Re: Did we have another name change?

What about System_i  ?

Scott Klement wrote:

You should be able to get auto-correction to work to your advantage
instead of against you.

I only rarely use Word, and when I do I turn off auto-correction because, frankly, it's annoying. My problem isn't auto-correction, it's the fact that "System i" is made up of two words, both of which already have meanings.

Now, it won't have the same effect here as it would in an article, because in this thread, we're all looking for the term "System i" and we know what it means. But even so, consider a sentence like the following:

     Upload the code to your System i using FTP in ASCII mode.

The unsuspecting reader can easily read this as "Upload the code to your system." and "I using FTP in ASCII mode". Leaving the poor reader to wonder what was wrong with my English, and possibly even be confused about which system I'm referring to.

Granted, the reader will figure it out, but he may have to go back and read it again. It messes up the flow of the text. On the other hand, if I had used iSeries, it would not have been a problem:

     Upload the code to your iSeries using FTP in ASCII mode.

Worse, try using it in a title. In a title, every word is supposed to be capitalized!

     I Like System I's New Features

Hmmm... Looks like a Roman numeral, doesn't it? System One? Is that the predecessor of the System/3? It's just not a good name.

Granted, as a proper noun, you shouldn't be capitalizing the i, but it takes some work to convince a copy editor of that fact. Once convinced, you still have a less than elegant looking title:

     I Like System i's New Features

It's just a really nasty name to use when you're writing something. But that's not all... Try searching for a product for the System i on the Web. Let's say you're looking for payroll software, you might run the following Google search:

    http://www.google.com/search?q=system+i+payroll+software

I put the words "System i" at the start of my search string, that should help, right? Nope. Again, because the words "System" and "i" will be on just about every web page relating to computers, the addition of these two words is completely meaningless.

A name change causes some upheaval, but I can live with that. But a REALLY REALLY POOR choice of names is something else altogether. To compound the problem, IBM doesn't even use the new name in a consistent way themselves, and the result is just a disaster.