We’ve been so wrapped up in Mac software reviews and speculation on what Apple will do with their $20-billion cash stockpile that we haven’t given any thought to speculation that has no purpose other than wasting time.

Like, what name will Apple use on the next version of Mac OS X?

Forgive me, but I’m doing the chronological order from memory, and if memory serves me correctly, OS X launched as Puma, then Cheetah (or, Cheetah, then Puma), then Jaguar, advanced to Panther, became popular with Tiger, and finally exploded on the world scene and increased market share with Leopard.

If Apple sticks with a big cat naming convention then what’s left? Lion? Somehow the king of the jungle seems far too cartoonish, especially after Panther, Tiger, and Leopard, one after the other ate into Microsoft’s market share.

If the other half of my memory serves me correctly, I think I remember reading somewhere that Apple is done with the big cat names with Leopard. If so, most of my speculation ends here and now. Or not. Maybe. I should be definitive about it. Mostly.

To big cat or not to big cat, that is the next OS X question. The only big cat left is Lion, and Lion just sounds too weak after all the other big cats. Besides, most Lions just seem to lollygag around and not do much these days.

The only Lions of recent memory are in Disney animated movies with Elton John singing away, or really odd looking people-like Lions dancing on stage.

Lions are out. So, what’s in? What’s left? Apple still has, assuming my faltering memory stopped faltering for a moment, two other cat names trademarked and ready to use. Cougar and Lynx. I like Minx. Sounds rich, like Lexus. Stick a “y” in there and Mynx is good to go.

What’s the big name Apple intends to stick on the next version of Mac OS X, code-named Ballmer’s Nemesis (after Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, who also played the part of the reanimated monster in Young Frankenstein)?

Should it be a high tech name? A made up name? Or, should Apple stick with earthly creatures? Barnyard animals are probably out. What about snakes? Cobra always seems to be the predator out to devour the competition, but it’s sooooo over used.

Even the somewhat descriptive number 64, doesn’t carry any weight with the buying public. Mac OS X 64 (for 64 bit operating system which, more or less, is already in Leopard).

How about OS X Wizard? Overdone, right? How about OS X Magic? Hmmmm. Not bad, but would evangelical right wingers like Rush Limbaugh stop using a Mac because it contained ‘magic?’ If he did, would that be a bad thing?

Any others? Zoom? Sky? Universe? Need something closer to home but still far out? Andromeda? Altair is a star barely 20 light years away. Wait. That’s been taken.

Maybe Apple will take a page or two out of ancient Roman and Greek culture? Zeus? Apollo? Hercules? Those have been done to death. Xena? Xenix didn’t fare so well, so that’s probably out, too.

Naming a world class operating system is a tough job. I’m sure Apple’s Steve Jobs has one of his marketing stars working on it night and day. Hey, about about DayStar?

The Mac is loaded with applications, utilities, tools. Then there’s all those applications, utilities, and tools we buy and install on our Macs.

That’s what Mac360 is all about. Helping you to load up your Mac with software that makes you more productive, more efficient, better looking, a better dresser, and with improved posture.

Seriously, the Dock is nice but it gets crowded very, very fast. Even with Dock magnification set to on, many of us have more Mac software icons than we have space for said icons.

If you haven’t made it beyond clicking around in your Applications or Documents folders, a file launcher is a single utility that stores the location of Mac applications or documents or both. One click opens whatever you want. That’s handy.

If you’re like Kate or Bambi, you’ll buy the ultimate in Mac file launchers, DragThing. There’s probably not a better more elegant file launcher available, Mac or Windows.

If you’re like Jack or Jeffrey, you’ll probably prefer Quicksilver, though you’ll need to take classes at night school to learn how to use it.

Beyond those two launchers, the Mac software community has provided a dozen or so other ways to launch yours applications and documents. OverFlow is elegant and easy to configure. Trampoline is unique. Launcher is free.

If you’re like Alexis or me then you’ll probably prefer a free solution with little configuration (as in “none"), and with a high degree of flexibility.

Even better is what’s already on your Mac, assuming you’re using a version of Mac OS X, and don’t mind it if I help you unclutter your Dock.

Mac OS X has a feature called Aliases. It’s called Shortcut on Windows PCs. When you create an Aliases to an application or a document, double clicking on the alias opens the original file, application or document.

An Alias is a very powerful feature and you can use it to create your own Mac launcher in just a couple of minutes. Once you see how it works, you’ll be able to customize it to fit how you work.

First, in your Documents folder, create a new folder called Launcher. Inside the newly created Launcher folder, create two more folders, once called Applications, and one called Documents. Drag the Launcher folder to the right side of your Dock, near the Trash icon.

