The major category offers a general classification of the technology, and the subcategory specifies the exact nature of the process. Examples abound in related and unrelated areas of interest. The structure of categories and subcategories, combined with names that clearly illustrate what is being represented, is part of everyday life. The structure is used to describe vehicles, homes, movies and corporate organization. That difference could result from a powerful force known as marketing.
Marketing has the potential to contradict or complement the category and subcategory structure.
At a future time, a company possibly an established company in the document printer business will commercialize an inexpensive machine. Because of its utility and low cost, it could become the Kleenex of the rapid prototyping industry. As technology improves, a company may have a process that is significantly faster than today's rapid prototyping systems. The marketers may decide that their technology deserves a name that distinguishes it from all others. The name, whether it s PlasticJet, hyper-prototyping, replicator or something else altogether, could become widely used to describe the category of machine technology that we today refer to as rapid prototyping.