Microsoft's school of naming versions, windows (95->98->xp->vista->seven->8...) and xbox (360, one, series x)

Don't worry, Microsoft has addressed their naming difficulties by determining that everything they ever make will now be called CoPilot.

They tried for a while to call everything .NET

> At the opposite end of the spectrum we have Sony Mobile, where product names are probably assigned by their worst enemy.

Or maybe the USB-IF

Reminded me of something not as bad as that, but: another Japanese company (Shimano) also has confusing (to my American brain) product progression.

Currently, their road groupsets rank like this (low to high):

  Claris (8-speed)
  Sora (9-speed)
  Tiagra (10-speed)
  105 (12-speed, available in both mechanical and electronic)
  Ultegra (12-speed, electronic)
  Dura-Ace (12-speed, electronic)

More niche, but Ltwoo (Chinese bicycle parts maker) uses "R9" for its 11-speed groupset offering and "RX" for its 12-speed.

Right, and if you want to buy a mechanical front derailleur for your road bike one of the most loved models for decades has been the Ultegra FD: https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/reels/spinning/frontd...

And here is Shimano Tiagra which costs much more: https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/reels/conventional/le...

They also have a line of bicycle components called Nexave for city riding. Here's one Shimano Nexave product: https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/reels/spinning/frontd...

Oh and here is Shimano Clarus: https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/rods/muti-species/cla...

Shimano also make mountain bike components. SLX are a nice midrange set, for example: https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/rods/bass/slx_casting...

They even sell cycling specific sunglasses called Technium: https://fish.shimano.com/en-US/product/rods/salmon_steelhead...