Comment on Why don’t brands make simpler names?
Aux@feddit.uk 3 weeks ago
A simpler name would require a trademark. Go on, try to trademark a nice name. Or better yet - hundreds of them each year.
Randomly looking numbers and characters cannot be trademarked (one of the good examples was Intel’s move from x86 naming to Celeron and Pentium as they couldn’t prevent others calling their CPUs 486), so everyone can use them freely.
captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 3 weeks ago
If I understand correctly, Intel attempted to trademark “586” and AMD objected because it would prevent them from using a consistent part numbering scheme. The courts agreed foring Intel to make up a brand name. They wanted something that sounded sciencey and technological, like the name of an element, hence the -ium suffix, and it was the fifth major version of the x86 platform, fiveium? No…penta…Pentium!