Apple announced today that the new version of OS X (10.8) will be called Mountain Lion. This makes sense considering the last version was called Lion and this is more of an evolutionary upgrade than a total redesign. But I wondered why the didn’t pick something more catchy. Like Cougar. I realize the connotations that the word “cougar” carries in the world today. You can read some of them on Urban Dictionary, but be warned it’s a very Not-Safe-For-Work page. The more I thought about it, the more it made sense that it should be called Cougar. After all, OS X 10.8…:
– is very mature at this point
– is trying to stay attractive and good looking despite its advancing age
– is trying hard to attract a younger crowd
– unsure of what it wants to be (OS X or iOS)
– has expensive tastes (10.8 will only work well on newer Intel i-series processors)
For the record, OS X 10.1 Puma and 10.3 Panther are the same animal as 10.8 Mountain Lion. Maybe they’ll save Cougar until 10.9.
The Networking Nerd 
No, actually, a puma, a mountain lion and cougar are the same animal. A panther, if you mean a black panther, is a melanistic leopard or jaguar (something went wrong with the pigmentation and they’ve gone all black). Black panthers are also called black leopards, though there are also jaguars that come all black as black panthers but they’re not called “black jaguars”.
I’ll have to blame Wikipedia for that one. However, I grew up in rural Oklahoma and my parents always referred to the species “puma concolor” as a panther. There’s even a subspecies of this cat known as the Florida Panther. Anywhere else in the world, the black/white panther is a cousin of the cougar and a member of the same species as jaguars and leopards. Probably has something to do with the isolation of North American species for an extended period of time.
It’s ‘coming’ this Summer.
Maybe we collectively refer to all the older releases as “Cougar” then?
Hi, nice take on mature cougar 😉
My bet for next OS X is “OS X Pussy Cat” ™
;]
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