Asterisk, the open source platform (as if I had to clarify) has changed the entire lexicon of how this word is used. It has taken over Shift-8 on the keyboard. Admit it, everytime you hit Shift-8 you think of Digium's Asterisk platform. Pure marketing genius! Well played Mark Spencer. Well played!
Or was it the crafty Linux penguin that came up with Asterisk? He's a sneaky one.
Tom Keating (Left) Mark Spencer (rmiddle), crafty Linux penguin (right).
I'm thinking about starting my own company and taking over a keyboard symbol by calling it something like 'Dollar Sign'. Nah, too tough of a nut to crack. People love their money. Maybe I could call my new company "Sharp" after the sharp (#) key? Damn, that's already taken. How bout "At" after the @ symbol? Too close to AT&T. I know! I could call it "Caret" (^)! Wait a second, that's also a vegetable. Well, there is that cool wavy 'tilda' (~) symbol, but that sounds too close to Atilla the Hun. I kind of like "Slash" (/), but in addition to already being taken by an
My favorite choice would probably be "Backslash" (\). It sounds kind of close to "backlash" and has a rebellious, anti-establishment tone to it. It's also beloved by IT geeks since it's use in Linux extensively, regular expressions, changing directories in Windows, and as an "escape character". It's also the mirror image of "slash" (/), reminding Star Trek geeks of Mirror, Mirror, one of the greatest episodes of all time.
We have a winner! When I start a tech company, I'm calling it Backslash. Enjoy using the backslash character while you can, because soon, I'm taking it over - and the world. Bwahaha!
In the meantime, check out the Asterisk Song:
via Rich Tehrani
