[nelox]

1975: Traf-O-Data renamed Microsoft. Traffic counting ditched. Visionary.

1985: MS-DOS released. Users typed everything. Peak convenience.

1995: Windows 95 launched. Clippy forced assistance. Users thrilled.

2012: Metro interface rolled out. Tiles everywhere. Intuitive design.

2014: Windows Azure renamed Microsoft Azure. “Windows” dropped. Bold move.

2020: Office 365 renamed Microsoft 365. Bing renamed Microsoft Bing. Defender renamed Microsoft Defender. Branding masterstroke.

2022: Office brand killed after 32 years. Portal substituted. Heartwarming farewell.

2023: Bing Chat renamed Copilot. Azure AD renamed Entra ID. Creativity unleashed.

2024: Groove Music renamed endlessly. Finally axed. Customer loyalty rewarded.

2025: Microsoft 365 renamed Microsoft 365 Copilot app. Price hiked. Bargain.

2026: Copilot slapped on everything. Rebranding triumphs. Bugs eternal. Pure genius.

[timbit42]

Correction:

1975: Traf-O-Data renamed Micro-Soft.

1976-11-26: Micro-Soft renamed Microsoft.

[BonitaPersona]

So it is indeed true that it is only Micro when it is Soft!

[hacker_homie]

2026: Copilot chat boxes everywhere, Users typed everything. Peak convenience.

[rich_sasha]

You type the question, Copilot tells you where to click.

"Bit higher, higher, no too far, down now, no, below the red line. The other red line. Yes this one... no the one you were just over".

[vivzkestrel]

2027: microsoft windows 12 renamed to Microsoft AI OS

[drannex]

They are definitely going to call the next Windows version "Windows Copilot" or just.... Microsoft Copilot, just to make everything more confusing.

[Unai]

Microsoft Copilot Series OS

[sph]

Microsoft The OS Formerly Known As Windows 12

[greatgib]

Microsoft Copilot AI Desktop

[krieger_857]

Microsoft 365 Windows+Copilot (Formerly Windows 12) (New)

[devinprater]

Nah, just Microsoft Copilot. No Os.

[Phemist]

Microsoft aiOS

[HugoTea]

2011: Microsoft buys Skype for $8.5 billion, rebrands Lync to Skype for Business, an incredible branding manoeuvre.

2012: Skype peer-to-peer nature and end-to-end encryption removed.

2017: Microsoft launches Teams, competes with own product after driving Skype into the ground for 6 years with encroaching advertising, removing features, and abandonment.

2025: Skype shut-down.

What was the point? When MS bought Skype, they already held a majority market share in the IM market with MSN, which they also shut-down. Between 2011 and 2025 they lost almost all market share for domestic users to WhatsApp and Discord. This series of events baffles me to no end.

[comrade1234]

If I remember correctly, they had to buy Skype twice because they didn't get everything g in the first transaction. Also, the purchase was backed by the cia through one of their companies (I don't remember if it was palantir though) to remove the end-to-end encryption.

[Maken]

Do you remember when they bought the first and largest webmail platform and did nothing with it?

[comrade1234]

Missed the renaming of Azure into... ensure? I can't remember the name even though I use it frequently and the azure links still work.

[mindcrash]

Azure Active Directory => Microsoft Entra ID (Formerly Azure Active Directory)

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/security/business/identity-a...

And yes, the latter is the complete name as seen on the web page...

[ejboy]

2026 Microsoft renamed to Cope-A-Lot

[daemin]

You forgot the .Net renaming in the early 2000's.

[oaiey]

Which is the exact mistake they are repeating right now. Force one brand on everything, even if it has nothing to do with it.

[xaxaxb]

2035: Microsoft renamed itself to 365.

[rjzzleep]

Genuine question: are you German? (I approve)

[The_President]

CopiLot has detected you have asked about Windows Genuine Advantage in Germany language.

[nelox]

No, I’m not German. But danke for the approval, I’ll take it anyway.

[burnt-resistor]

Missing Bob.

Office 97 is where Clippy came from.

[WorldMaker]

Though some of the rest of Clippy's "friends" (Lynx the cat and Rover) came from Bob and were Bob's "friends" first. Windows 2000 added Microsoft Agent which shared some characters in 2D with Office 2000 and invented a few new 3D characters (which Office never used). Windows XP added "Search Assistant" using some of the Office characters (Rover being the default search character and Lynx still hanging around as an alternative).

The legacy of Bob lived on for a while. Also Microsoft Agent was a lot of fun to play with as a kid in High School. I built some wild PowerPoint Presentations scripting Agents from the Notes field.