When I got into computers back in the early '90s it seemed like every few years a company would come out with new brand names for their products. ATi had Mach then Rage, nVidia had STG, Riva, and Vanta, and Intel had its 286, 386, etc. numbers. Then the brand names got so good they stuck for over a decade, until this day, instead of lasting only a couple years before fading away. We still have Radeons, GeForces, and Pentiums, even though the products today bear no resemblance to their original namesakes.
Are there any other internal hardware brand names that persist just because they sound good? It's common in pre-built systems and software, and also peripherals, like printers, but I'm curious about internal hardware.
There's a lot riding on names. Is it really honest to still refer to a product by a 'name' when the product is completely changed? A modern Pentium is nothing like an original, nor is a new Mustang anything like the cars were in the '60s. We realize this with people when we say things like, "This guy used to be my friend/lover/etc., but he changed, and now it's like I don't even know him." We're left with a sense that even though the person's name is the same, the person themself is different.
Would it be more honest -- or better marketing -- if consumers get to sink their teeth into a cool new brand name rather than riding the nostalgia of an old one?