How Did Big Tech Companies Get Their Names?

[Rob Williams]

If fifteen years ago you were to say to someone, "I'll just Google it.", they might have that you were starting to lose it. The same could be said about many other companies, like Yahoo!, where people might actually think you are a "yahoo". Despite the unusual names, it's clear that neither Google nor Yahoo! have been hurting, but still... where did the names come from?

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Read the rest of our post and then discuss it here!

 

[Greg King]

That was actually a far more interesting read than I had imagined. Good link.

 

[Doomsday]

nice! that was interesting.

 

[Optix]

I knew where Asus' name came from but can't for the live of me think of why they pronounce it ae-zues. If anything it should be ah-sus/sis to coincide with the pronunciation of pegasus. It'll always be ae-sis to me though.

 

[Tharic-Nar]

Asus do pronounce it ah-sus, they keep correcting people, just everyone else says ae-sus or variants thereof , lol.

 

[Optix]

Any promo vids I have ever watched for the company pronounced it ae-zues. Maybe I should just call it mini-winged horsey company.

 

[Rob Williams]

The problem with promotional videos and the like is that even half of the employees don't pronounce "ASUS" properly. And while it's hard to portray pronunciations through text, but the proper way to say it is:

Ah-suez

"Ah" is like a conversational "Ahh!" and "suez" sounds just like it looks, except the end z isn't super strong.

Edit: Here's a video where it's pronounced properly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDN4qBq_n3s

 

[Tharic-Nar]

Then there is the pronunciation problem with Ubuntu as well, lol...

You-Bun-Too
Ooo-Bun-Too
Ooo-Bune-Too

 

[Rob Williams]

Then there is the pronunciation problem with Ubuntu as well, lol...

You-Bun-Too
Ooo-Bun-Too
Ooo-Bune-Too

The last one is correct

 

[Optix]

I'm pronouncing it ay-sis under protest because ah-suez just sounds foreign. I just have to go an North American-iz everything.

The problem with promotional videos and the like is that even half of the employees don't pronounce "ASUS" properly. And while it's hard to portray pronunciations through text, but the proper way to say it is:

Ah-suez

"Ah" is like a conversational "Ahh!" and "suez" sounds just like it looks, except the end z isn't super strong.

Edit: Here's a video where it's pronounced properly: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDN4qBq_n3s