Maybe that forced change from SkyDrive to OneDrive got things rolling, or perhaps new CEO Satya Nadella really is shaking things up at Microsoft, but there seems to be a newfound interest in beginning anew. That apparently includes name changes, from all over the company. The latest tidbit, coming from the sharp eyes of Surur over at WMPowerUser.com, notes the name “Windows Mobile” has been popping up in Microsoft Careers postings. Surur posts two examples, both referring to the new/old moniker, one for an account executive:
With a portfolio including MSN, Microsoft Media Network, Windows Mobile, Xbox and Bing, our range of deeply targeted channels span the entire digital lifestyle.
And another for a Senior Program Manager:
Are you passionate about working with partners to help them build and bring to market differentiating device experiences on Windows and Windows Mobile?
A quick Careers search on the term revealed a number of near-hits, and one more example, this for a Business Intelligence Developer/Analyst:
Think Windows, Windows Server, Azure and Visual Studio. Online services such as Bing and MSN. Business solutions like Office and Exchange. And devices like Surface, Xbox, Kinect, Windows Mobile, and more. We’re passionate about what we do.
Now these references don’t prove anything, no matter how much “Windows Mobile Power User” would like them to (and for the record, no, we’re not holding our breath for a return to Windows Live, and yes, we should be thinking about a name change of our own), but Microsoft is faced with some decisions about naming as it moves forward with its “one OS across devices” Windows 10 strategy (do you run Windows Phone 10 on a tablet, for example?).
There are hints that Microsoft may be thinking about other naming changes, too. This summer, in a Reddit AMA, some members of the Internet Explorer team fielded a question about rebranding, according to a post on CNNMoney:
“It’s been suggested internally,” the team commented. “Plenty of ideas get kicked around about how we can separate ourselves from negative perceptions that no longer reflect our product today.”
As recently as “a few weeks ago,” the Internet Explorer team said there was “a particularly long email thread where numerous people were passionately debating it.”
Of course the most recent example of Microsoft’s penchant for renaming comes with Windows 10 itself, which by all rights should be called Windows 9 (or even more correctly Windows 8.2, when you get right down to it). Maybe Microsoft is thinking wistfully back to the days before the iPhone, when Windows Mobile only had Blackberry to contend with, or maybe Satya just likes renaming things. What do you think, should Microsoft go back to Windows Mobile?