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Goodbye Longhorn, hello Vista

Mike Ricciuti Staff writer, CNET News
Mike Ricciuti joined CNET in 1996. He is now CNET News' Boston-based executive editor and east coast bureau chief, serving as department editor for business technology and software covered by CNET News, Reviews, and Download.com. E-mail Mike.
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Mike Ricciuti
2 min read

Microsoft's announcement on Friday of the official name for the next version of Windows drew immediate response from the blogging world.

Microsoft

Eight months of research, many focus groups and untold millions of dollars bring us: Windows Vista.

For Microsoft, that's the good news: there's plenty of interest in the new software, formerly known by the code name Longhorn. The bad news? So far, despite the marketing slogan for Vista ("Bringing clarity to your world") , the new name is drawing an uncertain reception.

Blog community response:

"Actually, I think this has a nice sound to it. My dictionary, however, says a vista is "a long narrow view". I think many would agree that MicrosoftÂ’s biggest current problem is its narrowness of vision."
--Mike Dillamore, the case against .Net

"After hearing this name chucked around about 12 hours ago, I will admit it's starting to sound a bit better. But how are we gonna shorten this, WinVis, WinV, WinVS... WinVS I like that. Yeah VS is good. They should call it Windows VS!"
--Paul's Blog

"Soon there will be a Web page that compares WV with VW. All of the old car vs. OS jokes will be resurrected. No one will ever be able to find Volunteers in Service to America in Google. The city of Vista, California, will experience rapid growth and become the new Silicon Valley. It's neighbor to the south, Chula Vista, will be jealous. Microsoft will sue AltaVista. Microsoft will also sue VISA because the name is just too similar."
--J-Walk Blog