adamsetzler Posted March 26, 2006 Share Posted March 26, 2006 And Adam answered and said, "It is both." In the age of symbols, Mac is just following the movement towards more and more symbolism. Take, for example, Southwestern Bell Communications is now legally known as SBC. It's not an acronym, it's just SBC. The sound "ess-bee-see" is their name. Think about Mac OS X 10.4.5 and Windows XP. Previously it was Mac OS 9 and Windows 3.1. Now every Mac OS release has an animal name, and Windows ... well ... first a date (98), then a cheesy pun on Millenium Edition and a personal pronoun (Me), then XP, which, officically means nothing. (Just like Mustang GT.) So, it's Mac O-S Eks. When Mac employees say Mac O-S Ten, they're skipping the Eks part. Like so: Mac O-S (Eks) Ten point four point five, or 10-4-5. So, it's both the symbol Mac OS "Eks" and the technical version Mac OS (Eks) 10-4-5. I've even heard people saying "Oss-eks!" OSX, SBC, ATT, ABC, CBS, NBC, MSN, GOP, W(indows)XP. Or, I might be totally wrong. Maybe studying corporate branding psychology has not done me any good! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
declan Posted March 27, 2006 Share Posted March 27, 2006 I always thought it was pronounced OS 10 but I always say OS X. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
os1986 Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 "Ten" may be the official way to say it, but EX makes a lot more sense. OSX is a uniX-like system with a completely different kernel from the previous version. And I don't think Apple would have gone to all the trouble of branding everying with a giant letter X if they really just wanted people to think of it as just another version of the old MacOS. And like someone else said, it doesn't sound right to say "OS Ten Ten point four" or whatever. They could call it X.4 if they really wanted people to say it like that. And perhaps most importantly, "Oh Ess EX: sounds a lot better with the name of this website - you woulnd't want to call it "OS Ten Eighty Six!" So I'm gonna keep calling it OS-EX - at least until OS XI comes out, then I'll have to decide whether I want to call it "OS Eleven" or "Ohhh-Esss-Ex-Eye." Come to think of it, that sounds pretty cool too - like something out of a spy movie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RiceTea Posted March 30, 2006 Share Posted March 30, 2006 Fascinating stuff. I suppose if OS XI comes out the only correct way to address it would be "OS Eleven", which IMHO sounds a bit silly and reminds me of 7/11 stores. Hence, I think that OS X 10.9.x will be the last version in this series. Thereafter we are up to something else. For the time being I guess that OS X 10.5 will show us whether OSX86 has a future or not as it will be the first OS X fully committed to Intel hardware. Support of G3/G4/G5 CPUs is likely to end with OS X 10.4.x, can OSX86 cope with OS 10.5? "Ten" may be the official way to say it, but EX makes a lot more sense. OSX is a uniX-like system with a completely different kernel from the previous version. And I don't think Apple would have gone to all the trouble of branding everying with a giant letter X if they really just wanted people to think of it as just another version of the old MacOS. And like someone else said, it doesn't sound right to say "OS Ten Ten point four" or whatever. They could call it X.4 if they really wanted people to say it like that. And perhaps most importantly, "Oh Ess EX: sounds a lot better with the name of this website - you woulnd't want to call it "OS Ten Eighty Six!" So I'm gonna keep calling it OS-EX - at least until OS XI comes out, then I'll have to decide whether I want to call it "OS Eleven" or "Ohhh-Esss-Ex-Eye." Come to think of it, that sounds pretty cool too - like something out of a spy movie... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
theKid Posted March 31, 2006 Share Posted March 31, 2006 I think apple intended it to be read as '10' - just found this now - VoiceOver on tiger read it as Mac OS 10... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pippin Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 Steve Jobs says OS 10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bluedragon1971 Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 the proper way is supposed to be "ten", but then again i did pronounce this last super bowl as super bowl "ex" "ell", i cant wait for next years super bowl. XXL is gonna rock!!! about time they changed it to shirt sizes!! Next year's Super Bowl would be XLI, not XXL. In Roman Numerals, XXL wouldn't make any sense. Support of G3/G4/G5 CPUs is likely to end with OS X 10.4.x, can OSX86 cope with OS 10.5? What makes you think that? I could see them "officially" ending G3 support, but not G4 or G5 support for at least another version or two. In another couple of months, Apple will be distributing the first betas of 10.5, and they are still selling PowerPC based systems. Based on past transitions (68K to PPC in particular), Apple will have the OS support the older processors for at least another 2 or three years (OS 8.1 was the last to support 68K, and it was released about 3 years after Apple started making PPC machines). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ragnarök Posted May 8, 2006 Share Posted May 8, 2006 ..... and a personal pronoun (Me), then XP, which, officically means nothing. (Just like Mustang GT.)..... XP is short for experience Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
