Wednesday, August 26, 2009

Top 10 cat names Apple hasn’t used yet for its Mac software

For years, computer maker Apple has been naming new versions of its Macintosh computer operating system after nature’s big cats. But after using Cheetah, Puma, Jaguar, Panther, Tiger, Leopard and now Snow Leopard, Apple is running out of cats to name its Mac OS X releases.
Here are a few suggestions:

1.
Mr. Mistoffelees – The magical cat from the musical “Cats.” Bonus: He wears black and is a master showman like Apple CEO Steve Jobs.
2.
Fritz – The smooth feline con artist from the comic strip “Fritz the Cat” by Robert Crumb. Known for his wild adventures and sexual escapades, he starred in an X-rated feature film by animator Ralph Bakshi.

3.
Felix – Black-and-white cartoon cat known for his giant grin. The first “Felix the Cat” cartoons were in the silent film era.

4.
Sockington – The microblogging cat on Twitter has attracted more than 1 million followers who want to read his thoughts on cat naps and being mischievous.

5.
Morris – The advertising mascot for 9Lives cat food, Morris the Cat is known as “the world’s most finicky cat.” Just like Steve Jobs, Morris would travel halfway across the country for liver.

6.
Salem – The black cat from “Sabrina, the Teenage Witch” is actually a wizard sentenced to spend 100 years as a cat as punishment for attempting to take over the world. Apple execs accomplished the same goal with the iPod.

7.
Toonces – From the “Saturday Night Live” sketches “Toonces, the Driving Cat.” Might be a tough sell because Toonces crashes on every outing. Not something you want in a computer.

8.
Garfield – The title character from the comic strip by Jim Davis. Apple should save this name for a lame edition of its Mac OS to match the tone of the comic.

9.
Jocelyn Wildenstein – The New York socialite is known in the tabloid press as "the Catwoman" for her excessive plastic surgery. Apple should use this name for its most extreme makeover.
10.
Yusuf Islam – Best known by his former stage name, Cat Stevens, he is a singer-songwriter and prominent convert to Islam. Parallels to converting Windows users to Mac users?
Apple unleashes the latest version of its Macintosh computer operating system on Friday. Officially called Mac OS X version 10.6 Snow Leopard, it will be sold in retail stores as packaged software and installed on new computers.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

This was an awesome top 10 list. Love all of the cat references. I especially love the Bride of Wildenstien reference--it was pretty unexpected.

Some other cats they have not ripped off yet include Sylvester (enemy of Tweety), the Aristocats, the cats from Lion King, Figaro from Pinnochio, The Siamese cats from Lady and the Tramp, Dinah (Alice in Wonderland's Cat), The Cheshire Cat, Mr. Bigglesworth (from Austin Powers), Chessie and Peake from the Chesapeake Railway, Milo from Milo and Otis, HeathCliff, Puss in Boots, Josie and The Pussycats, Kat Von D, and Eartha Kitt.

Patrick Seitz said...

Thanks, Kristen,

I actually used Mr. Bigglesworth in a follow-up post on the same subject.

Mac OS X Sylvester sounds good too.