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Losing the Name Game (1/29/98)
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Good gravy, what's gotten into Apple regarding product names lately? First there was the ill-fated PowerExpress project, which, had it not met its untimely death, was rumored to be named "Power Macintosh Extreme" when it finally made it out of the labs. Now Mac OS Rumors is reporting that the super-OS now known as Rhapsody will actually ship under the name "Mac OS Enterprise" when it's released later this year.
"Mac OS Enterprise?" Yecch. Apparently the team who thought up cool product names like Centris and QuickTime didn't survive the layoffs. We think Apple may be totally missing the important point that an operating system name should be utterable in no more than two syllables-- three, tops. The problem with Apple's rumored planned name is that not only is it six syllables long (and as boring as defragmenting one's disk, by the way), but also it's not really contractible into a shorter verson. What could you call it? "I've got a Dell box running Enterprise?" Forget it, no one will know what the heck you're talking about. Geez, if it's got to be boring, how about at least making it shorter by calling it "Mac OS Pro?"
It's a shame Apple's not sticking with the name "Rhapsody," which we think would do wonderfully; it's short, sweet, distinctive, exciting, and it feels right rolling off the tongue. Probably at least part of the reason is the music software that already uses that name. In the meantime, do AtAT's faithful viewers have some better ideas for the name game? It'd be sad to see such a kick-ass operating system get hobbled with such a clunky moniker. Give us your suggestions via our Survey page.
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SceneLink (402)
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 | | The above scene was taken from the 1/29/98 episode: January 29, 1998: Screams of horror and sighs of boredom ripple across the Mac-using world as rumors spread that Rhapsody's shipping name will be "Mac OS Enterprise." Meanwhile, Egghead Software is the latest casualty in the recent rash of tech maulings; it's jettisoning 80% of its workforce and closing every store because it can't compete with giants the likes of Best Buy (whose recent divorce from Apple was a mutually-beneficial separation, with no ill will and no courtroom drama)...
Other scenes from that episode: 403: That Karma Thing, Man (1/29/98) Wow, there sure are a lot of tech-type companies in financial trouble these days: Netscape posted a loss and is laying off 400 people; Micropolis shut down entirely; Seagate is laying off some 10,000 jobs; APS Technologies just filed for Chapter 11; Power Computing just auctioned off the last of its stuff before turning out the lights; Oracle's stock plunged almost 30% last month; and of course there's Apple, whose ongoing financial difficulties are legendary in our own time... 404: Best Buy Bye-Bye (1/29/98) Of course, just because Best Buy is no longer going to be selling Apple computers doesn't mean that they were the ones who ditched the platform (even though the press is putting that typical spin on the whole thing-- take the title of the CNNfn story "Best Buy drops Macs: Electronics superstore deals Apple Computer another blow" for one example)...
Or view the entire episode as originally broadcast... | |  |
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