I learnt on the plane today that

September 3rd, 2006

[thanks to a full page ad in Aftenposten] IBM stands for International Business Machines [Corporation]. Now I feel like a kid who's just been told there's no Santa Claus. It never actually occurred to me that IBM was an acronym, it just sounded like a cool name for the world's biggest computer company. Business machines? What the hell is that? It could be anything, from big lawn mowers to saw mills. It's probably the most abstract name I've heard for a company, literally doesn't say anything about what they intend to do (everything, apparently).

What's more, if you open wikipedia and you're looking for IBM without knowing the acronym expansion, you are presented with these choices, none of which seem especially plausible:

• Inclusion body myositis
• International Business Machines Corporation
  • IBM India [I guess this one gives it away]
• International Brotherhood of Magicians
• Intercontinental ballistic missiles

:: random entries in this category ::

• how we love meaningless ‘facts’ about security
• a firewall in layman's terms
• publishing slides from your talk

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 3rd, 2006 at 2:21 p.m. and is filed under en, technology.

2 Responses to "I learnt on the plane today that"

1. erik says:

   September 4, 2006 at 4:32 a.m.  

   Intercontinental ballistic missiles, awesome.

   Anywho, you're right, that's a sucky name.

2. numerodix says:

   September 4, 2006 at 4:51 a.m.  

   See, I remember that as ICBM (from the IB), InterContinental Ballistic Missiles. Did they change the acronym and make all the history books outdated? :lazy: