Snow Leopard might not be the best code name

The great Mental Floss blog actually did the research on something that occurred to me as soon as Steve said "Snow Leopard" during the keynote -- naming an OS after a cat "sometimes known as the ounce" might not be the best idea.

File this stuff in the "didja know" column: snow leopards aren't actually leopards -- they're actually closer in family to cheetahs, which means that the new OS might be a little closer to Aqua than we're all comfortable with. Also, they're pretty timid -- not only can they not roar (so new audio features in the OS are out), they're known to hide behind their fuzzy tails. We'll put it this way: you wouldn't exactly want to call your football team The Snow Leopards, so we're not quite sure why Steve decided to use the moniker.

Finally, the weirdest tie here is that the snow leopard as a symbol is already taken -- by the Girl Scouts of Kyrgyzstan. Of course, Steve's naming capabilities haven't really been up to snuff lately, and maybe he just didn't want to go with Cougar -- even though Apple owns it, they may not have been ready to take on all the connotations associated with that particular nomenclature. Then again, maybe this will be good for the snow leopard's image -- after seeing all these pictures of cool cats, if you feel you'd like to help them out, we're sure the Snow Leopard Trust would be happy to hear from you.

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Source: http://www.mentalfloss.com/blogs/archives/15635

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Analysis / Opinion Humor OS Apple Leopard Apple History

The great Mental Floss blog actually did the research on something that occurred to me as soon as Steve said "Snow Leopard" during the...

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James Savage

I think it just sounds cool. And they look cool.

June 14 2008 at 4:42 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Ben Darlow

Slow news day? Or are you just tapping your fingers waiting for more news on Season 4, Mike?

June 13 2008 at 5:13 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

cogwac

It's Steve's subtle acknowledgment to the issues with Leopard...

"It's no Leopard."

June 13 2008 at 12:11 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

pjcabrera

Oh for f@*k's sake, it's just a name!

June 13 2008 at 11:18 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

Duane

HUMOR?

FAIL.

June 12 2008 at 2:48 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

milkmage

... ok, so Snow Leopards don't roar, and are timid/skiddish. maybe you can think of them as the nerds of the big cat family.

if everything we've heard about 10.6 is accurate (technology updates only no new features - drop PPC, 64-bit, Cocoa, etc) then 10.6 is a "nerd update"

i say the name fits.

June 12 2008 at 1:34 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

iamwatson

This is the stupidest post I've ever seen...They named it snow leopard because its supposed to be slightly different than leopard but gui will be pretty much the same. So he used some thing that is the same cat name with an addition on to it. Has nothing to do with the behavior of the actual animal. If the company had to design the operating system based on a cat's behavioral patterns it would be a catastrophe.

This is a stupid pointless post!

June 12 2008 at 11:54 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

alansky

The panther (as in black panther) is not a puma or a cougar. And Apple code names are supposed to be catchy and cool, not taxanomically-correct.

June 12 2008 at 11:20 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

glad

cougar, puma, snow leopard, I wouldn't want any of them in my back garden!

June 12 2008 at 7:47 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply

HineyWipe

Snow Leopard is rare, hard to observe in the wild, and endangered. Yup, that is OS X...atleast it is with 10.5.3 update. Jeesh.

June 12 2008 at 7:17 AM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down Reply