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> Names matter, and you often wind up stuck with the one you started with. Not just names--companies often wind up stuck with lots of things they started with,

> Names matter, and you often wind up stuck with the one you started with. Not just names--companies often wind up stuck with lots of things they started with, and there's no reason for it other than inertia. A well-known counter example, of course, being the company formerly known as Apple Computer, who changed their name after 30 years of being in business. Point being, Sun would not have been harmed by changing or dropping the 'microsystems' part of the name, which is a silly made-up word that didn't even represent their actual business (software, and physically large servers/workstations). It just never occurred to anyone, or the bureaucracy kept it from happening.

marcosdumay 13y ago
It's not a made-up word. It was the name of the computers small enough to put in your room when Sun started. What makes your point much more evident, they should have changed it when everybody stopped using the word.
- snogglethorpe 13y ago
  > What makes your point much more evident, they should have changed it when everybody stopped using the word. I suppose in the ruthless calculus of business, maybe you're correct, but there's a lot of things like nostalgia and familiarity etc. A familiar name is not, I think something to be trifled with, even if it "doesn't make sense" when viewed dispassionately... [My former company/subunit used to be called "XXX Electron Devices" which I thought was so neat and cool, unique even. It was an old company and I imagine the name dated from long ago when people weren't quite sure what to call that newfangled stuff... They later brought in the corporate image consultants who changed it to the more conventional but infinitely more boring "XXX Electronics" instead. Blah.]
  - PhantomGremlin 13y ago
    Then they changed to the more unpronounceable Renesas Electronics. Blah! :)
- dragonwriter 13y ago
  It is a made up word, though it seems quite likely to be a portmanteau of "microcomputer" and "systems", which, given that their initial product was workstations, isn't entirely unrelated to what they did, at least initially.
- dmdeller 13y ago
  I believe you're thinking of the term 'microcomputer', which describes a computer the size of what we would now call a PC and is no longer in common use. I was unable to find the word 'microsystem' in any dictionary; if it was in common use as recently as 30 years ago, it seems unlikely that I would not be able to find any trace of it today. Therefore, I reiterate my assertion that 'microsystem' is a silly word that the people at Sun made up for their company name, until proven otherwise :) Wikipedia does have an entry for 'microsystem'[1], but it says the term is not generally used in the United States and does not seem to have anything to do with what we're talking about (much more recent category of technology than existed at the time that Sun was founded). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsystem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsystem

marcosdumay 13y ago

It's not a made-up word. It was the name of the computers small enough to put in your room when Sun started. What makes your point much more evident, they should have changed it when everybody stopped using the word.

snogglethorpe 13y ago
> What makes your point much more evident, they should have changed it when everybody stopped using the word. I suppose in the ruthless calculus of business, maybe you're correct, but there's a lot of things like nostalgia and familiarity etc. A familiar name is not, I think something to be trifled with, even if it "doesn't make sense" when viewed dispassionately... [My former company/subunit used to be called "XXX Electron Devices" which I thought was so neat and cool, unique even. It was an old company and I imagine the name dated from long ago when people weren't quite sure what to call that newfangled stuff... They later brought in the corporate image consultants who changed it to the more conventional but infinitely more boring "XXX Electronics" instead. Blah.]
- PhantomGremlin 13y ago
  Then they changed to the more unpronounceable Renesas Electronics. Blah! :)
dragonwriter 13y ago
It is a made up word, though it seems quite likely to be a portmanteau of "microcomputer" and "systems", which, given that their initial product was workstations, isn't entirely unrelated to what they did, at least initially.
dmdeller 13y ago
I believe you're thinking of the term 'microcomputer', which describes a computer the size of what we would now call a PC and is no longer in common use. I was unable to find the word 'microsystem' in any dictionary; if it was in common use as recently as 30 years ago, it seems unlikely that I would not be able to find any trace of it today. Therefore, I reiterate my assertion that 'microsystem' is a silly word that the people at Sun made up for their company name, until proven otherwise :) Wikipedia does have an entry for 'microsystem'[1], but it says the term is not generally used in the United States and does not seem to have anything to do with what we're talking about (much more recent category of technology than existed at the time that Sun was founded). [1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsystem https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsystem