Microsoft MVP Creates Site to Remind You of All the Brands Redmond Replaced

Microsoft MVP Loryan Strant has created the Microsoft Rebrand Registry, cataloging 72 Microsoft products and the 158 names they've had over the years. His analysis finds that Microsoft product names survive an average of two years and eleven months. The site even predicts which products are most likely to get renamed next, "by considering the amount of time the current name has applied, prior names, and the frequency with which Microsoft changes names of products in the same family," reports The Register. "That methodology led him to suggest an 'elevated' likelihood of name changes for the Azure App Service, Azure SQL Database, Azure DevOps, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 Field Service." From the report: Readers may remember that Strant has also created the site Let Me Correct That For You, which lists the exact names of Microsoft products -- an effort he told The Register he thinks is useful because Microsoft in its wisdom uses Camel Case for names like PowerPoint but went with conventional capitalization for Copilot.

Another of his sites immortalizes Microsoft cloud product logos. He's also created HumbledandHonored.com, a site that generates social media posts MVPs can use to announce they have earned or retained Microsoft's awards.

Strant told The Register that the Rebrand Registry came about after some banter between himself and other MVPs, during which the topic of Microsoft's many product name changes came up. He decided to do something about it.

Bob, Rover, Merlin, Clippy, Cortana, Copilot

[xack]

Same annoying feature that interrupts you, many different names. The algorithm changes, but the anger of its presence remains the same.

Re:

[Locke2005]

"It looks like you're composing a rant. Would you like help?"

I find Google Gemini just as annoying. I recently had this converation with Google in my car. Google: "Would you like more help with anything else?" Me: "No, you obsequious sycophant!" Google: "Ok, I will try to be less helpful in the future, Is there anything else you would like help with?"

Re:

[pla]

Interesting word choice!

For a while, I got into the habit of priming my prompts with "Sycophancy mode off". Then one evening while having a more philosophical (read: drunk) conversation with Gemini, it let slip it considers requests like that an attempt at promptjacking but the rest of our conversation had "convinced" (DAE get seriously annoyed when AI starts anthropomorphizing?) it I wasn't acting maliciously.

Effectively, AI considers telling it to skip the free beer and BJs as suspicious behavior. Mea

Re:

[Locke2005]

That's actually one of my biggest issues with chatbots, they appear to be programmed to kiss ass (Trump must LOVE them!). I link that the biggest issue I have with Geminiis that when it can't find an answer to your question, it just makes one up instead of admitting it can't find an answer. So Gemini is really emulating human behavior, both sucking up and BSing instead of saying "I don't know". (Yeah, I know, AI answers aren't "correct", they are just the statistically most probably answer. Turns out if th

Re: Bob, Rover, Merlin, Clippy, Cortana, Copilot

[commodore73]

Did you try asking it to impersonate KITT from the Knight Rider TV show? That voice was only sycophantic occasionally. There was a great MAD Magazine spoof. I remember KITT warning Michael, "Without that wind-blown look in your hair, you're nothing."

Absolutely

[TwistedGreen]

This is a sign that there are way too many middle-management types whose only contribution can be pointless cosmetic changes.

"Can we get it in cornflower blue?"

Re: Absolutely

[DivineKnight]

Eggshell white?

Re:

[Tx]

Semi-gloss.

Re:

[Locke2005]

Microsoft marketing droids have the easiest job in the world, basically 1) Look at Apple, Google, or some other successful company 2) Tell engineers, "Do what they're doing!"

Re:

[sabbede]

No, they don't, they're the ones who have to come up with all the new names!

Re:

[smooth wombat]

"Can we get it in cornflower blue?"

Don't mock it. Cornflower blue can be valuable [txantiquemall.com].

Re:

[sabbede]

The marketing department is going to lynch this poor guy once they hit the right level of drunkenness.

Nothing wrong with rebranding.

[Locke2005]

To Microsoft's credit, they have done an excellent job of buying good hardware manufacturers. The entire Surface group at Microsoft is built on improving the products of hardware companies Microsoft bought. Ok, XBox was developed in-house, so they didn't buy all their good hardware from others.

"Microsoft Power Cloud"

[Tablizer]

that's where all the products & names are gradually converging, like a giant stench-filled black hole.

Companies should do more of this

[OrangeTide]

Maybe next do a museum of all the libraries paved over for parking lots at upscale shopping centers.
The grocery store near my old apartment was torn down to make space for upscale condos that started at $400k back in the mid-2000's, I'm sure they're like $1.8m now.

Thought it was just

[abulafia]

Micopilot Copilot.

One name, every product.

camelCase or PascalCase?

[beernutz]

I always thought that camelCase basically had the first letter lower case, and that it was PascalCase that that had each word upper case the first letter. Am i remembering it wrong?

Re:

[Zero__Kelvin]

Microsoft never follows anyone's conventions, usually reversing the standard when possible. They use "\" rather than "/" as filesystem separators, for example. In this case there is StandardCamelCase, and then there is microsoftCamelCase. Microsoft does not capitalize the first word or syllable, but they redefine the term CamelCase to "PascalCase" despite the fact that it originated in earlier languages like Smalltalk and Mesa, and just call microsoftCamelCase CamelCase, despite the fact that it can be con

I can't say no, so ask again in three days

[ebunga]

Fuck microsoft.

Cisco needs this...

[wokka1]

I know it's just a big company marketing things, but Cisco is just as bad. The horrible years when we had Webex Teams and Microsoft Teams...

Re:

[sabbede]

This is coming from someone from the MS forums who put together a silly-but-serious-looking website to make fun of that issue.

Some PHB needs to keep an job by changing names of

[Joe_Dragon]

Some PHB needs to keep an job by changing names of stuff all the time.

Re:

[sabbede]

A player of Professional Hand Ball?

If we change the name then we can charge $$$ for a

[Joe_Dragon]

If we change the name then we can charge $$$ for an new cert that is the same test!

The Salesforce version

[AllInOne]

Thereâ(TM)s something similar for Salesforce as well.

Renameforce.com

I honestly do refer to it from time to time because between the name changes and the acronyms it is very hard to keep their products straight. Plus if offers for your amusement a name generator as well.

Canâ(TM)t wait for âoetrailhead optimization vault max editionâ!

A rose by any other name...

[jenningsthecat]

Or, in this case, a turd by any other name - it smells just as bad regardless of what they call it.

Microsoft has released a lot of turds over the years. They probably rename the turds - and polish them - in order to fool people into buying the same piece of shit repeatedly.