[webboynews]

It's a play on faang. Which excludes Microsoft because cool people like Paul graham think (wrongly of course, as usual) I that Microsoft is dead

[detaro]

Which excludes Microsoft because it was a stock-market term for hot tech stocks, at a time were Microsoft already was "established and boring".

[BlueTemplar]

Paul Graham ? Isn't "FAANG" specifically about Silicon Valley's labor market and local politics, but hardly relevant outside California ?