Speaking of Names...
Everyone likes to tease Microsoft for its painful product branding practices,
especially when you get late-inning name changes
like
those to SQL Server 2005 Compact Edition.
In his blog Capricious Optimism, Microsoft Software Design Engineer Chris Smith
wrote about some of the best
Microsoft code names, and we can't help but think there might be an inverse
relationship at work here. The more dramatic the code name, quite often, the
more opaque the final product name. So the menacing and exotic Tarantula becomes
Internet Information Server, the playful Zamboni becomes C++ v4.1, and the promising
Nemesis ends up as Windows Media Encoder 7.0. More recently, Windows Presentation
Foundation was Avalon, Windows Communication Foundation was Indigo and the euphonious
.NET 3.0 Framework was WinFX.
What are your thoughts on code names? Do you have any favorites you'd like
to share? And what advice might you give to Microsoft's branding politburo as
they struggle and strive to name a host of products? E-mail me at [email protected].
Posted by Michael Desmond on 02/07/2007