Open your Mac’s application folder and select any application you use regularly, such as TextEdit, or anything else. Right click, or control-click, and you’ll get a pop up menu. Select “Make Alias.” That will create an Alias file. Drag it to your Launcher’s Applications folder.

Next, open your Mac’s Documents folder, find a document that you use regularly; Word, Excel, Pages, whatever. Again, right click, create an Alias, and drag the Alias to your Launcher Documents folder (inside your Mac’s Documents folder).

Now, click and hold the Launcher folder icon in the Dock. You’ll see a pop up menu with two more folder icons, one for Documents, and one for Applications. Select either, and the Aliases you just created will appear.

You’ve just created a one click Launcher for any file, document or application on your Mac. Repeat that process for whatever files, Applications or Documents, you want to be in the Launcher’s menu.

Cool, huh? And totally free, fully customizable.

One of those areas in OS X Leopard that needed attention right away was the Dock. Apple screwed it up, then repaired it, while Mac software developers improved it.

Leopard gave us Stacks in the Dock, which, in general, I like, especially the grid display. Adding folders to the Dock these days gives Mac users plenty of choices and opportunities for improvement and customization.
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What Apple gave us back in later versions of Leopard is the hierarchical menus. That’s a good thing, a nice touch, handy and easy for Mac users of any experience level.

If you’re just a little geeky and always looking for something extra that makes your Mac work better, more efficient, and matches your way of working, try Quay.

Why? More information, better Dock functions, improved access, more capability, more menu selections.

Quay isn’t the only Dock star that is worth consideration. I like WeatherDock, too. It’s another quick way to see the current weather conditions, and a click gets you even more detail and long range forecasts.

Interestingly, the Dock itself can be customized, either using a Mac customizing tool such as Panic’s CandyBar, which I love, or little utilities such as SuperDocker.

SuperDocker gives you a 2D or 3D Dock and modifies the display features of the Dock, including a separation bar. I’m an iTunes kinda guy so I’ve got music playing all the time. DockArt pops up the album cover art for the currently playing iTunes song-- right inside the Dock.

Quite a few Mac users didn’t like the Leopard implementation of the Dock. The little aluminum shelf is reflective, a bit gaudy, and cluttered.

There are many ways to customize your Mac, though the Dock is rather plain and uninviting, it can be prettied up and made more useful at the same time. Dock Doctor lets you get funky with your Dock. Change the background, go 2D then 3D then back again. Subtle, visual only, not an improvement to you work day.

Dock usability and visual cues are important to me. I added Ecamm’s DockStar because it tells me what’s in my Mail inboxes without me opening Mail.

What I like about CandyBar is that it customizes not only the Dock, but the icon sets that show up in the Dock, and it does it only a couple of clicks. Don’t like it? Click and everything goes back to normal.

Other than desktop photos and screen savers, it’s unlikely that most Mac users actually customize their Macs to any notable degree. What about you? Do you have a special utility for the Dock? What have you added to your Mac to customize, make it yours, and reflect your special tastes?

In reading one of the most poorly written, illogical and unreasonable articles about Macs vs. Windows PCs, or Leopard vs. Vista, I came away with two thoughts.

First, some people shouldn’t be allowed to write about that which they do not know. Second, old Macs seems to run Leopard quite well (contrary to poor Matt’s assertions to the contrary).

Matt is just on a rant, low on medication, or high on something other than facts and research. ”How many users do you know that own a 3 year old Mac, and install Leopard on it? The silence is deafening.”

Sigh. No, Matt, it’s not. Many, many, many Mac users with non-Intel Macs run Leopard just fine. Without a clue, Matt only makes his ignorance look worse.

Matt must have something crawling in his shorts at night to come up with beauties like this one: ”All the Mac OS’s through it’s life cycle have been hardware dependant.  In other words, for the most part, you bought a new PC to get the new Mac OS.”

Fortunately, the Information Super Highway has traffic cops. What Matt doesn’t know and didn’t bother to find out is that Macs back to slower than 1Ghz run OS X Leopard as well or better than OS X Jaguar.

Ron has a 1Ghz PowerBook G4 which started life as Jaguar, went to Panther, then Tiger, now runs Leopard. He swears it runs better than ever and has never crashed using Leopard.

Matt continues, ”Mac OS’s have never been designed with backward compatibility (hardware wise) in mind.” I’m beginning to think there is something to euthanasia.

Wait! Just when you thought your head had cleared, Matt continues anew: ”How many Mac users have wanted to install Leopard on a 3 year old Mac, and if they do, how many complain about it’s performance?  They don’t because they knew it would be horrible.”

Alright, so Matt can’t get a clue at a Free Clue Festival, but we can excuse him because there have been budget cuts which affect the disadvantaged.

