Comments on: What’s in a Name? Acronyms & Abbreviations under fire

By: Chris Davies

Chris Davies — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 15:27:11 +0000

I did see that Gyula’s original comment had been less than popular with other readers, yes – but I still think there’s a point to be made about manufacturers coming up with endless, slightly-varied names and then using them to confuse the market. No, it doesn’t matter what you call USB because, as long as it works, all you need to do is recognise the standard. However there’s a standardizing body to make sure implementations meet that standard and do work as expected; for better or for worse there’s nobody overseeing what, say, a UMPC and a MID have in common.

Consumer confusion can lead to lower sales, so it’s in the manufacturers interest to make things relatively clear with delineated niches. However, it’s also in their interest to take control of the niche, and the easiest (laziest?) way is by creating it, not by simply making the best product that sells the most and becomes de-facto standard.

By: Mojo

Mojo — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 09:51:02 +0000

Perhaps the author missed that the comment referred to had been modded down?

Acronyms and abbreviations are efficient and appropriate where used correctly. Acronyms can become names over time; few people will say they’re using their Personal Identification Number to withdraw some money. Who cares if people don’t know that USB stands for Universal Serial Bus? They don’t need to know. They just need to know that its a common connector, and whether they can plug USB devices into their computer or not.

By: Yigal Ben Efraim

Yigal Ben Efraim — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 08:37:56 +0000

Abbreviations.com to the rescue!

By: Donna Simmon

Donna Simmon — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 03:08:20 +0000

This is why I read Slashgear, you will never know what kind of comment is coming on your way. To Gyula Bognar, this is a good site to learn new abbreviations and tech jargon. You pick up some here and there and over time, you’ll be one of the smart techie who speak DIY and PCMod. Love the articles Chris and Brenda, good work.