I'm kind of sad that everyone here seems to think overcomplicated names like "Windows Live Messenger" and "Microsoft Office Word" have been around forever, and we're now finally seeing Microsoft come to their senses.
As I understand it, Microsoft was the originator of simple product names. Remember Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Mail? It all started to go crazy around the time the monopoly controls kicked in. Personally, I think the crazy-long names were created so that in case the government decided to split them up, the names would be the suggested guidelines. ie. "Microsoft Office xxx" is one company, "Windows xxx" is another company. Oh, "Windows xxx" is too big? Well then how about "Windows Live xxx" and "Windows not-Live yyy"? And so on.
Now that the DoJ has finally gotten off their back, they have not-so-shockingly started to go back to a sensible naming scheme.
As I understand it, Microsoft was the originator of simple product names. Remember Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Microsoft Mouse, Microsoft SQL, Microsoft Mail? It all started to go crazy around the time the monopoly controls kicked in. Personally, I think the crazy-long names were created so that in case the government decided to split them up, the names would be the suggested guidelines. ie. "Microsoft Office xxx" is one company, "Windows xxx" is another company. Oh, "Windows xxx" is too big? Well then how about "Windows Live xxx" and "Windows not-Live yyy"? And so on.
Now that the DoJ has finally gotten off their back, they have not-so-shockingly started to go back to a sensible naming scheme.