Look. Let's face it. Commas aren't that important. No-one really cares about them. The key issue with "Imperial College London" is that it lends itself to formulating the abbreviation 'ICL'. To be perfectly frank 'ICL' sucks.
Many people unfamiliar with the computer industry find it difficult to understand the problem with 'ICL'. Well, it's not too bad in itself. The trouble is it used to stand for International Computers Limited. ICL was a British management disaster,3605,589377,00.html. When I used to work in the IT industry ICL was a by-word we used to use for incompetence and general management bureaucracy. (While some uncharitable souls would suggest that that is an accurate assessment of the idiosyncrasies of the Sherfield oligarchy - or indeed, our very own Beit Towers intelligentsia - it's still not something any of us would want Imperial to be associated with.)
The Japanese company Fujitsu tried for many years to turn around ICL after buying it out. It eventually gave up in 2001, when it followed the advice of branding consultants and ditched the ICL brand,4273,4208460,00.html. Shortly thereafter, Fujitsu Services (the former ICL) began to turn the corner - the brand had been that bad.
So there it is. There is a half-decent reason why you should sign that petition. There's a good reason why the ULU staff member who wrote 'ICL' on my membership card peeved me off. And there's a good reason why this viewpoint is shared even by people in the IC Press Office. (One Press Office employee, who shall remain anonymous lest I cost them their job, actually sent me an email of support and described the 'Imperial College London' brand as 'bonkers', reserving special criticism for what they described as the 'reign of terror' on the 'IC' abbreviation.) You'd have thought they'd got everyone singing from the same hymn-sheet before preaching it to all and sundry?
So please, go on. Sign it now.
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