Penn
Dancing Up A Storm
If there's a computer geek alive on the planet who hasn't heard the name Intel, have him or her contact me--because he or she is a walking trivia question. Integrated chipmaker Intel is arguably one of the most ubiquitous and powerful companies in the computing industry.
As a leading manufacturer of computer processors, Intel serves as a multibillion-dollar heavyweight that holds sway over economies and technologies that--in some respects--affect every human being on Earth. And you thought it was just a swirly icon with a cutesy jingle, didn't you?
What many people don't realize is that the name every technogeek knows was almost a different name altogether--two names, actually. Intel's founders are the celebrated Gordon E. Moore (he of "creator of Moore's Law" fame) and Robert Noyce (he of "co-inventor of the integrated circuit" fame).
<!-- Center Ad Start --><!-- Center Ad End -->When the two left Fairchild Semiconductor in 1968 to form their own electronics company, they named it Moore Noyce. But Moore Noyce has the unfortunate coincidence of sounding to the untrained ear like "more noise"--not exactly the sort of nickname you want if you ever intend to sell components that improve the signal-to-noise ratio of integrated circuitry. Put another way, noise equals interference, and interference is bad.
Thus, for roughly its first year of operation, the world knew Noyce and Moore's firm as NM Electronics, while the search for a better name continued. Eventually, the company decided its proper name should be Intel, short for "integrated electronics."
Alas, Moore's Law gave way to Murphy's Law: Having finally settled on an appropriate name, it should come as no surprise that someone else already had the rights to the chosen namesake. Intelco ran a chain of hotels under a too-close-for-legal-comfort banner, and Noyce and Moore had to purchase the rights to the name Intel before using it themselves.
After all that hassle, it's little wonder that one final--if obscure--drawback to the Intel name eluded Noyce and Moore. Seven years before they founded the company and eight years before they took on the Intel name, a science-fiction television show included an electronics corporation named Intel--one cast as the story's villain.
WHAT SCI-FI TV SHOW FEATURED A VILLAINOUS ELECTRONICS COMPANY NAMED INTEL?
To find out, check out the Geek Trivia Answer on TechRepublic.com.
