6 ms·

>Why does it feel like no other software company has these sort of branding issues? Have you seen the new Xbox names? Microsoft still loves to tack on Office o

>Why does it feel like no other software company has these sort of branding issues? Have you seen the new Xbox names? Microsoft still loves to tack on Office on everything.

rconti 6y ago
Not software, but allow me to introduce you to Infiniti's (carmarker) recent product line revision where every model's name starts with "Q"
- curlypaul924 6y ago
  The Q has an historical meaning for Infiniti.
  - rconti 6y ago
    The Q45 was their first vehicle, in ~1989. As far as I can tell, their second car was the M30, followed by the J30. Those were different (size) classes, so, historically, they've always used different letters to designate different models. While the QX4 (SUV) came out in, what, the late 90s, and ALSO began with a Q, it's never been a historical convention to just name all of their vehicles with a Q. There were only 2 "Q" vehicles, and one was actually a "QX". I suppose you can call the Q superfluous, and then point to BMW if you want another company that just names cars by number, but at least there's a well-understood history and progression between the 3 series and the 5 series and the 7 series, but I have no idea what makes a Q60 (big number!) a sporty coupe that used to be a G35/G37 and now the QX30 is a small SUV-like-thing, that's, I guess, the size of older G35s but that means the Q60 somehow jumped 3 places in the tens column for no apparent reason.
beamatronic 6y ago
X Microsoft X1 Xbox One X 1 Office Edition
hi5eyes 6y ago
“while the Xbox Series S won't run the Xbox One X Enhanced versions of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, it will still be a step above the Xbox One S“
- corytheboyd 6y ago
  It’s truly insane. Sony: PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5 Microsoft: Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One Series X There just _has_ to be some monetary reason for this, it’s too insane and has gone on too long for there to not be money involved somehow. Or maybe it truly is just insanity?!
  - SuoDuanDao 6y ago
    I assume someone gets paid a lot of money to make these decisions, and they don't want people to think they're a drain on resources. That seems to happen a lot when large organizations overthink decisions too trivial for the CEO but too important for the intern.
  - majormajor 6y ago
    The naming conversations I've been close to for a couple of decently-high-profile consumer products really were just on the "insanity" side. Like, everyone's argument made sense from a certain perspective, and the "common sense" ideas weren't perfect, but the compromise solutions that resulted had bigger problems. Problems which the media or public noticed more quickly than the people who had finally signed off on them internally... My speculation for the early Xbox names would be that part of it was someone insisting that you don't want to be trying to sell Xbox 2 against PS3 - you're one behind! - and then 360 is a fun way to get a "3" in there... but then what next, you have the same problem again, 460 is nonsensical (Xbox 420 would've been fun...!), etc...
    - adverbly 6y ago
      I don't know why more products dont follow the software pattern of cycling the alphabet. Pick a unique new name each time, and just run it down the alphabet for the first letter of the name. So easy.
telltruth 6y ago
Microsoft takes cake at branding nightmares. This is because each time CVP/VP gets replaced (usually 3-4 years), they want to "redo" the whole thing because last guy did it all wrong. Despite of all the praise that gets showered on Satya for stock price, he is relatively detached from product side.

>Why does it feel like no other software company has these sort of branding issues? Have you seen the new Xbox names? Microsoft still loves to tack on Office on everything.

rconti 6y ago

Not software, but allow me to introduce you to Infiniti's (carmarker) recent product line revision where every model's name starts with "Q"

curlypaul924 6y ago
The Q has an historical meaning for Infiniti.
- rconti 6y ago
  The Q45 was their first vehicle, in ~1989. As far as I can tell, their second car was the M30, followed by the J30. Those were different (size) classes, so, historically, they've always used different letters to designate different models. While the QX4 (SUV) came out in, what, the late 90s, and ALSO began with a Q, it's never been a historical convention to just name all of their vehicles with a Q. There were only 2 "Q" vehicles, and one was actually a "QX". I suppose you can call the Q superfluous, and then point to BMW if you want another company that just names cars by number, but at least there's a well-understood history and progression between the 3 series and the 5 series and the 7 series, but I have no idea what makes a Q60 (big number!) a sporty coupe that used to be a G35/G37 and now the QX30 is a small SUV-like-thing, that's, I guess, the size of older G35s but that means the Q60 somehow jumped 3 places in the tens column for no apparent reason.

beamatronic 6y ago

X Microsoft X1 Xbox One X 1 Office Edition

hi5eyes 6y ago

“while the Xbox Series S won't run the Xbox One X Enhanced versions of Xbox One and Xbox 360 games, it will still be a step above the Xbox One S“

corytheboyd 6y ago
It’s truly insane. Sony: PS, PS2, PS3, PS4, PS5 Microsoft: Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox One Series X There just _has_ to be some monetary reason for this, it’s too insane and has gone on too long for there to not be money involved somehow. Or maybe it truly is just insanity?!
- SuoDuanDao 6y ago
  I assume someone gets paid a lot of money to make these decisions, and they don't want people to think they're a drain on resources. That seems to happen a lot when large organizations overthink decisions too trivial for the CEO but too important for the intern.
- majormajor 6y ago
  The naming conversations I've been close to for a couple of decently-high-profile consumer products really were just on the "insanity" side. Like, everyone's argument made sense from a certain perspective, and the "common sense" ideas weren't perfect, but the compromise solutions that resulted had bigger problems. Problems which the media or public noticed more quickly than the people who had finally signed off on them internally... My speculation for the early Xbox names would be that part of it was someone insisting that you don't want to be trying to sell Xbox 2 against PS3 - you're one behind! - and then 360 is a fun way to get a "3" in there... but then what next, you have the same problem again, 460 is nonsensical (Xbox 420 would've been fun...!), etc...
  - adverbly 6y ago
    I don't know why more products dont follow the software pattern of cycling the alphabet. Pick a unique new name each time, and just run it down the alphabet for the first letter of the name. So easy.

telltruth 6y ago

Microsoft takes cake at branding nightmares. This is because each time CVP/VP gets replaced (usually 3-4 years), they want to "redo" the whole thing because last guy did it all wrong. Despite of all the praise that gets showered on Satya for stock price, he is relatively detached from product side.