Apple's legendary Clarus the dogcow returns in macOS Ventura

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  • Reply 21 of 28
    jdwjdw Posts: 1,189member
    zeus423 said:
    jdw said:
    Interesting how the smooth, modern version shown in the article has a prominent udder (milk sack) whereas the original pixelated version by Kare did not...

    No photo description available
    After all these years, whose body doesn't sag a little?
    Yours is the only reply to my original comment that makes any sense! :-)

    If one argues that the 2 pixels near the back leg in the original constitutes a milk sack, then you might as well be seeing Donald Duck in any given cloud formation.  That's really what Dogcow is all about -- a creation of cloud formation style active imaginations.

    When I first saw that pixelated "dog" back in the day, " viewed it more of a non-optimal pixel drawing of a dog, but others viewed that "cloud formation" of pixels as somewhat resembling a cow, hence the confusion and the ultimate name -- dogcow.

    The modern "smooth" version reworks the original to deliberately make it into a more cowish creature as per the prominent milk sack, which I think is all fine and well.  It is the beloved DOG-COW we've all come to know, after all.  I am just pondering the origins and how creative we as humans are when it comes to visualizing things that sometimes aren't there. My brain doesn't see the milk sack in the original, but some of you do.  Such is the case with cloud formation guesses.  We all have differing opinions.
  • Reply 22 of 28
    davidfmdavidfm Posts: 3member
    Didn't Clarus have an official title, something like  Printer Icon Assistant.
  • Reply 23 of 28
    entropysentropys Posts: 3,847member
    mknelson said:
    jdw said:
    Interesting how the smooth, modern version shown in the article has a prominent udder (milk sack) whereas the original pixelated version by Kare did not...

    No photo description available
    It does, just not so prominent. 

    Also, it's probably the upper thigh.
    It’s a mystery.
  • Reply 24 of 28
    Lmasanti said: 
    "... I bought my first Macintosh in October 1985 ... 
    (One thing that I never understood was the disappearance of ‘HyperCard’! Snif, snif…)"

    I too regret very much the disappearance of HyperCard, but it was superseded by SuperCard (private co.) — HyperCard in COLOR, and on steroids! 

    SuperCard is still around and still being enhanced. It's in the process of being converted to 64-bit for users above Mojave. Check it out at:

    https://supercard.us

    VascoBill
    A devoted user since SuperCard V 1.0
  • Reply 25 of 28
    Clarus Lives!

  • Reply 26 of 28
    nubusnubus Posts: 136member
    My old avatar is happy :-)
  • Reply 27 of 28

    Called a dogcow because it's so poorly drawn that it's impossible to tell whether it is meant to be a cow or a dog…
    Clarus was drawn that way intentionally. It's cryptic, a bit mysterious, whimsical and quite funny.

    Designers, good ones, don't just randomly toss stuff out into the world just because it's all they can manage.
    There's a lot of thought, trial, error and intention that goes into a design.
    edited October 2022
  • Reply 28 of 28
    anonymouseanonymouse Posts: 6,723member
    Now if only Talking Moose would come back, life would be complete. Last I heard he was working for the NWS doing weather radio, but he may have retired recently.
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