Talk:ETA Systems

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On ETA Systems Naming:

I was part of the group that named ETA. It was pretty simple. ETA was definitely from the first three letters of ETAOIN SHRDLU, what we remembered as the linotype character output that had been based on the nytimes research that made the awful linotype keyboards. There is not really any debate about that, so I'm unclear what the 'competing theories' would be from. ETA, as a name, was selected but it was decided from the start that it was not an acronym, partially just to be contrary, which the ex-CDC engineers and executives who left to form ETA were most definitely feeling.

It wasn't until well after the name was chosen that the Basque connection was realized ("oops") or the Japanese-language issue, but there were a number of amusing connections found to the name. A number of names were discussed, but Neil Lincoln and his family were the source for the name of the company.