I assume OP is referring to the fact that the name Asimov isn't well known for being part of Halo. At least, I hope the writer would be considered more popular.

Yes, this.

It's about as depressing as people 5000 years from now thinking that most of what 21st century people knew about birds was disseminated using an ancient application called Angry Birds.

Well the Xbox team got it from the sci-fi author. The point is it might be inspired by Halo, but the Halo reference is inspired by the author. It's like saying John Locke is a reference to Lost, when Lost co-opted it from the philosopher.

Well, Windows Phone has been using the name Cortana for their Siri-equivalent. The codename for the next version of IE is reportedly Spartan[1], which is used in Halo. The codename for the upcoming version of Windows is Threshold[2], which again is a name that shows up in Halo. Naming everything after things in Halo is apparently Microsoft's new thing.

1) http://www.zdnet.com/how-the-next-version-of-ie-codenamed-sp... 2) http://www.geek.com/games/microsoft-taps-the-halo-franchise-...

But John Locke in lost is merely a reference to and not the same as, John Locke the philosopher.

Not everything with the same name is the same thing, and it's possible to reference the second in a series of shared names that itself is referencing the first.

References aren't transitive, in this case.

Or even more simply, why it really matters what the codename is at all.

I think it is more of the fact, that OS will be shipped with remote monitoring built in. <sarcasm> Privacy advocates everywhere rejoice. </sarcasm>

Windows has had telemetry since forever (well since at least XP). It has gone by several names including "The Windows Feedback Program" (Windows 7).

I really do not see how telemetry is same as feedback. One is proactive constant monitoring with automatic data collection and second is reactive report submission that asks every time before sending report.