[oliyoung]

To be fair, you're comparing apples (ha!) and oranges…

“Windows Threshold/XP/9/10”, “OS X Yosemite” are comparable to “Ubuntu“, not Linux.

NT & -Darwin- [Edit: You're right LukeShu, XNU] are the Linux equivalents, they're the names of the kernels and not supposed to be consumer friendly.

[comex]

Don't forget the distro version names! Ubuntu 14.10 'Utopic Unicorn', Debian 'jessie' (the Yodeling Cowgirl)...

[zanny]

Fedora 17: Beefy Miracle always leaves a warm feeling in my heart.

[gabeio]

Fedora recently ditched naming the versions themselves the community can name if it they wish. https://lists.fedoraproject.org/pipermail/advisory-board/201...

[coldpie]

> Fedora recently ditched naming the versions

Thank fucking God. I loathe version names. Place these in release date order: Lion, Snow Leopard, and Tiger. Now, place these in release order: 10.6, 10.7, and 10.8. Which do you find communicated more useful information?

[tsm]

Why not have both?

I find Intrepid Ibex, Gutsy Gibbon, Feisty Fawn, Hardy Heron, etc. to be quite sortable.

[dchest]

I always forget which Ubuntu name I'm using, even though I remember the number :-/

[mixmastamyk]

Until the one after Zany Zebra.

[vdaniuk]

Dude, version name is a great vessel for branding and promotion. Most distros have version names and version numbers, it's not hard to dereference a version name and they serve a purpose.

More brand awareness for open source projects == good.

[jazzdev]

Historically the name came first. Engineering would start working on a new version, Foo, and later on Marketing would decide it if was going to be 1.3 or 2.0

At least that's how it worked in commercial software. Now the names have taken on a life of their own.

[anocendi]

And then at Twenty-one, they ran out of good ideas ....

[LukeShu]

I would argue that it is XNU (instead of Darwin) that is equivalent to Linux.