copywriting - Why do we have OS names like Mountain Lion, Jellybean, and Quantal Quetzal instead of numbers?

Less of a pressing question and more a "what happened here"?

At some point in the past decade (most) OS's have switched over to these codenames for their versions with names like Mountain Lion, Jellybean, etc. After a heated discussion with my Dad (who prefers version numbers) about why the names would be done like this, it dawned on me to ask if there was a (valid) UX reason for it vs. just a marketing/trademark one.

I don't think this idea has been explored all that well, just because we have such scattered implementations of it -- Android and Ubuntu are the only ones who use alphabetized naming conventions as a reinforcement of version numbering, Apple uses it for OSX (Snow Leopard, Lion...) but not for iOS (iOS4, iOS5...), and Windows isn't consistent about this stuff at all (XP, then Vista, then 7, then 8...)

Is there any rhyme / reason to all of this?

Answer

A few of my guesses:

• Numbers are harder to anthropomorphize - we've reached a point with our understanding of computers where we regularly refer to the computer as another being we regularly interact with. It's much easier to give this creature some kind of name vs. a number, especially given that numbers are often used to "dehumanize" things and make them impersonal -- so giving "inhuman" things a name should produce the opposite result.


• Names are more memorable than numbers - A huge problem in dealing with all these different devices and builds is that remembering your given OS's version number is... difficult, especially for less dedicated users. Remembering the name of an OS means that people providing tech support can more quickly ID a product version and tailor their advice accordingly.


• Names are easier to search for (and provide information on) - Google may have caused this trend inadvertently. Because we search using words as opposed to numbers for most things, there's a much higher noise-to-signal ratio when looking for Something Something 7 (because we also get stuff for Something Something 6, and Something Something 5, and...) vs. SSSSSSSomething. Yes, Google does have some safeguards for this problem, such as relevancy and recency of data, but names still work as a good shortcut, which leads to...


• Named Versions are harder to get confused with than Numbered Versions -- You can imagine that confusing something like 10.3.2 and 10.3.3 is easy enough, because they sound very similar, but not so much with Ice Cream Sandwich vs. Jellybean, because they don't sound (or produce mental images of) the same things.

I'm not sure whose approach I like better at this point, Android's vs. Ubuntu's -- The reinforced alliteration in Ubuntu's system (e.g. Quantal Quetzal) makes it produce more unique names while reinforcing the numbering system, but at the risk of making the names harder to memorize. Android's system is better geared towards an easy visual representation (which makes it easier to remember), but a less unique name.