A term that refers to the latest technology or a term that sounds catchy. In the beginning, everyone uses the terms to appear knowledgeable and cutting edge (see buzzword compliant). However, if not a flash in the pan, new technologies become mainstream, and the words soon become everyday vocabulary.
Some of the most famous, earlier buzzwords in the industry were MIS in the 1970s, distributed computing in the 1980s and client/server in the 1990s. The last half of the 1990s brought us all the Internet buzzwords, including Java, intranet and e-commerce.
Although the frenzy has died down, "nano" was very hot for a while after the turn of the century, with the term tacked onto existing manufacturing processes that had already been dealing with microscopic elements for years. Some companies made "nano" part of their corporate name even though they had nothing to do with the subject (see nanotechnology).
Current Buzzwords
More recent buzzwords are cloud computing, Web 2.0 and SOA.
Some of the most famous, earlier buzzwords in the industry were MIS in the 1970s, distributed computing in the 1980s and client/server in the 1990s. The last half of the 1990s brought us all the Internet buzzwords, including Java, intranet and e-commerce.
Although the frenzy has died down, "nano" was very hot for a while after the turn of the century, with the term tacked onto existing manufacturing processes that had already been dealing with microscopic elements for years. Some companies made "nano" part of their corporate name even though they had nothing to do with the subject (see nanotechnology).
Current Buzzwords
More recent buzzwords are cloud computing, Web 2.0 and SOA.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- Popping the buzzword bubble
- Agility, Enterprise 2.0, cloud, blah, blah, blah... by Joe McKendrick
- Blog posts 2009-11-21
- Next year is THE year for cloud computing
- Here is what Indu Kodukula, CTO of SunGard Availability Services thinks how cloud computing is likely to transform the computing industry landscape in 2010. Commentary - Yogi Berra had it right - it?s difficult to make predictions, especially about the future. It?s especially difficult...
- News items 2009-11-17
- Is Google's Go language worth teaching or learning?
- How manny more languages...... does one need to just doConsole.out.println("Hello world!");?RE: Is Google's Go language worth teaching or learning?I always wonder what Google will do next. They always surprise me. Go looks promising.Google wants to be just as dominant...if not more so...than M$.So one more way to get there is...
- Discussion threads 2009-11-11
- Gartner leaves SOA off 'top ten' list - again
- I've been in several study groupsAnd SOA was omitted from final report, in part because participants weren't sure how to define it. Not that cloud computing is a 100% substitute, but it's something we can understand, and whose beefits are proven.ah yes . . .Ah yes, the sound of...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-21
- 'Lean IT': another buzzphrase for something we've been trying to do all along?
- Just another word of the day, month, year....That's all it is.Someone trying to get themselves "published" or some "important" interviews, or their name placed somewhere somewhat prominent.More fodder for Buzzword Bingo!;)Hard to be lean in a Windows shopThe sheer complexity works again any kind of "lean" structure. But it...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-12
- Head cracking time on health care reform
- "And I can get back to writing about tech."NO - get to writing about TECH now - and stop using this site for your liberal soapboxing!the only head that will crack wil be Obama'sReal Americans are concerned about deficit, death panels and the slippery slope to socialism.This 'reform' will fail...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-08
- Collaboration Strategy Shortcomings? Whack the Community Manager
- There's been a good flow of conversation around the role of 'community management' in large companies recently, with an underlying idea that although it's a tough job things will work out if the right people are involved, although Dennis Howlett recognises the danger of burn out....
- Blog posts 2009-10-03
- News to know: XP Mode; Cisco; Comcast; 'Ardi'
- Here are today's notable headlines. You can get News To Know via email alert and RSS daily. For continuous updates see BNET’s around-the-Web tech coverage. Mary Jo Foley: Microsoft releases XP Mode virtualization to manufacturing [video=346621] Larry Dignan: Cisco doubles down...
- Blog posts 2009-10-02
- Private clouds: A valuable concept or buzzword bingo?
