The plural of “OS”
Writing for Business
Which is correct?
Running only Web apps is expected to make Chrome more secure than other ______.
a. OS’s
b. OSes
c. OSs
Answer: c.
I have to say, I prefer OSes myself, probably because I prefer spellings that reflect pronunciation when there’s any question. However the usual form for pluralizing an initialism or acronym is simply to add an s, even if the word already ends in an s. See a debate about this issue here.
This post has been edited — and the answer changed — in response to an extremely irate email I received yesterday. Oh my! People feel very strongly about spelling issues. We’re heading into the festive season here and so I would prefer not to be tarred and feathered. Nevertheless, I would have stuck to my guns if I’d felt justified.
To my dismay, I found that according to Microsoft’s style guide and some other technical sources, OSs is the standard plural of OS. I don’t like it, but it is not up to me.
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