su1c1de Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 Mac wanted to call it OS X (as in X) However, Microsoft copyrighted XP, but not as XP but as X and P So apple under law cannot call it OS X it needs to be OS 10 They get around it by X being 10 in roman numerals Thats why in Advertising you will never see OSX and 10.whatever in the same sentence. Its always "OS X Tiger blah blah. Apple 10.4 blah blah" You dont even see them on the same line on About This Mac as they cant Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rammjet Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 hmmmm...... MacOS 9.2 not MacOS 9 version 9.2 MacOS 10 version 10.4.6 or MacOS X (ex) version 10.4.6 <--- I like this one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogabean Posted May 17, 2006 Share Posted May 17, 2006 I still say OS (ex) unless i'm talking about a specific version.. then i say OS 10.4.x Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nevermind1331 Posted May 31, 2006 Share Posted May 31, 2006 Mac wanted to call it OS X (as in X)However, Microsoft copyrighted XP, but not as XP but as X and P So apple under law cannot call it OS X it needs to be OS 10 They get around it by X being 10 in roman numerals Thats why in Advertising you will never see OSX and 10.whatever in the same sentence. Its always "OS X Tiger blah blah. Apple 10.4 blah blah" You dont even see them on the same line on About This Mac as they cant god i hope that isnt true if it is, tomorrow im copyrighting the letter A, no one else can use it. you ssholes re done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retroz Posted June 13, 2006 Share Posted June 13, 2006 I read something the other day that told the correct way to say OS "X," but I think it's wrong. Do you say it as "X" or "10?" I wonder though if the poll where to be on Mac users or Apple website, if the poll would be more skewed toward OS 10, whereas "X" is geared toward x86 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pixelation Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 OS "X" As in saying "OS 'X' Ten-Four-Six" Or in the case of this website it is "OS 'X' 'X'-Eighty-Six Ten-Four-Six" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bofors Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 Hexxx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
numberonekiwi Posted June 16, 2006 Share Posted June 16, 2006 a simple solution to the answer Open terminal and type the following say apple OS X 10.4.6 this should clarify thing as COMPUTERS ARE ALWAYS RIGHT Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Facu Romero Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 "X" IS TEN!!! Mac OS X v10.0 (Cheetah) Mac OS X v10.1 (Puma) Mac OS X v10.2 (Jaguar) Mac OS X v10.3 (Panther) Mac OS X v10.4 (Tiger) Mac OS X v10.5 (Leopard) The character X is a Roman numeral and is officially pronounced "ten", continuing the numbering of previous Macintosh operating systems such as Mac OS 8 and Mac OS 9. However, it is common to read it as the letter X and pronounce it "ex". One possible reason for this interpretation is the tradition of giving Unix-like operating systems names that contain the letter "X". (AIX, A/UX, HP-UX, IRIX, Linux, Minix, Ultrix, Xenix, NeXT). Another possible reason is Apple's tendency to refer to specific versions in print (for example, "Mac OS X version 10.4"). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amdprophet Posted June 18, 2006 Share Posted June 18, 2006 I pronounce it as X just because it sounds cooler. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToadX Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 I used to pronounce it as "X," but since I found out that the official way to pronounce it was "10" (as Steve Jobs does in his speeches), I started pronouncing it as "10." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thatcrazylaxdude Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 You could just say "I use Mac OS Roman numeral ten version ten point four point four", but just saying OS 'ex' is easier, faster, and dissipates less CO2 into the atmosphere. so theoretically, you could be saving the environment. But i guess both ten and ex are about the same length, so maybe my argument is completely useless in this situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevin_4e Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 It sounds better in my opinion to say "ex" but i guess the right way to say it is 10. If they wanted it to be 10 they shuld have replaced the X with 10 but the X would look better. But in the end woh cares. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bwhsh8r Posted July 9, 2006 Share Posted July 9, 2006 "os ten 86" just doesnt sound as good as "osx86" i mean it just doesnt have the same ring or meaning as well... because its not the "ten 86" cpu archatecture... max Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
guttertrash Posted July 18, 2006 Share Posted July 18, 2006 OS-SEX cos thats what it is. Its an operating system, but as far as operating systems go, its SEX. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonz14 Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 its supposed to be 10 but i prefer x because it sounds i lot cooler i think Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vbetts Posted July 29, 2006 Share Posted July 29, 2006 I just say X. I don't say O, S either.I say Os.I don't know why... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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