Apple OS X: You say OS Ten, I say OS Eks

I long ago resigned myself to the fact that I will never write about an Apple product without receiving at least one critical reader e-mail. That said, I was surprised at the consistency with which people were irritated by our video of Psystar's Open Computer, wherein I refer to its illicitly-installed Apple operating system as "OS Eks."

In the video of the un-boxing there was one glaring annoyance. OS X is pronounced OS TEN, not X. If you need proof of this, use a Mac system, turn on Text to Speech and type OS X. The system will tell you what it's name is. I know this has nothing to do with Psystar and it's computer but if you are going to review a product at least know what you are talking about. - Eric Mason, via reader comments in the Psystar review.

It's pronounced "Oh-Ess-Ten" or "Mack Oh-Ess-Ten". There were nine before it, and its the tenth one. It's a roman numeral. X = 10. Not "Oh-Ess-Ex or "Oss-Ex" or "Oscks-ggnnnnhhh Pbthth" - LeoP, via e-mail

correction: OS X is pronounced O S Ten not "eks" - Lituus Limacon, via e-mail

And so on.

Those readers are technically correct. The most recent version of Apple's operating system is 10.5.2. And OS X in general is the follow-on to Apple's previous Mac OS software, which had versions 1 through 9. And yes, I understand that "X" is the Roman numeral for the number 10, and if I had thought about it that day for five seconds I might have referred to it as such in the video.

But you'll find no mea culpa here. I admit I was tempted to write a "man, that was silly of me" post and make some lame attempt at getting people to talk about it.

Too easy.

Nope, instead I'm going proactive. I'm going to be the JIF to your GIF, the EARL to your URL, and the DUB-DUB-DUB to your WWW. It's "OS Eks" from here on out (thanks for the spelling, Lituus) in all future recorded CNET programming where I'm compelled to say the name. I even registered the domain (The Official OS-Eks Blog, coming soon). Consider it payback for years of, shall we say, "enthusiastic" Apple fan e-mail (despite this relatively benign batch).

You can rant for 10 pages about how I'm an idiot for saying the iMac had two FireWire 800 ports (since corrected), but this one? This one is mine.

[zbirdboy]

good for you Rich. i go back and forth between Oh Es Ecks and Oh Es Ten. btw, i liked LeoP's "Oscks-ggnnnnhhh Pbthth" thats what ill call it from now on. :)

[friday04]

You go girl.

[ericaatnews]

Rich rocks.

[Josh.Lowensohn]

Funny, Microsoft Sam tells me it's "Oh es ecks."

Trusting computers on anything is a mistake. Didn't anyone see 2001?

[jture]

Personally, I ignore any reader comment that can't even get its grammar right:
"The system will tell you what it's name is."
Uh, that would be "its name."

[robertorosco]

Hey each OS before it actually had the number in them. "OS9" por ejemplo. I say "OSX" all the time anyway instead of "OS10." :-)

[Aztek1214]

Hilarious that people care so much. Good on you for sticking to your guns.

[kingrah1]

wow, I'm sorry but i pronounce it OS eks, it sounds cooler that way -I usually correct peoples grammar, so this surprised me because i didn't even think about that it was really 10

BTW: 2001 space odyssey sucked! they could have compressed that movie into 5min easily.

[c|net Reader]

When you correct people, do you note errors in capitalization, comma splices, possessives versus plurals, punctuation, and run on sentences? I'd hate to see the result if so, given what you wrote. (You made every one of the mistakes I just listed in that short post.)

[eksAirbusdriver]

I have to agree with you, Rich, for two reasons.
1. I think it's ridiculous to say "OS Ten Ten point five point two!" "OS Ten ten!" Give me a break. :-)
2. Are you the same Rich Brown that does my taxes?! 8-|

I was surprised one day when one of our MUG officers mentioned "Earl!" Never occurred to me to say it that way. I need to get out more...

[c|net Reader]

I've pronounced "URL" as "earl" for over ten years. My fellow developers have pronounced it the same during most of that time. Then again, I was in the USAF for years and we always try to pronounce rather than spell acronyms in the Air Force.

The "you are ell" pronunciation is more recent but seemingly more popular today.

[cheapsils]

haha, people are jerks, aren't they?

[bdplaid]

Stick to your guns rich, I love it. And in my mind, the current version is Oh-Ess-Eye-Vee-Too. The updates - like 10.2, .3, .4, etc, were such that they should have been versions unto themselves, so 10.5.2 is really 14.2. or is it 15.2? ...depends on if one counts10.0. which i don't. So Eye-Vee-dot-too it is!

Please make a note, as I'll be checking.

And now that we have that straightened out, for whom are you voting? :-)

[DarkHawke]

Rock on wit yo bad self, Rick! I'd have called it "O-S who-give-a-Ecks," but to each his own!

[solitare_pax]

How odd - If I am referring to a specific version of Windows, I use the proper term - Windows XP, (Home or Pro), Windows Vista, Windows 2000 Professional (my current OS at work - yes, laugh away. It works.) so I don't look - so utterly foolish - when seeking advice or explaining something.

Apparently Mac OS "Eks" isn't worthy of a similar respect I accord Windows (yes I respect it- I work in both worlds) - although the difference between OS 10.1 to 10.5/Leopard is akin to the differences between Windows 2000 and Windows Vista.

Whatever. Have fun with your blog.

Hope it says something about Psystar's activities.

[nickypickysticky8]

lol i was gonna write in and say that, but then i thought that like 50 other people were going to, so i didnt.

[qozmiq]

If it was supposed to called ten, as all previous entries of the OS were numerical, then they would have released OS 10. They did not. They released OS X . Apple made a marketing change, and everyone I know that works for Apple in Cupertino can confirm...its ECKS. Obviously, its Ecks.5.2. Duh.

[aaronsher]

I actually got chewed out by an Apple developer support rep on the phone once for calling it "OS Ecks"...this was in the pre-10.0 days, so they might have been a bit sensitive about it.

[TheBobcat]

You can crusade all you want to spite the hardcores, but when it comes down to it, you just look like you don't know what you're talking about, which is pretty much the status quo at CNET.

[PFFXV]

Mac users need to get a life. I need to get a life -- I read this article .Being a long time Macolyte, I say "System 10," though I must confess that I have a PC to do bookkeeping at my office which certainly has corrupted my soul.

I have a more important question: If not following Mac language protocol makes you not "PC," are are the Mac fundamentalists therefore "PC"?

I need to run. I have an appointment with my shrink.

[jezmondo]

Fine, you want to look like you don't know what the heck you're talking about, knock yourself out!

You don't think **maybe** you're being a little bit precious about being corrected do you?

Also you start talking about Macs people get passionate - some for, some against. Macs just seem to bring that out in people. I use a Mac, and yeah, a lot of thought went into that decision (still does) but I **try** and not get too fundamentalist about it.

[JondaKeba]

Mac OS X was built on techonology that had been developed at NeXT Software up until 1997 when Apple bought NeXT. The first version based on the Unix code developed by NeXT and subsequently Apple was Mac OS X Server 1.0, released in 1999. The 'X' seems to be a reference to the 'NeXTSTEP' OS technology it was built on. This may explain why Apple state the latest release version of their operating on their website as: Mac OS X v10.5.1 Leopard. They have stated by the 'X' and the version number as '10.5.1'. Surely therefore it is logical to assume that the version names are interchageable - so feel free to 'Eks' or 'Ten' it up to your hearts content!