"Mac" vs "OS X" vs "Mac OS X"
- by Brian Campbell
I am writing server software that gives administrators options that apply only to Mac OS X clients. When naming those options, I need to decide how I am going to refer to such clients. I can see three choices:
Mac OS X
Mac
OS X
In context, I feel that "Mac OS X" might be a little clumsy: "Default protocol for Mac OS X clients"; "Change Mac OS X protocol". In discussing with my boss, he suggests "OS X", as that's the name for the OS itself, while I think that "Mac" is more recognizable. While "OS X" is technically correct and is what Apple recommends, I feel that it has a lot less name recognition than "Mac"; in particular, administrators who work in a Windows-only environment may not even recognize "OS X" and wonder what the options is about, while I think everyone knows what "Mac" refers to.
In looking at what several popular pieces of software choose, I see that Microsoft has "Office for Mac". Adobe calls it "Macintosh" (which sounds very outdated, I believe that Apple stopped using that "Macintosh" years ago). Firefox uses "Mac OS X". Google has "Google Software Downloads for Mac". I don't see many popular pieces of software that refer to it solely as OS X; it seems that either "Mac OS X" or "Mac" is used most often. Apple does refer to it as OS X, but I think the fact that it's coming from Apple provides the disambiguation that you need, so it's not confusing coming from them, while it may be in another context.
Is there any good solution for this? Should I just use the somewhat clumsy "Mac OS X" everywhere (or at least, the first time I refer to it in any given screen)? Obviously, my boss has final say, but I'd like to be able to provide a coherent argument.
