Microsoft News Tracker

Stuart J. Johnson at ENT News reports that SQL Server Everywhere (which got that name in April) is slipping so it can be renamed to the misleading SQLce:

Microsoft this week quietly announced it is dropping the highly touted renaming of SQL Server Mobile Edition to SQL Server Everywhere Edition. Due to the complications of changing the name so late in the product’s release cycle, the company will delay the release of the latest version for an indefinite period of “several weeks.”

Instead, the pending product will now be dubbed SQL Server Compact Edition or SQLce.

SQL Server Everywhere Edition was until recently scheduled to begin shipping to customers in November. The delays are mostly attributable to needing to change the product’s localization and documentation, according to statements on a company blog. However, Microsoft still hopes to get the final product out by the end of the year.

…

The announcement, which was made on the blog of Steve Lasker, a Microsoft program manager, said the name change was made at customers’ request. However, the new name SQLce promises to cause perhaps even more confusion than Everywhere Edition – especially since the company will now have to try to distance SQLce from the idea that it is limited to running on only Windows CE devices.

Hit the link for more on the naming history and marketing considerations and Lasker’s blog post is here. I have always suspected that very few things bring more joy to a marketer’s heart than renaming a product, but causing a schedule slip thereby is truly a classic.