They say that using acronyms as names is the last resort of the unimaginative.
In the Network World article Who’s Minding the Acronym Store? Steve Taylor and Jim Metzler describe another reason to take care with acronyms: the potential confusion that can happen when the same initials mean different things (as one commenter correctly pointed out, initials are only acronyms
when the letters spells something that can be read or spoken as a word,
e.g. SCUBA, or LASER).
Here’s an excerpt from the article:
For instance, consider the acronym “MAC.” For a LAN-oriented person, MAC means the “Media Access Control” layer, which used to matter before the entire world migrated to Ethernet. At the same time, voice-oriented folks thought that MAC referred to “Moves, Adds, and Changes.”
Yes, of course, not to mention the Apple MAC. And ATM the telecom protocol vs. ATM cash machines.
I don’t know how often this happens, however I do know that a number of my clients over the years have wanted to use ill-advised initials and acronyms as names of products, features or technologies.
What has been your experience? What is your vote for the worst acronym in tech (tough contest, I know)?
