Article 5081 of rec.humor.funny:
From: mkwan@cs.mu.OZ.AU (Matthew Kwan)
Subject: Let's Go software releases
Date: Thu, 7 Aug 97 19:30:01 EDT
Internally, Microsoft has been naming its products after cities, with
names such as "Memphis", and "Cairo".
If this trend takes off in the software industry as a whole, we may
see some more cynical names being used ...
"Bataan" - A team of programmers pull a series of all-nighters and
drive themselves to the point of collapse in order to meet
the release date.
"Stalingrad" - The project turns out to be far more difficult than
expected. Management responds by assigning more and more
programmers to the development effort, but it ultimately
fails.
"Dresden" - The company that originally owned the product goes down in
flames. As part of the liquidation, the product ends up in
the hands of a competitor, who severely mismanages it.
"Beirut" - Internal squabbling among the programmers turns the project
into a basket case. Senior management comes in, kicks some
heads, and gets the project back on track. But the
programmers still hate each other.
"Carthage" - After two previously unsuccessful releases, a third version
of the product is released. This also fails. The project's
programmers are dispersed, and the product's name is never
spoken again.
"Jerusalem" - The ultimate legacy application. Generations of hacks,
fixes, patches, different operating systems, and changes
of management have produced an application that is
completely unmaintainable.
"Mumbai" - For reasons best known to themselves, marketing tries to
sell an existing well-known product under a new name. The
typical response from customers is a blank stare, followed
by "Oh, you mean Bombay".
"Nanking" - After the developers fail to produce a successful product,
management punishes the guilty and innocent alike with
mass sackings.
(
geocities.com/hanson_c)