In the meantime, give due consideration to something buried deep within Matt’s premise of new operating systems running on old computers, specifically, Mac OS X Leopard running on an old Mac, pre-Intel, PowerPC variety, perhaps a Mac that started life on Jaguar, or Panther, or Tiger.

How does your old Mac run now compared to the previous or original Mac OS X?

First, we started with an external hard drive. Then, we added wireless back up to an external hard drive. What’s next? Backing up our Mac’s files on the internet.

There are many ways to back up and secure our valuable files, whether they’re photos, or music, or movies, or documents. Some use CDs and back up the files away from the office or home.

Some use multiple hard drives and a convoluted back up scheme which involves extra utilities, Apple’s Time Machine, and yet more hard drives.

What about backing up files online, over the internet? Is that data protection whose time has come?

There are many ways to back up files online, including Mac mini Colocation and the value of Apple’s Time Capsule which can be secured in a remote data center. That’s an attractive online back up scheme, but still requires effort and management.

Drobo is another home, small office solution which simply adds more and more hard drives to the back up equation, still suffering from a single catastrophic failure opportunity.

There are a number of internet-based, online back up schemes available for Mac users. These include, but are not limited to, Mozy, BackJack, and Amazon.

All three back up files from your computer, across the internet, and into a data center. All three are Mac friendly.

MozyHome is for Mac users to take their home files and move them to a secure, remote location. MozyHome is free and gives users up to 2 gigabytes of storage. Mozy provides software to make your Mac file back ups.

BackJack is also Mac friendly, comes with 5 gigabytes of storage capacity for $15 a month. More storage can be added.

Amazon’s Simple Storage Service is a pay-as-you-go service. 15-cents per gigabyte per month, but you pay for upload and download, and need a special utility to transfer files.

Generally speaking, these online services offer secure data center storage of your files, and they can be accessed from anywhere on the internet.

Is that the future of Mac back ups for home and small business users? Prices for online back up have come down in recent years.

Still, affordability not withstanding, questions arise. How secure are the files? How quickly can back ups be made? How quickly can files be restored? What happens to your files if you miss a monthly payment?

Some technology pundits predict that in coming years we’ll store all our valuable files online. Does that concern you? Are you willing to have valuable files out of your home?

Is it time for Mac users to take their files and shove them-- out on the internet?

To some extent, Mac360 readers socialize within the Mac community by way of commenting and forums posts on web sites about Macs, or Apple, or software.

The internet has helped reduce the size of the world to a very large and diverse village of many communities. People socialize within those communities.

Wikipedia defines a social network service as software that builds online networks for communities of people who share interests and activities of others. Are Mac users a sort of social network?

After all, Mac users congregate at various Mac-oriented web sites, exchange information with other members on the site, and interact in a variety of ways. I’ve never thought of Mac360 as a social network, but at a rough, basic level, it probably is.

The number and variety of online social network services is astounding and growing. MySpace and Facebook claims tens of millions of members, most of whom set up their own space, join various online communities, and share information with one another in relative anonymity.

BrightKite claims to be a location-based social network and features extensive iPhone support. Elsewhere in the world there’s Google’s Orkut, the popular LinkedIn for professional networkers, Friendster, and many more.

On most of the social network sites, there is no Mac or Windows, except within specific communities, everything is accessed through a web browser. Everything? Not quite.

Twitter has become enormously popular as both a social network and a micro-blogging service. Members send updates or messages, known as tweets to their Twitter web site.

What’s the world coming to? It used to be that we Mac users had our own special corner of the world, anti-Windows, anti-Microsoft, a pleasant utopia of understanding of all things Mac.

As the Mac grows ever more popular, our community has grown, spread, and become more diverse, more fragmented. What will become of the once proud minority of Mac users as more social networks take the world stage?

Do you belong to one or more of the so-called social networks? Why? Which ones? What are the benefits? What are the dangers? Is this newer form of socializing beneficial for effective communication and lasting relationships, or purely superficial?

I’m willing to cut the guy a little slack and acknowledge the difference. But it doesn’t matter because Thurrott continues to compare Windows to Mac. Windows is an operating system. The Mac is a platform which includes operating system and hardware, so a comparison of the two in terms of market share is pointless. Usage share is a more accurate representation of what is happening in the industry.

Apple sells the Mac, including OS X, in a limited number of market segments. No such limitation exists with Windows on PCs. Interestingly, there are few comparisons to Apple’s Mac market share and Dell, HP, or whatever else is left. There’s also few comparisons of different segments of market share; home vs. office, industrial vs. commercial vs. personal vs. education. Hardly anyone talks about profit share.

Overall, despite the occasional rags by Windows apologists, Apple and the Mac are quite healthy. No, Microsoft isn’t dead, maybe not even dying, but it’s certainly a sick beast.