In which Bill teaches you how not to name products

There has been enough griping over Microsoft’s naming conventions regarding the Live platform of late. I wholeheartedly agree with the naysayers. It is almost impossible to remember, there is no recall and you can’t figure out from the product name what the hell is it all about.

What was so wrong with something like MSN Messenger (Company/Product Group name – Product name), that they had to go through this entire Live conondrum. I know and understand the ‘cloud’ that Ray Ozzie wants the empire to live in, but this is plain ridiculous when you end up with crap like Windows Live @edu (Platform Name – Product group – product version) or Windows Live Custom Domains (Platform Name – Product group – product version with differentiation).

May the lord have pity on the souls of the poor business development and marketing lads and lasses in Redmond. They have a job that is unenvied by everyone.