Join Me in Fighting the Big Cats

I was worried that this would happen -- while reading Brent's posting I became confused. I had to pause to re-remember that "Jaguar" has been arbitrarily mapped to 10.2 while "Panther" is 10.3.

I understand Apple's desire to brand each version. It's easier to justify $130 for a new cat than a point-one increment. If Apple weren't so concerned about chewing up Mac OS X brand-name number-space, you betcha 10.4 would warrant "Mac OS v14".

However, developers and users should refrain from following Apple's lead. Call 10.2 "10.2", not "Jaguar". Worst case, if you must use the cat names (which Apple's marketing encourages), dub it "10.2 Jaguar".

Eight years from now, you're not going to remember which cat mapped onto which release. It's only going to get worse.

Stop the insanity. Join me in fighting the big cats.

Update: More evidence: I forgot Puma!

Tuesday, July 06, 2004
12:00 AM