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What's In A Name? (8/12/99)
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Hey, we were as surprised as anyone when, during his Macworld Expo keynote address last month, Steve Jobs unveiled Apple's next big operating system release, Mac OS 9. Not that we were surprised they were working on yet another revision to the Mac OS; the web is full of reports on the upgrade code-named "Sonata," which includes the beginnings of multi-user support, an improved Sherlock search utility, and the foundation for the migration to Mac OS X when it finally appears next year. No, what made our eyebrows raise a few notches was the fact that Sonata was going to be Mac OS 9, instead of the widely-assumed Mac OS 8.7.
See, the moniker "Mac OS 9" disappeared from Apple's OS road map quite a while ago, and most of us figured that the reason was the existing presence of another operating system with a similar name: Microware's OS-9. OS-9 is a real-time operating system that's targeted at embedded systems, and to make matters worse, it runs on the PowerPC architecture. So there was widespread speculation that Apple was steering clear of the Mac OS 9 name to avoid trademark problems with Microware-- and when the Mac OS 9 name reappeared at the Expo, some of us foolishly assumed that Apple had come to some agreement with Microware that allowed the use of the name.
So how naïve were we? When it comes to trademarks, Apple has traditionally embraced the doctrine that it's better to act first and apologize later than to ask for permission. (The use of the very name "Macintosh" is the legendary example.) It really shouldn't have surprised us to see Apple Insider's report that Microware is gearing up to sue Apple as soon as the first Mac OS 9 CDs roll off the line. Microware has apparently warned Apple of their intent, and if the rumors are true, Apple has "hurriedly been readying a second release of their Mac OS 9 Operating System under a new name, which is currently unknown." Let's see, we've had Mac OS 8, 8.1, 8.5, 8.6, and we know Mac OS X is coming later. So what can Apple use in place of "9"? "8.7" would make it tough for Apple to justify the upgrade's $99 price tag. Perhaps "Mac OS IX"?
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SceneLink (1722)
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And Now For A Word From Our Sponsors |
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 8/12/99 episode: August 12, 1999: He says "girly," she says "sexist," let's call the whole thing off-- for now. Meanwhile, Uncle Steve may be trying to wedge a microphone into the iBook after all, and Microware prepares to sue Apple for infringing on its "OS-9" trademark...
Other scenes from that episode: 1720: Girly Wars Redux (8/12/99) You're probably as sick of the John Dvorak "girly" wars as we are. You know what we're talking about; in a PC Magazine article, Dvorak ripped apart the iBook not because of its feature set, but because he feels it looks too effeminate to appeal to "real men" (meaning, apparently, men like him)... 1721: Is Anyone Listening? (8/12/99) Never mind the "girly" comments-- critics said the iMac would flop in part because it looks like a toy, and it's whupping some serious tail out there in retail; just the same, the iBook's distinctive style will very likely only help sales, not hinder them...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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