- Governance and Control are a serious isssue...The blog seemed to try to downplay the loss of control of business information and data like it was the same as losing control of an electricity grid. The two things are not the same. When the electricity grid goes down, sure business stops...
- Discussion threads 2009-10-01
- Private clouds: A valuable concept or buzzword bingo?
- The goal is not to buy more stuff â€" the goal is to provide the business increasing value from their existing IT investments. This is the purpose and goal of enterprise architecture and the reason why IT exists in the first place. by Dana Gardner
- Blog posts 2009-10-01
- Gen X/GenY/Enterprise 2.0: are the naysayers right?
- It seems that analyst firm Forrester has woken up to the fact that Gen Y are not the big movers and shakers that we've been told the last couple of years. According to Read Write Web Enterprise: A favorite argument among those who talk about...
- Blog posts 2009-09-14
- How the Web OS has begun to reshape IT and business
- What a BS conclusion ...Are you serious or just plain delusional???Using a server is not using cloud computing. In fact, any decent professional company would never even think about anything "cloud" except for basic web hosting.Let me just give you the top two most logical reasons why real companies...
- Discussion threads 2009-09-06
- Cloud Computing— Latest Buzzword or a Glimpse of the Future?
- Cloud computing frees up budgets hand-cuffed by IT expenses. Instead of purchasing software licenses and hardware for new employees and locations, businesses simply add accounts to expand computing capacity. This paper surveys cloud computing today: What are the benefits? Why are businesses embracing it? What are its payoffs and pitfalls?
- White papers 2009-09-01
- Power Tool Administrator for Cloud Computing Environments
- Cloud Computing is rapidly evolving from a disruptive trend and industry buzzword to one of the fastest growing segments of the IT industry. The current economic recession is forcing enterprises to tap into the cloud to gain efficiencies while lowering infrastructure costs. But as more information is stored in the...
- White papers 2009-08-10
- Visioning Apple's netbook futures
- Visioning Apple's netbook futuresWhat's wrong with the word "envisioning"?What's wrong with the word "envisioning"? Was there really a need to create a chimera like "visioning"? It seems to belong to the same family of buzzy neologisms that spawned "gifting" (for "giving a gift to someone"). In medical science, we us...
- Discussion threads 2009-08-02
- Virtualization hype cycle
- Virtualization hype cycleA Few Other Factors 1) Quite often the IT side of the house has never systematically analyzed their own environment. That leads to a lot of non-standardized systems and processes/environments that need to be migrated to a virtualized environment. That's usually an additional cost that is...
- Discussion threads 2009-07-28
- Prediction: cloudy future threatens SOA vendors
- Prediction: cloudy future threatens SOA vendorsThat is the problem with being a buzzword,you get replaced by the next meaningless marketing buzzword.So long SOA, we hardly knew ya.Regards,JonWho sell SOA?I don't have any idea other Tilco.
- Discussion threads 2009-07-13
- IBM gives Mobile County Public Schools power to be proactive
- When IBM PR folks sent me their press release on their recent efforts with the Mobile County Public Schools in Alabama, I was moderately impressed. They were harnessing a lot of data for educators but it hardly seemed revolutionary in this era of data-driven instruction. Then...
- Blog posts 2009-07-12
- Architecting for the Cloud: What's Possible Today' What's Practical Tomorrow'
- Cloud is not the latest marketing buzzword, but rather a serious and emerging datacenter architectural framework. This webcast identifies the technology and business process frameworks necessary for building an internal cloud infrastructure, while laying a foundation to leverage external cloud resources. A properly designed cloud infrastructure offers too many financial,...
- Webcasts 2009-06-16
- Rackspace lays out its cloud computing roadmap: Think hybrid
- Rackspace lays out its cloud computing roadmap: Think hybridMake senseWhat the man said makes lots of sense. Cloud computing is a very hype up buzzword. The way to approach it is to separate which services is on dedicated server and which is on the cloudYou might want to develop your...
- Discussion threads 2009-06-10
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