is because it followed OS 9. The X used to stand for ‘ten’, and originally some people (including the Verge) insisted OS X was pronounced “Oh Ess Ten”.
As long as you don’t call it newsOS..
OSmac (looks good)
and for the winXmalware:
FAILxwin, FAIL10os, MALW10, MALWx, SPYxos, SPYwinX
Isn’t Apple a fashion/lifestyle company now? They could’ve named it HermesBSD. Jony would love it.
Happier the World if that where the case, gan17.
It’s all a lot easier to search for than OS/2, especially back in the early days of search engines. Basically, BeOS got the order correct.
I have been reading O-Snews for a years now.
This says it all about Apple ‘abandoning’ desktop:
https://cdn1.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/8_qBkZMBdsAk9QtdYGZCeYIKcyY=/cdn0.v…
Oh look, an article about Apple by Thom.
Let me predict: he is a self admitted Apple fanatic but he thinks this move is completely wrong and Apple isn’t what it used to be and Linux offers a better approach…
Well, 80% hit this time.
Branding is in Linux too. Iceweasel, beryl, jenkins are just a few that come to my mind.
Still waiting for that microkernel operating system that Apple promised +10 years ago.
Why?
osNEWS it is.
zOMGF! I get it! Apple must have invented CamelCasingStuff!11
Quick! Patent it!
I liked the name ‘iSys’. Oh, wait…
Check this link
http://www.mysmartprice.com/mobile/pricelist/apple-mobile-price-list-in-india .html