I think the GP knows what cross-platform means, but is confused by using "X" as shorthand for "cross". In my opinion, it's not widespread enough for the four-letter saving to be worth the confusion.
I didn't directly interpret it a cross-platform but more as (x) platform... Asin variable x which is not Apple... Which is semantically the same I guess but not entirely.
Just to add to the different ways that that exact grouping of letters can be interpreted.
Maybe because I see an API as being able to be accessed from anywhere, so you could query it from a home automation device to trigger something when you are withing X meters of your house, which even if Apple truly released a cross-platform version of Find My that wouldn't be possible.
Long before the richest man on earth bought Twitter to be his personal megaphone to help him prepare to become president in order to boost all his personal endeavors, the letter X has been used as a sort of contraction to replace common morphemes like "cross", "trans" etc, in places where the physical representation "x" likens to a cross or crossing of some sort, or in reference to the Greek letter Chi. Must we change our use of language to support this guy, too?
You pretty much listed all the examples where that’s done (x-ing is also a big one, on signs), but there are way more cases where no one would ever use the letter X like that. I think parsing that kind of “syntax sugar” takes more cycles than a lot of people care to spare just to understand what a stranger is saying online. It’s too loose to be commonly applicable. Things like “Xmas” are accepted on a case by case basis.
The argument wasn’t made out of principle, either. If it were more widespread, it would be worth the potential confusion. It’s just not. I agree with that.
Just to add to the different ways that that exact grouping of letters can be interpreted.
Maybe because I see an API as being able to be accessed from anywhere, so you could query it from a home automation device to trigger something when you are withing X meters of your house, which even if Apple truly released a cross-platform version of Find My that wouldn't be possible.