The One Remaining Use of the Word “Macintosh”

Originally published at: https://tidbits.com/2020/01/10/the-one-remaining-use-of-the-word-macintosh/

Nagged by the question of whether Apple still uses the term “Macintosh” anywhere, Adam Engst pores over targeted Google search results to confirm that the company has excised “Macintosh” from all modern uses, with a single odd exception.

Renaming a hard drive must rate as one of the biggest wastes of time going… what purpose does it serve?

I knew most of the icons in your graphic, but not all. Yes, my iMac’s HD has a name: Kenmore. At the time I bought this iMac, I wanted a new stove; but when my old Power Macintosh refused to work anymore, my stove money when to this iMac. I did eventually get the new stove, when the old one decided it had baked enough cakes–but I didn’t buy a Kenmore. So I’m always reminded of what might have been. :rofl:

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My disk is named Oscar and the icon is my black “trash can” MacPro with the grouch himself sticking out and I can just hear him saying “what purpose does it serve?”

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“Waste of time” being a relative term since it takes about 15 seconds, I do it so I can be sure which device I’m looking at when accessing other machines on the network.

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Incorrect that it’s the only usage. on the retail box for iMacs it has “Macintosh Think Different” to this day

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I moved my system disk to an external SSD, which is macOS, and I’ve repurposed the internal hard disk in my iMac as a data drive, named Data. Simple and to-the-point. (I also have a second SSD attached that I use as a scratch disk for some apps, and that’s named Extra Space.)

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You’re right! This OWC unboxing video shows the back of the box for a 2019 21.5-inch iMac with 4K Retina display, and indeed, there on the back are “Macintosh Think Different”. That’s fascinating, since it’s an unusual use of “Macintosh” and also a call-out to the old “Think Different” ad campaign.

Any other instances of “Macintosh” anyone can find?

That certainly answers my question about “What purpose does it serve?”

They still use it in the footer of every press release. For example:

Apple revolutionized personal technology with the introduction of the Macintosh in 1984. Today, Apple leads the world in innovation with iPhone, iPad, Mac, Apple Watch and Apple TV. Apple’s four software platforms — iOS, macOS, watchOS and tvOS — provide seamless experiences across all Apple devices and empower people with breakthrough services including the App Store, Apple Music, Apple Pay and iCloud. Apple’s more than 100,000 employees are dedicated to making the best products on earth, and to leaving the world better than we found it.

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Made an account just to point out another one: the Finder About window.

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As a dual citizen and the proud owner of an Irish passport, my drives, when loaded, are Irish names.

And since I have an iMacPro, Pangur Dubh is Irish for Black Cat.

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I’ve been a very faithful Macintosh user since 1984, and have never looked back, or had any regrets! :grinning:

My Mini’s internal drive is named “Kiwini”, which is Hawaiian for “Steve”. The Mini is the successor to the iMac my band used to record its second album and inherited the drive name. The band was called The Universal Steve and all four of us were named Steve. My avatar is the cover of our first album.

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Ok, I’m stumped. Bottom row from left, icon #3… what is it? It took me a minute but #2 is a magneto optical disc. But #3… it’s not a Zip or Jaz drive. I got all the others.

The name of the internal drive of my main computer has been “Macci” for over 20 years.

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It serves the same purpose as changing the account name on your WiFi router to anything but “admin” :wink:

I have many computers that I work with, some as virtual machines, some with screen sharing, and some directly with multiple boot partitions. I need as many cues as possible to keep them straight so I don’t make a big mess. It also makes it very obvious when I’m working on someone else’s computer instead of my own, so I can hopefully stay out of automata mode…

Each computer gets a theme, and the accounts and internal drive partitions get related names. So one of my earlier work macs was named Mineral, with usernames Sapphire and Topaz, and drive partitions of Magnetite, Olivine, and Quartz. I also add custom icons for the drives, so the drive names are partly chosen to have easily discriminated images.

External drives get named for their function (directly connected TM drives called Amber, Trilobyte, etc) or for which server owns them and/or which multi-drive enclosure they’re in (Oak Fern, Deer Fern).

Thumb drives tend to get named after early instruments, such as Rackett and Gemshorn. A current multi-partitioned one is Cornetto, Lysard and Serpent.

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23%20PM I approve the Shakespeare, as all my machines are named after the lead women.

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Answer to icon quiz may be in:
/System/Library/Extensions/IOSCSIArchitectureModelFamily.kext/Contents/Resources/
(on 10.12 fer sure)

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