10 Bad Tech Acronyms and Abbreviations -- Redmondmag.com

10 Bad Tech Acronyms and Abbreviations

By Doug Barney
11/29/2010

We journalists thrive on abbreviations when writing about technologies that require frequent mentions. Yet many of them are contrived, meaningless or just plain silly.

Unfortunately, some are the evolution of bad product names. These acronyms won't go away, but here are some that make us cringe.

SCSI: Small Computer System Interface. Actually pronounced "skuzzy." What else is there to say?
WSUS: Windows Server Update Services. OK, let's face it: It kind of looks like "wuss."
BPOS: Business Productivity Online Suite. Who wants any service to B a P.O.S.?
SAP: Systemanalyse und Programmentwicklung. We get it. It's German. Still, though ... SAP? Really?
RIM: Research In Motion. Somebody didn't do such a great job coming up with this acronym - or, for that matter, the company's original name.
SCCM: System Center Configuration Manager. The nice interpretation is that it looks like "scum."
SCOM: System Center Operations Manager. The old product name, MOM (Microsoft Operations Manager) was so warm and comforting. SCOM sounds like a bodily fluid or a sci-fi villain.
BAD: Business Applications Division. Not too good.
HOPS: Hardware Operations Group. Mmm, beer. Sorry, what were we talking about?
WWOps: Worldwide Operations. Whoops, there must be a mistake in there somewhere...

About the Author

Doug Barney is editor in chief of Redmond magazine and the VP, editorial director of Redmond Media Group.

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