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There is a danger, within any sector or industry, that it becomes all
too easy to develop a language full of abbreviations and acronyms that
cease to make sense to those from outside of that group. The language
used (taken for granted by those “in the know”) can exclude and confuse
others. And in some cases a term can become dated and cease to make
sense to those outside the “industry club”.
“CPU Holder”
is the name that Colebrook Bosson Saunders coined and stuck with to
describe their range of products that suspend a computer underneath the
desk or raised off the floor. Is this misleading? After all, the CPU
(Central Processing Unit) is the portion of a computer system that
carries out the instructions of a computer programme. The term has been
used in the computer industry at least since the early 1960s, but is it
commonly understood today? The CPU might be the primary component housed
within the computer tower or case but it is not wholly accurate to use
the terms “CPU” and “computer tower” interchangeably. Indeed from 2004
Apple’s iMac computers did away with a tower all together: housing the
CPU within the screen itself. Such advances render the term nonsensical. |
| Perhaps a more accurate description would be “Computer Cradle”
which seems to immediately infer the function of the product: “to
cradle” the computer under a desk in a safe and protective way.
Although, making it less clear which part of the computer is being
cradled? “Computer Holder” is even more ambiguous, and can bring to mind
a variety of products from Laptop Stands to a Wall Mounted PC. “PC
Under Desk Mount” seems a more precise description until we consider
that the term PC (Personal Computer), in many minds, excludes any Apple
Mac computers: for years the concept of the PC versus the Mac has been
engrained in our minds. Where a Mac computer has a “tower” a computer
cradle can be used; the inclusion of the “PC” preface infers it cannot. |
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“
Computer Tower
Holder” makes sense to me (having grown up with the early computers of
the 80’s and 90’s), but would a younger generation have much idea of
what is meant by this out-dated description? Technology has rapidly
progressed and become increasingly miniaturised until the “computer
tower” looks less like a tower and more like a neat case which can morph
into a wide array of forms.
It is important to remember that these products (computer storage
systems) are still in their infancy so the words we use to describe
them are ever-changing and evolving regularly. Add to that the fact that
the products that they support (computers) are continually developing
too and the task of creating a name that will be understood by all and
future-proofed becomes a pretty challenging one.