
The few remaining uses of the name “Macintosh” - fanf2
https://tidbits.com/2020/01/10/the-one-remaining-use-of-the-word-macintosh/
======
fredley
Doesn't mention in the article that the 'reason' the name Macintosh was chosen
was that it's simply after a variety of Apple (McIntosh).

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madcaptenor
I always thought it would be good if they named all their computers after
varieties of apples.

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troymc
"Apple names some of its most opaque holding companies after kinds of apples."
\--- see [https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-subsidiaries-are-
named...](https://www.businessinsider.com/apple-subsidiaries-are-named-for-
apples-2016-8)

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donatj
Mac browsers user agent strings contain “Macintosh”.

I know this because I develop a library for parsing them and just days ago
someone filed an issue telling me that “Macintosh” was old timey and I should
be transliterating to “Mac”. I did not accept the change.

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kiddico
I don't know if that's the most accurate description of their reasoning,
though I agree with your decision.

"Could we perhaps rename the Macintosh platform to simply Mac? It hasn't been
branded as Macintosh since 1998, and I'd like to avoid having to "translate"
this to Mac for newer users that simply don't know what a Macintosh is."

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antiterra
Perhaps this use is to prevent trademark abandonment issues? I don’t think
it’d be great for Apple if, e.g. Monoprice were to come out with a Macintosh
computer.

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acheron
This is a decent possibility, yeah. Other companies keep old trademarks active
that way too.

"Standard Oil" in the US is one still used like that. It was split up between
different companies for different states, and the current companies still use
"Standard"/"Esso"/etc trademarks in obscure places to keep them active even
though it's not part of their regular branding. I believe Chevron has a single
gas station in each state named "Standard" although everything else looks like
a Chevron station. Exxon sometimes labels their diesel pumps "Esso Diesel". At
one point BP owned it in some states; I think they sold marine fuel on Lake
Erie as "SOHIO" (Standard Oil of Ohio) still despite rebranding SOHIO stations
in the late 80s everywhere else in the state. (This was several years ago that
I remember seeing this, some things may have changed since then.)

(Outside of the US I think ExxonMobil owns it everywhere, and still regularly
brands stations as Esso.)

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bookofjoe
Think outside the computer space: the Macintosh blade has been my blade of
choice for laryngoscopy since the first day of my anesthesiology residency in
1977.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngoscopy#Laryngoscope_blad...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laryngoscopy#Laryngoscope_blades)

~~~
tpfour
Hey, this is an unrelated question but I've been looking for MDs turned SWEs
and vice versa. I assume since you are here that you understand the life of a
SWE. Do you have any thoughts about jumping from SWE to medicine?

~~~
bagacrap
I'm not a doctor but I've dated enough med students to tell you that the value
proposition of being an MD is far overrated. You have no more earning
potential than a typical SWE, or less if you're not one of the top earning
specialities. But the top earners don't hit their potential for a LONG time,
and work insane hours. Probably most doctors are lucky to be broke, ie just
finished paying off student loans, by 40, assuming a normal med school
timeline. It makes more sense economically and sanity-wise to switch to law.

~~~
tpfour
Thanks. I'm specifically not concerned about money (other than tuition if it
comes to that). Not that it is unimportant, but I won't bring any to my grave.

As I've gotten to do business, negotiations, and dealing with "money" more, I
became kind of disillusioned to the power game. It's not always as fun as
commonly portrayed and medicine seems like a very demanding but cool job.
Maybe the grass is just greener and it gets as boring (if not more due to the
lower potential for creativity).

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projektfu
The reason why I switched from SW development to veterinary medicine (looking
back on it) is because I do much better with a service-oriented role instead
of a project-oriented one. If I finish my notes I can put everything to bed
each day and not have to worry about deadlines or doing parts of a project
incrementally so I'm not swamped at the end. It's nice to help people but if I
was more interested in projects, veterinary medicine would be a bad way to do
it.

~~~
bookofjoe
Yes! I was a GP/family doctor for a while before going back into training to
become an anesthesiologist. The reason I liked anesthesiology so much and
hated GP/family medicine is because each case in the OR was self-contained:
once I woke the patient up, I had succeeded. GP/family medicine, on the other
hand, consisted of seeing the same people over and over who never got much
better or worse but rather required maintenance that would go on forever. I
loved leaving the hospital each day not having to wonder if I'd done enough or
the right thing or missed a diagnosis.

