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SubscribeWill Apple's OS X be stopping at 10.6?
Being a bit of a Mac fan, I casually mentioned to my wife the upcoming (and generally eagerly awaited) Macworld conference. I then went on to mention that I'll be buying Leopard when it comes out.
Julie's response: Didn't you buy it last year?
Me: No, that was Tiger.
Julie: How many big cats are there?
Good point!
Leopard is due out this spring, so I popped over to Wikipedia to see what big cats had been used by Apple so far:
- Mac OS X 10.0 - Cheetah
- Mac OS X 10.1 - Puma
- Mac OS X 10.2 - Jaguar
- Mac OS X 10.3 - Panther
- Mac OS X 10.4 - Tiger
- Mac OS X 10.5 - Leopard
By my reckoning (and little more Wikipedia browsing), the only big cat left is the Lion.
There are others: the Snow Leopard and Clouded Leopard - but I ruled them out because, well, we're going have Leopard this year...and we don't want to repeat do we?
There's also an Onza, but a) I'm not sure very many people will realise this is (supposed to be) classed as a big cat, and b)
Texas Tech University researchers concluded that the onza is most likely a genetic variant of puma, but not a distinct cat species
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Onza
So, all in all it sounds like Lion should be next, and then...what? The end of OS X? The end of big kitty codenames?
I think some cat loving Apple employee might just be foregoing his next Christmas bonus! I can here them now...[cue fantasy sequence]...
What do you mean there's no more big cats left? What did you think we would do a "Microsoft Word" and just make the numbers up? †
† i.e. MS Word 1, 2, 6, 7, 8...etc.
Either way - I'm looking forward to what Apple can pull out of the bag.
Oh, and just to cover myself here, obviously this is all a bit tongue in cheek! 
You should follow me on Twitter here I'll tweet about JavaScript, HTML 5 and other such gems (amongst usual tweet-splurges)
Introducing HTML5%7Cutmcsr%3D(direct)%7Cutmcmd%3D(none)%3B%2B__utmv%3D93891447.-%3B)
I think Lion is a very good target.
Maybe...
Mac OS X 10.6 Lion
Mac OS X 10.7 Bobcat
Lion might make a fine finale, because that's what everyone expects. Meanwhile we have Cougar and Bengal. Don't worry about species repetition though, Apple is already guilty of it. Leopards, lions, tigers and jaguars are all species of panther.
Remember, it's all about marketing, not zoological correctness!
Im happy to see you're all into the debate and being so creative coming up with lots of great ideas. Who knows, Steve Jobs might just come across this page and adapt one of your suggestions.
Why dont we use something else, like fruits, or colors. even those would be better than "XP" or "Vista" what the hell do they even mean?'
Or, since some pretty ridiculous suggestions are coming out...switch to classic computer game characters!
10.6 - QBert
10.7 - Sonic
10.8 - Megaman
10.9 - Mario
10.10 - Samus
10.11 - Robotnik
The possibilities are endless! (And more seriously, some people seem to have the impression that 10.9 must be the last OS X. However, it is perfectly acceptable for software subversions to carry on past 9 - the use of a . isn't actually a decimal point.)
i think lynx would be a cool one but a lot of people would probably get it confused with linux.
O.S. 10.6 Lynx
O.S. 10.7 Bobcat
O.S. 10.8 Ocelot
O.S. 10.9 Black Panther
and the grand finale
O.S. 10.10 Lion
Is there any reason why Apple won't continue the version numbers beyond 10.10.
They could carry on to 10.99!!
Youre right dave the numbers are endless
snow leopard is 10.6
i really think that the final OS X 10.6 should be Cougar. It just sounds like something Apple would use. But i heard a rumor that Leopard is the last OS X.
OS 11 or OS XI or whatever, i've heard they will be bear names, already heard that Sun and Grizzly are on the cards.
Should they continue with OS X, it will likely use impressive sounding cats. Unfortunately, "Lynx" and "Ocelot" don't have the same ring as Panther, Tiger, etc.
I predict that the las OS X they produce (IF they produce any more) will be called Lion. Simply because Ions are almost always seen as the 'king of the jungle.'
I would also not be surprised if Apple simply stopped OS X at V5. Knowing them, they've been up to building a new Mac OS ever since 10.1 came out.
If we're talking about cats, then how about OS X (10.xx) Pussy Galore ( a James Bond 007, female character of long ago.)
what about ostrich - they are supposed to be pretty fast
God! Just searched the 'net looking for what version of the Mac OS is on my wife's machine (I'm a programmer, she's a designer - me=PC). Anyway, what a stoopid idea using cat names for OS versions! Cost me a load of time. Hopefully they'll name the last one Sabre Tooth in the hope that this idea will also become well and truly extinct! Thanks for the listing anyhow.
How about mac os Kitten? It could be like a light version for an iphone or something lol
Maybee Windows should be called window ferral lol always seems to loose things for me!
Okay, so now it sounds like they might make is past Mac OSX 10.6 with Snow Leopard and then end on Mac OSX 10.7 - Lion! Surely they're going to run out!
You thought it was about spots, about stripes, about cats. But really, it was about the whiskers. Mac Os 10.6 Walrus coming soon.
Guys, Apple had legal issues long ago, the can only go up to 10.6, after that they have to go to 11.0
Steve's already announced that 10.6 is going to be Snow Leopard. I don't see why it can't go beyond 10.6, what kind of legal issues could have caused that?