SlashNOT

Matthew writes: Microsoft has changed the name of the forthcoming server version of their operating system this week for the fourth time, in what they are calling an effort to reduce customer confusion.

Originally referred to in beta as Whistler, the operating system’s first production name was Windows 2002 Server. Microsoft then changed the name to Windows .NET server in order to increase customer confusion. Three release candidates shipped to beta testers with this name. Early this week, Microsoft decided to subsequently reduce customer confusion by rererenaming the operating system to Windows 2003 Server, as a tribute to its slipping release date.

We at SlashNOT believe that renaming products is the probably the most effective way to reduce customer confusion, and we laud Microsoft for their efforts. A fifth name change (to Windows 2004 Server) would probably further reduce the number of confused customers. Other (admittedly less effective) methods would be to produce software that operates according to a coherent theory of operation rather than a mixed bag of feature requests generated by the marketing department. Producing well-tested and secure software that is unlikely to crash during normal operation might also serve to further reduce the number of confusing customers.

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