I am too close to the technology to be objective perhaps but is VoIP that confusing? The term I mean. Is it sooo terrible. According to a the Global Language Monitor – the self-appointed Internet acronym Military Police, VoIP is on the Top 10 list and is in fact #2. IMO VoIP passes the cocktail party test as most people know what VoIP does and if you tell them Vonage they know what you mean. Now I am not talking about the bingo socials some of my loyal readers may frequent but the more happening events where people don’t live in retirement communities, drink light beer and tequila (you know who you are).

Again, I am biased but I think VoIP is generally understood and is certainly understood better than a term like computer worm. Here is the list. You can decide for yourself:

The Most Confusing Yet Frequently Cited High Tech Words with Commentary follow:

1. HTTP HyperText Transfer Protocol is used for HTML (HyperText Markup Language) files. Not to be confused with text on too much Starbucks. More than 1 billion references to HTTP on the web alone.
2. Voice Over IP  VoIP, (pronounced voip rhyming with Detroit). Voice over Internet Protocol. Simply put: web telephony.
3. Megapixel A really big pixel. No, one million pixels (thats a lotta pixels) OK, whats a pixel? Computer-ese for picture element.
4. Plasma As in Plasma TV. Are we talking Red Cross Drives here? Rather, a flat, lightweight surface covered with millions of tiny glass bubbles with a digitally controlled electric current flowing through it that causes the plasma inside the tiny bubbles to glow.
5. Robust No one quite knows what this means, but its good for your product to demonstrate robustness.
6. WORM A virus, right? No, a Write Once, Read Many file system used for optical disk technology.
7. Emoticon  A smiley with an emotional component (from emotional icon). Now, whats a smiley?
8. Best of breed  Not to be confused with the Westminster Dog Show. A personalized solution made of components from various manufacturers; a sort of high tech mix-and-match.
9. Viral marketing Marketing that Freezes your computer? Actually, a high tech marketing fad that theoretically results in a geometric progression of ones marketing message. Sometimes stealth.  Always irritating.
10. Data migration  Nothing to do with pre-historic mastodons or, even, global warming. Its where the data in your present software programs can move to newer (or older) versions of the programs or, better yet, into competitive solutions without causing much of a fuss. A highly unlikely result