Ask Your Developer

So I kept seeing these advertisements in my inbox for "Kyndryl." Now, Outlook gives the top space of one's inbox over to advertising; there's a little "Ad" marker, but otherwise, they look pretty much like any other e-mail message, with the exception of the other major tell, they lack time/datestamps.

My first thought was curiosity over what it was designed to treat. Information systems deficiency, it turns out. Turns out that I'd mistaken the rebranded IBM Global Technology Services for a new pharmaceutical.

I'd never really given deep thought to corporate naming before; it's not something that comes up in my day-to-day life. Still, I have to have wonder about the choices that went into making a portmanteau of "kinship" and "tendril" into something that sounds like it's available by prescription only. Because it seems like something that if you didn't already have some familiarity with, you'd have no idea of what it was. And given that they're advertising to random people with Outlook accounts, they're likely spending a decent amount of money shouting their name into the void.