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Microsoft considered renaming Internet Explorer to escape its checkered past

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  Microsoft considered renaming Internet Explorer to escape its checkered past Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-16 06:35 +0000
    Re: Microsoft considered renaming Internet Explorer to escape its checkered past RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> - 2014-08-16 19:28 +0000
      Re: Microsoft considered renaming Internet Explorer to escape its checkered past Rich <rich@example.invalid> - 2014-08-16 19:42 +0000

#4412 — Microsoft considered renaming Internet Explorer to escape its checkered past

http://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2014/08/microsoft-considered-renaming-internet-explorer-to-escape-its-checkered-past/

   Microsoft has had "passionate" discussions about renaming Internet
   Explorer to distance the browser from its tarnished image, according to
   answers from members of the developer team given in a reddit Ask Me
   Anything session today.

   In spite of significant investment in the browser - with the result that
   Internet Explorer 11 is really quite good - many still regard the
   browser with contempt, soured on it by the lengthy period of neglect
   that came after the release of the once-dominant version 6. Microsoft
   has been working to court developers and get them to give the browser a
   second look, but the company still faces an uphill challenge.

   Renaming the browser could be seen as a way of breaking from the past
   and distancing the new, actively maintained, standards-driven browser
   from this legacy. The team was asked if it had considered such a
   renaming, and the answer was yes. The browser developers didn't
   completely rule out the possibility for the future, either, noting that
   the discussion was "very recent" and asking rhetorically "Who knows what
   the future holds :)"

   ...

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#4424

On 2014-08-16, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:

>    Renaming the browser could be seen as a way of breaking from the
>    past and distancing the new, actively maintained, standards-driven
>    browser from this legacy. The team was asked if it had considered
>    such a renaming, and the answer was yes. The browser developers
>    didn't completely rule out the possibility for the future, either,
>    noting that the discussion was "very recent" and asking
>    rhetorically "Who knows what the future holds :)"
>

Interesting article.  It would otherwise have some merit, but when you
simply rename a turd, it's still a turd.  I strongly believe, however,
that the IE brand name is irreparably tarnished, and frankly Windows is
kind of tarnished too.  Too many security issues lead people to worry
that with Windows they're vulnerable in ways they don't understand.
Chrome was appealing in the early days for this reason, at least.

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#4426

RS Wood <rsw@therandymon.com> wrote:
> On 2014-08-16, Rich <rich@example.invalid> wrote:

> >    Renaming the browser could be seen as a way of breaking from the
> >    past and distancing the new, actively maintained,
> >    standards-driven browser from this legacy. The team was asked if
> >    it had considered such a renaming, and the answer was yes. The
> >    browser developers didn't completely rule out the possibility
> >    for the future, either, noting that the discussion was "very
> >    recent" and asking rhetorically "Who knows what the future holds
> >    :)"

> Interesting article.  It would otherwise have some merit, but when
> you simply rename a turd, it's still a turd.

Very true.  Sadly however, for the vast majority of the "computer user
population" (i.e., those who have a GeekSquad contract to
de-virus-infest their machines once a month), simply changing the name
would lead them to believe it is something all new, and not rather the
same old turd with a different name.

> I strongly believe, however, that the IE brand name is irreparably
> tarnished, and frankly Windows is kind of tarnished too.  Too many
> security issues lead people to worry that with Windows they're
> vulnerable in ways they don't understand.

Very true, but I wonder how may of the "computer user population"
actually understand that the reason why they even need the monthly
GeekSquad cleaning is because they are running Windows and/or IE in the
first place.  Probably a sum total of zero.

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