Rumor has it that Zane H. Healy may have mentioned these words: Now that would be really cool! Honestly, I don't agree. Expanding on your example, what's stopping me from making 97 (very rapid) failed attempts at making a MerchWindows, and releasing a MerchWindows98? Something tells me that Micro$haft would be all over me like [profanity & expletives deleted] and that I'd lose horribly... why should Apple win just 'cause they're bigger? Besides - Mac OS X (thereby called for Version 10) is already out - they've already skipped 9. Why not call it XI, or 11, or Mac OS X Workstation, or something and leave poor ol' 9 alone? [ Editor's Note: Could you see what an American would think of Mac OS 11 in Germany? Mac OS Elf... --- We have a tourist shop here in town - they called it Das Gift Haus; except in German, "Gift" means "Poison"... I went in there once asking if they had any arsenic in stock... ;-) ] "Merch" -- Roger "Merch" Merchberger --- sysadmin, Iceberg Computers Recycling is good, right??? Ok, so I'll recycle an old .sig. If at first you don't succeed, nuclear warhead disarmament should *not* be your first career choice.

Hey Roger, I've seen that gift shop and made the same connection. Do you live near Beaver Falls, PA? jake

Well, _if_ I buy an Apple PC, I'd go for Mac OS, if I want to run other OSes, I'd prefer cheap PC-Boxes. Well, if your fast attempts take also >10 years, you might get the same credit. As long as simple logic (like the one obviously for me) is still an argument at court, the naming of (Mac)OS 9(.0) is valid (Of course I know that simple logic, or logic at all, is no reason for court decisions about brand name rights). Also one may keep in mind that MacOS 9 means MacOS _Version_ 9, while in OS/9, the version number is still to be added (of course, the 9 in here lost it's meaning long ago). Not exactly, they called it X, since they are still unshure if it can be delivered as a follow up to MacOS 9(.x) - MacOS X is a little bit like Microsofts promise that NT will be the only Windows after 95^H8^H^H2000. Think of it like one and one (like in meone or someone) - you'll always know what it's about - it's a bit like the VIC 64 story - it took an american mind to have this twisted idea influencing your product name. Well, ja. This isn't uncomon - Der/Die/Das is recogniced by most Americans as German versions of the/the (and even if not, it can be skipped), and Haus will go well as 'creative' written version of House (kewl, isn't it ?), so most Americanos get the meaning, and maybe the impression of something genuine German (*g*), while using 'Das Geschenkhaus' or more aprobiate 'Der Geschenkladen' would result in some dumb looking faces (Listmembers excepted). Gruss H. -- Stimm gegen SPAM: http://www.politik-digital.de/spam/de/ Vote against SPAM: http://www.politik-digital.de/spam/en/ Votez contre le SPAM: http://www.politik-digital.de/spam/fr/ Ich denke, also bin ich, also gut HRK