When universal doesn’t mean universal
In their quest to market their products and confuse their customers, a lot of companies shamefully use terms they have no business using on their products. A buddy and I were discussing this very subject this morning and we came up with the following list:
universal - Number one on our list is the term universal. Specifically, Sony’s use of the term universal in it’s UMD (Universal Media Disc). Universal is defined as applicable or common to all purposes, conditions, or situations. It’s hardly universal since it only works in one known device, content is regionally locked, and users can only use the disc in one way (read data off of it). How is that universal in any sense? I know some people may argue that they mean “universal” in the types of media it holds (photos, video, music, games) but again, it’s not universal it’s simply “versatile” (as in DVD). It’s not surprising that UMD is getting little love and being dumped left and right. UMD - Unloved. Must Die.
high-speed or hi-speed - What does high-speed mean? This is commonly used in flash memory advertising. For some companies, at least they qualify their high speed with some multiplier like 80x so that you can gain some sense of what it means. Again, Sony shamelessly uses “high-speed” on their products. The funny thing is that most of their products need the high-speed versions of the memory anyways so that you can take full advantage of their products.
special edition - Since when did Special Edition come to mean “dumbed down” version? I’ve noticed this a lot on video cards. Normally, you would expect SE to mean that it’s actually special and has some features that you can’t get anywhere else. Instead, SE now means Slow Edition. Usually this means that pipelines have been cut out, clock speeds are slower, and memory buses are reduced. Products like these confuse customers and tarnish what Special Edition means.
enterprise - My buddy feels this one is way overused and I agree. All it means is that it takes up more disk space and hogs all available memory and asks for more.
pro - This one goes back to Sony. Most of Sony’s products require the PRO version of their flash products to get the full functionality out of the product. Why don’t they simpy make PRO standard so all the customers can maximize their experience. Besides, who buys 32, 64 or 128MB memory sticks anymore?
deluxe or premiere - These two are popular terms used for product differentiation. It can mean one of two things. First, it can mean “bundled with crap you don’t need”. Secondly, it can mean “these features should have been standard but we’re got greedy and decided to charge you for them.”
So, those are our favorites so far. If you have any, please be sure to comment!
