In 1987, I worked for a company called Bell Telephone Laboratories, better known as Bell Labs. Bell Labs was the research and development arm of the so called Bell system" It was there that the first practical transistor was invented by a Mr Shockley. I actually knew the guy. Lots of really neat stuff, like actual super science, was going on there. Well, to make a long story short, the Bell system was under attack from MCI and sprint and was forced into divesting several "areas", each area was a collection of departments that had common goals. I worked for Network System. There was now a new company that had been created for the BOC's, or the Bell Operating Companies Bellcor was to the BOCs what Bell Labs was to AT&T. They did some research but not a lot of development. They would create a "requirement", send it out to AT&T Network Systems, where they all ended up on my lap. It was up to me to identify who the SME (subject matter expert" was and send copies out for review and to provide feedback on the proposed technology. This was our only opportunity to influence the BOC on what direction they should go, which was for obvious reasons, the way we wanted them to go. Bell Labs didn't really change much administratively, but the brain drain and firewall between Bell Labs and former Bell Labs people over at Bellcor really put a wrench in the works.
Hey, you want to read something funny. There was this one time a director asked me to put together a slide show on a PC for a trade show WE were going to attend. Well, at the last minute he decided I was not to be going. I was really disappointed because I actually love doing trade shows. Well, anyway, he jets off to the show, sets up laptop, overhead projector, the screen and the translucent screen that goes on the overhead projector. He could not get it to work, he also could not call me because it was a weekend and he did not have my home phone number. Well, at least he brought a lot of copies of the presentation with him. Anyway, monday morning arrives, and don't forget, at this point I was still unaware he had an issue. He walks into my office and I greet him with good morning and he replied "You suck and you are fired" I was like ha ha, really funny Chuck. Well, he was actually pissed because he believed I sabotaged the presentation, even though he was in possession of the laptop the entire time after we finalized the presentation. There was no possible way that I could have sabotaged the presentation if I wanted to, and I wouldn't because that's not how I roll. Three months later I was booted from the department for all of the sudden not doing a good job in a position I held for three years with excellent employee reviews.
So, after the divestiture, AT&T got to keep the name Bell Labs, but the name Bell Telephone Laboratories , a name that had been in use for over a century was gone forever... FOREVER. Nobody could ever use Bell Telephone Labs, not even Alexander himself because he is dead.
This little story, while it may be interesting to some, is actually quite pointless, much like this thread. Why? Because Taylor Ham is dead, just like Bell Telephone Laboratories.
EDIT: Mrs Peel. I believe this is, game set and match.