FutureMark Corporation Sees Its Name Changed to... Parent Company's "UL"

[Raevenlord]

Futuremark, makers of probably the most recognizable benchmarks out there, have announced they are getting a company rebrand. The announcement has come via a blog post on their site, citing a "new home" for the company. UL, a company that has existed for more than a hundred years and that specializes in testing, inspection, auditing, and certification services and solutions, purchased FutureMark back in 2014, and is now looking to streamline the company's branding to their own.

The move will see FutureMark rebrand itself to "UL Benchmarks" as soon as April 23rd. Everything but the branding - and the hosting websites should remain the same. FutureMark's benchmarks databases will be relocated to benchmarks.UL.com. The company has reaffirmed its commitment in that everything will remain the same, save for the new coat of paint; the mission and intention behind UL Benchmarks will be the same as with FutureMark. I'd say there's something of a missing opportunity here, though; Underwrites Laboratories (the meaning of "UL") seems much better suited for a benchmarking company, whilst also keeping thematical relevance with the parent company's name. But oh well.



View at TechPowerUp Main Site

 

[Slizzo]

Ugh, should have kept it the way it was.

Oh well.

 

[natr0n]

MadOnion was better

 

[dir_d]

This is definitely better and now makes the benchmarks seem much more official. There's a UL listing on just about every bit of electrical equipment. Now we will have it on benchmarks, in the future maybe even games and code?

 

[BadFrog]

I preferred the FUTUREMARK name with UL under it then rebranding it all together imo

 

[Paganstomp]

For those to young to remember...

 

[xorbe]

Am guessing adjusting results just got more expensive.

 

[dj-electric]

Screw it. Futuremark's benchmarks not as popular as they used to be anyway, and there are enough good ones for free

 

[lexluthermiester]

Underwriters Laboratories (the meaning of "UL")

Correction..

MadOnion was better

Yeah, I kinda miss that too.

 

[RejZoR]

I can only say one thing. Idiots. They've already rebranded themselves back then into MadOnion. And it was a stupid name. And same goes for UL Benchmarks. It's stupid and meaningless.

Reasons? FutureMark means "benchmarks for the future". And you don't change brandings when you have great reputation on them. It's why Coca Cola has hardly changed it's visual design and has kept the same name for ages. You see a bottle with red and white label with dark drink inside and you'll know it's Coca Cola without actually reading anything. Rolex crown? Same. Ferrari's prancing horse? Same. Mercedes 3 prong star? Same. Apple's bitten apple logo? Same. You don't change things that work, are established, are unique and even have a meaning.

It doesn't matter what the parent company is, you keep the name. That's an equivalent of renaming "Bugatti" or "Audi" brand to Volkswagen just because VW bought them. You don't do that. We all know that VW is their parent company, but the original name remained, because it's well known and reputable.

 

[Vayra86]

So now we run these benchies for one reason only

For the ULZ

 

[john_]

UL = Ugly Label?

 

[Fluffmeister]

MadOnion was better

I miss my old forum.

 

[Th3pwn3r]

UL....now I know they're scumbags. I had no clue, now I have a reason to not use their benchmark software. UL is a bully that doesn't give you a sticker if you don't play nice with them, if a product is not UL listed it can't be used on a lot of job sites here in the United States.

 

[Assimilator]

As long as they don't LI, does it really matter?