Dogcow
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The dogcow, named Clarus, is a bitmapped image designed by Apple for the demonstration of page layout in the classic Mac OS. The sound it makes is "Moof!", a portmanteau of "moo" and "woof".<ref name="Technote 31"/> Clarus became the archetype of surrealistic humor in the corporate culture of the original Macintosh group, particularly as the mascot of Apple’s Developer Technical Support as officially documented in Technote #31.<ref name="Technote 31"/><ref name="We miss you"/>
History
In 1983, the dog icon had been created by Susan Kare as the glyph for "z", as part of the Cairo font. Later, when redesigning the classic Mac OS "Page Setup" print dialog box for the LaserWriter, an example image was required.<ref name="We miss you">Template:Cite web</ref> According to HCI engineer Annette Wagner, Template:Quote The new dog graphic had a more bovine look. Template:Quote On October 15, 1987, the term "dogcow" was coined by Scott Zimmerman.<ref name="Develop #17">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="moofinmind">Template:Cite web</ref> She<ref name="Develop #18">Template:Cite journal</ref> was later named Clarus by Mark "The Red" Harlan, as a joking reference to Claris, Apple's business unit for office software at the time.<ref name="moofinmind" />
The Clarus icon became one of the giant pieces of pixel art in the Icon Garden in the front yard of the Apple Campus at 1 Infinite Loop; the Icon Garden has since been removed.<ref name="We miss you"/>
Apple's Developer CD Series of the 1980s features a dogcow logo on the discs.<ref name="Develop #13"/>
The latest references to the dogcow came in the documentation for the Swift programming language, which uses the word "dogcow" as an example of the use of Unicode characters to name constants and variables;<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in a sticker pack in Messages.<ref name="emoji">Template:Cite web</ref>
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In the first beta of macOS Ventura, the dogcow returned to the page setup window,<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> and in iOS 16 entering 'Clarus' or 'Moof'<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> results in the keyboard suggesting the 'dog' and 'cow' Emoji.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Overview
The sound she makes is "Moof!",<ref name="Technote 31">Template:Cite web</ref> and in early versions of Apple Developer CDs one section was known as "Moof!".Template:Citation needed
The dogcow symbol and "Moof!" were proprietary trademarks of Apple until the registration was cancelled in 1999.<ref name="Develop #13">Template:Cite journal</ref><ref name="USPTO">Template:US trademark</ref>
Reception
The disappearance of the Icon Garden and of Clarus from Apple's products is seen by MacWorld as a symbol of the draining of culture and character from, and an increase in blankness and austerity in, Apple's products over the years. In a 2015 retrospective, the magazine said Clarus "came into being through quirkiness and serendipity, and you could say it has no business in a grown-up, commercial operating system. It makes no real sense, and wasn’t really there on merit or through strategic planning" and represented a company that was "kooky", "idiosyncratic", and not dominated by rules.<ref name="We miss you"/>
See also
External links
- Archive of a page of official Apple information on the dogcow
- Technical Note 1031 on Apple’s website (archived February 4, 2004)
- ClarusX2014 - A system utility to install Clarus and other dogcattle into OS X Mavericks
- Clarus the Dogcow (Moof!) - A history of Clarus (YouTube video)
- Moof! Museum, a museum dedicated to all Clarus appearances