#Isoar software software#

We had a good chuckle and agreed to NEVER admit that it was a joke, now that the vote had made it official.īut things got worse: At the same time they made the announcement, they sent out a ton of swag with the new product name.

Well, whatever the explanation, my boss congratulated me, but more for getting one over on the company than for winning the contest. There was never any intent for 'iSoar' (i='eye' Soar='sore' - eyesore) to be picked. I tried to tell my boss that I couldn't explain how a large company could possibly have NOT figured it out- I had counted on it, actually. Or maybe Marketing, in love with the 'Soar' part of the name because the product was aviation-related, never caught on. Apparently, many of my co-workers had seen the name, and decided that they wanted in on the joke. 'iSoar' was picked as the new product name. Instead, I got called into my boss's office.

If I had just paid attention, I could have nipped the whole thing in the bud. That's probably the real FU from this story. Nor did I bother voting, because I honestly didn't care. I didn't even notice when the short list of names came out and my entry was in the top 3. So I just assumed that they rejected my idea and went ahead with more legitimate entries. I actually never got any kind of reply other than the automated 'thank you for your entry' email. At most, I might get a disapproving 'tsk tsk' from my manager, who knew and appreciated my twisted sense of humor. I figured I would get a 'ha ha, thanks Lenny' as a reply and that would be that. If the name you suggested was picked, you got to attend the yearly top sales convention in Hawaii, all expenses paid, no charge to your PTO, etc.Īs a joke, I immediately submitted 'iSoar' as the new product name. You sent your idea for the new product name in via email, and three of them (as picked by Marketing, so this is a shared FU) would be put before the entire company for a vote. Or maybe they did, but some genius in Marketing wanted to get employees to pick one. It came time to release the our new flagship product, but they didn't have a name for it yet. Those aren't the real product names, but they're in the same vein: peppy, positive, and just a tiny bit smugly self-satisfied. We had things like iSight, iNovation, iBelieve, and so on.

#Isoar software software#

There's a tl dr at the end though.īack in the late 90s, I worked for a company that gave all of its software products names that started with the letter 'i' (not Apple, in case that was what you're thinking). Oblig: not 'today' Also Oblig: warning, this is long.