Poll: What should Apple call the next version of OS X for the Mac?

Zac Hall | Jun 10 2016 - 10:39 am PT

While the name of the next software update to the Mac isn’t nearly as important as new features — like Siri and new iTunes — changing it from OS X to whatever Apple has up its sleeves will be a big deal.

There’s been plenty of evidence that OS X will become MacOS… or macOS… or something similar, but which one should win? There’s also the version number and California location name. We’ll find out on Monday when the WWDC keynote kicks off at 10am PT/1 pm ET, and take our polls in the meantime to cast your vote.

So far we’ve seen references to both macOS and MacOS on Apple.com, and some have suggested Mac OS as a more general and traditional name. I put my money on uppercase MacOS on the Happy Hour podcast earlier this week, but the lowercase macOS appeared more recently. The argument is that Apple offers iOS (iPhone/iPad), watchOS (Apple Watch), and tvOS (Apple TV), so macOS would fit the branding.

But the Mac is a strong brand on its own which could explain capital M MacOS. Apple Watch also has a capital W but watchOS (and was originally Watch OS) so … we shall see.

There’s also the version number. The current Mac operating system is OS X El Capitan in marketing, and OS X 10.11.5 for the version number. El Capitan is a bit of a mouth full and doesn’t acknowledge the point five update so we tend to refer to it as OS X 10.11. Assume marketing name and version number remains separate, what should the next version number be? MacOS 10.12 follows the current version without much change, MacOS 11 marks a bigger move, and MacOS 12 could build on ten point eleven but feels sort of Windows 8 to Windows 10 to me.

Finally, there’s the marketing name. Apple moved to names based on places in California starting with OS X Mavericks, then followed that with OS X Yosemite and OS X El Capitan. The number of options here is way too long to poll so instead, combo your picks for OS name and version number with the marketing name in the comments (we’ll have to revisit this Monday and see who has a crystal ball).

For example, ‘macOS 10.12 Hollywood’ counts as macOS 10.12 version number and macOS Hollywood for marketing.

Stay tuned for full WWDC coverage ahead of Monday’s 10am PT keynote, and catch up on our continuing coverage below: