[agys]

I find that Microsoft has the most beautiful/poetic names for some of their products (admittedly the older ones):

Windows

Word

Paint

Excel

[throw-qqqqq]

How do you feel about some of their more recent product names? Such as

Entra

Azure

Dynamics AX

365

… and don’t even get me started on the version names they give their OS products :D

[theandrewbailey]

> and don’t even get me started on the version names they give their OS products :D

Yeah, when I was growing up, Windows hit version 2000, but we've somehow regressed all the way back to 11. (The hilarity of Windows 11 being an actual regression, not only numerical, is unintentional.) Let's not forget the Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate UPGRADE Limited Numbered Signature Edition.

https://www.neowin.net/news/longest-product-name-ever-mwvuul...

[agys]

I don’t feel much, honestly. Although “Office” was still one of the beautiful ones, but they decided to ditch it for 365?

[johnisgood]

I am not sure I like "Windows" as a name for an OS. :D

[Y-bar]

It makes perfect sense since the operating system is literally Window-centric. (as opposed to e.g. Mac OS which is application-centric).

[johnisgood]

I mean, sure, it is all windows, it does make sense, it just seems a bit odd. I cannot imagine an OS named "Ablakok" which is the Hungarian equivalent of "Windows". I do not think anyone would name any products as such. If your native language is not English, how does it look like in your language?

[Y-bar]

On the flip side, there are loads of names/trademarks which would sound very strange when you hear them for the first time when translated from non-English to English. Consider "Volkswagen" as "People's cart".

For example I have some sort of "anchoring" effect on some names such as Mac Pro, I still cannot accept it as a good name compared to the previous name: PowerMac. The older name is much more natural and better in my mind. Are you perhaps experiencing a similar effect with an the English trademark which has been a natural part of your vocabulary for a long time.

As for "Windows" in my native tongue, we have the same name for the digital rectangular representation on screen, so it would work. But then again, trademarks and marketing names are seldom localised.

[johnisgood]

> we have the same name for the digital rectangular representation on screen

We do use the same term as well, but it still seems odd as a name for an OS, at least to me, because it is so generic and uninteresting, but we are really in a heavily subjective territory here.

As for the rest, yeah, you may be right.

[ulkis]

Well, it wasn't an OS from the beginning. It was a DOS application that provided ... windows. Someone just forgot to rename it to "Processes" or "Files".

Myself I found it amusing that servers had Windows (NT).

[apples_oranges]

Now that you mention it those are good names