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randulo | December 25, 2008 10:17 AM | in Online Communication & Networking

Asterisk is an open source telephony application, a pbx. Where did the name come from?

Asterisk was released just 9 years ago by Mark Spencer. We celebrated the birthday on http://tr.im/voip two weeks ago. Why is the program called "asterisk"?

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BEST ANSWER chosen by asker | shakespearegeek | December 25, 2008 10:59 AM

I always figured it was a reference to the "star button" on your phone, which would be known as an asterisk in other contexts. You know, since voice mails and just about any other automated telephone function at one point or another will end up telling you "Press the star key to speak to an operator..."

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randulo | December 25, 2008 05:27 PM

Pretty good guess, and logical. However, I believe the real story is that asterisk can do anything and in geek speak, * often means "anything".

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shakespearegeek | December 28, 2008 02:53 AM

You know, I went ahead and emailed the creator of the software in question, just to find out. After all, what the heck? His answer: "it is in fact primarily because the * symbol means everything and I wanted asterisk to do everything buy it also had a double meaning because * was also the key on the phone! Have a great holiday!"

I think we're both right :)

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hartwell | December 28, 2008 03:02 AM

Yes. * is a wildcard for everything. Also, the real name of the pound key # is "octothorpe" (per bell labs.)

btw, Asterisk is VERY cool technology. and free.

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