I name my computers after Sesame Street and Muppet Show characters. Big Bird has historically been my workstation – at the moment, it’s an Apple Macbook Pro from 2008, the original all-silver design. The rest are a revolving mix:
- Gonzo – a Dell Latitude D830 laptop that acts as a backup workstation.
- CookieMonster – a Dell PowerEdge 1900 server that weighs over a hundred pounds. No, really. Acts as my VMware host.
- SwedishChef – a Dell OptiPlex 755 running Windows and Vizioncore’s vRanger Pro (a VMware backup tool from a Quest subsidiary). The Swedish Chef has long been my favorite Muppet Show character, and I just had to name my vRanger server after him because I rely on it when things are bork-bork-borked.
How do you name your machines?
My current Win7 laptop is Starbuck from BSG. My other stuff is based on Bourne Identity (this laptop used to be Bourne, wireless is Treadstone, etc.). I have no set theme, just whatever I feel like. My desktop is Bauer.
For years, I named my computers after favorite rock bands. The first one that came to mind when I started was Missing Persons. So the first computer was named Missing. Which proved to be a little problem when I called IT when I was having trouble getting it to join the corporate domain. “What’s the name of your computer?” “It’s Missing.” “Well, you need to give it a name first.” Hilarity fails to ensue.
Wombat – laptop
Redback – Desktop Machine
Platypus – VM host