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Shinchy
Here in the UK Macintosh is still genericized as a rain coat.

~~~
S_A_P
It took me a long time to figure that out as a kid. Listening to Beatles songs
with lyrics like “the man in the Mac said you gotta go back” or “the banker
never wears a Mac “ I had no idea what that was.

~~~
fredley
Often referred to as a 'Plastic Mac' (extra confusing during the early
noughties era).

See also: 'Mac in a Sac':
[https://www.macinasac.com/](https://www.macinasac.com/)

~~~
OJFord
Not heard of that, but 'pac-a-mac' is the (I believe generic) term I grew up
with.

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systemtest
My internal drive is named Macintosh HD and I will always keep it like that.
Feels like a part of history to me.

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brian-armstrong
Getting rid of the spinny disk icon in favor of some smoother, less detailed
"SSD" icon seems likely but terribly offensive. The spinny disk icon has
terrific character.

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bristleworm
I really like that "Think Different" is still printed next to the specs.

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comboy
Yeah, and the meaning is still the same. A reminder that you don't have to
follow a huge monopoly that lost touch with customers some time ago..

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BlueTemplar
Even funnier is that with the open sourcing of PowerPC (and therefore steadily
declining prices, soon in hobbyist range?), the IBM architecture might soon be
one of those that "Think Different !" (And I'm willing to bet that we won't
see a PowerPC Macintosh for a while...)

~~~
msla
Apparently, Think was once an IBM motto, leading to someone turning it into
"Think... or thwim" according to an urban legend.

[https://everything2.com/title/think](https://everything2.com/title/think)

[https://pbar.fnal.gov/organizationalchart/peterson/peterson2...](https://pbar.fnal.gov/organizationalchart/peterson/peterson2.htm)

[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_%28IBM%29](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Think_%28IBM%29)

~~~
BlueTemplar
"Think... or thwim" LOL XD !

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reportgunner
> _but your reaction to the word “Macintosh.” If you didn’t blink at it,
> you’ve probably been using Macs for over two decades_

No I have never used a mac and I know what macintosh is.

Where is the interesting part of the article ?

~~~
cytzol
> No I have never used a mac and I know what macintosh is.

You're affirming the consequent! The author isn't saying "Only people who have
been using Macs for two decades won't blink at this".

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reportgunner
That is a fair point !

I should have written that I haven't blinked while not being a mac user.

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ekianjo
> Even the case-less hard drive icon in the Quick Look preview window
> incorrectly uses an image of a spinning disk to represent an SSD.

Its called a symbol. What else would you do, put a piece of plastic called SSD
instead?

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ksec
Yes. It is about as incorrect as the 3.5" Floppy used in Save Icon which most
haven't seen one for the past 20 years.

And Child would ask their mum and dad why have they 3D Printed the Save Icon.
( And this is not a Joke )

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astura
>And this is not a Joke

Yes it is

[https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/24/16505912/floppy-
disk-3d-...](https://www.theverge.com/2017/10/24/16505912/floppy-
disk-3d-print-save-joke-meme)

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cubix
I hadn’t thought about it consciously before, but when I hear “Macintosh” a
beige box from the 80’s or 90’s comes to mind, and with “Mac” I’m thinking
post-millennial aluminum and glass. So, it’s sort of a temporal indicator for
the product line.

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sevencolors
> What’s your internal drive called?

I've stopped renaming it because it's hidden away in the Finder and Desktop ️

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thomasfedb
Was half expecting thing to be about Mackintosh coats

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tudorw
or some fancy chairs maybe :)

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DiabloD3
or apples

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LeonM
or some really high-end audio equipment.

The list goes on and on, Macintosh/McIntosh is a common family name and many
businesses are named after it.

The Apple Macintosh was named after the McIntosh apple (the fruit) variety.

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ngcc_hk
This is the site or the book hooked me to internet.

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mafro
This thing has a hard drive in it??

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gambiting
I know, it should be an actual crime that Apple sells brand new iMacs in 2020
for a small fortune and by default they come with a shitty 5400rpm drive. It's
insane. Those machines have very decent specs but everything feels 2011-slow
purely because the system is running off something that belongs in a museum.

~~~
zozbot234
The drive itself is not the issue. You can run Linux on a spinning drive and
it will still be quick and snappy, because your free RAM will be used for
caching file data. I don't know why Windows and Mac aren't doing this
properly.

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pram
MacOS has virtual memory and caching/buffering (and compression)

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ArcMex
When I encounter the word "Macintosh", I think of the movie Blank Cheque.

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bytematic
Spelt a little different but McIntosh audio makes the most beautiful audio
equipment

