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New Microsoft Windows OS Named
Posted: 2005-07-22 02:40pm
by Mange
The name for the next Windows OS has been revealed: Windows Vista:
CNN wrote:NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Microsoft announced Friday that it will call its next-generation operating system "Windows Vista."
The much-anticipated operating system had formerly been code-named "Longhorn."
Microsoft also unveiled the Windows Vista Web site and said the first beta test version of the system, which will be targeted at developers and IT professionals, will be available by Aug. 3. The system is scheduled to be released late next year.
Previous Windows releases have been named by year number or by a moniker -- such as Windows XP -- to describe the release itself.
But with Windows Vista, Microsoft wanted the name to focus more on the product, and how it brings clarity to users, said Greg Sullivan, group product manager at Microsoft.
"We each have our own unique view or vista of this digital world. Windows Vista is going to bring more clarity to that," he said.
Microsoft (Research) has promised that the new system will have several improvements, including better security features, more comprehensive search capabilities and a friendlier user interface.
Specific features include a new way to manage files involving the use of virtual folders, which will make storing and finding information easier, Sullivan said.
Several privacy capabilities, such as protected user accounts, have also been built into the new system, he said.
In a Microsoft video of the name announcement, the new system is described as "Clear. Confident. Connected."
Licenses for operating systems and related software still account for the majority of the Redmond, Wash.-based software giant's sales and operating profits.
http://money.cnn.com/2005/07/22/technol ... tm?cnn=yes
They say the name focuses on the product?
Posted: 2005-07-22 03:12pm
by Praxis
...man, I thought they'd think of a better name rather than such an obvious pun :s
Anyway, which definition of Vista?
"A distant view or prospect"? Because Longhorn is being delayed so much it'll never come?
"An unincorporated community of southern California north of San Diego. It is a resort and agricultural area. Population: 71,872."?
Or "Volunteers In Service To America."?
How about "Very Intelligent Surveillance & Target Acquisition"?
Posted: 2005-07-22 03:53pm
by SPOOFE
Microsoft is starting to get too zen for me. Like those cheesy bad guys of the '50s and '60s that always had to be cryptic and vague. Weirds me out.
Posted: 2005-07-22 05:28pm
by General Zod
Meh. . . .I honestly think I preferred their name "Longhorn" much better than Vista. Even ME and XP made much more sense than "Vista".
Posted: 2005-07-22 05:32pm
by Arrow
What's wrong with "Windows 2007"? "Vista" is meaningless to me.
Posted: 2005-07-22 06:14pm
by Praxis
Arrow Mk84 wrote:What's wrong with "Windows 2007"? "Vista" is meaningless to me.
It's a pun.
Dictionary.com:
"A distant view or prospect, especially one seen through an opening" and "the visual percept of a region"
An opening...such as a window.
One of the synonyms is "view". So its Windows' View.
Posted: 2005-07-22 06:16pm
by Chmee
Can't wait for those commercials with Gates driving around in a Vista Cruiser station wagon ....
"It's an expensive pig that wastes resources too!"
Posted: 2005-07-22 06:46pm
by Hamel
Sounds like a name cooked up from a wannabe Starbucks yuppy.
I mean, look at these people. They bring their laptops in, accessing the internet. But they don't call it that! No sir, it's the.. whatever they call it in their damn coffee language. They start sipping their six dollar latte. Then they read their screen intently as if they were reading a doctoral thesis or something out of a liberal arts class. Well, hell no, they're reading Uncle Barnabe or watching a video clip from Ebaumsworld. Fuck them and the high horse they rode in on. All because they don't want a gruffy sounding name like Longhorn... just some wannabe zen garbage.
It's like those guys from Adult Swim thinking they're stoners when they're really not.
Posted: 2005-07-24 09:01pm
by RThurmont
Actually, Hamel, brands are not generally named by people sitting in the Starbucks sipping a latte with a laptop computer.
Branding and corporate identity happens to be my profession-in this case however, I'd agree with the consensus that Microsoft has done a lousy job branding the new Windows. Vista strikes me as meaningless next to Windows-it's one of the most overused names in branding. Microsoft just doesn't seem to get it whewn it comes to making their products appealing to the consumer, in spite of being one of the biggest users by far of branding consultancies.
A list of the branding consultancies Microsoft has used reads like a whos who of the branding business, yet only those involved with the X Box have been able to break through the clutter and really achieve something.
Office: Mac is also reasonably good (Landor Associates did a great job on the packaging). MSN (as designed by Lippincott Mercer) is totally unappealing... I just don't understand how so many different experts from so many different firms could consistently botch it...
Microsoft's recent ad campaign by McCann Erickson is even worse, but as an agency, McCann Erickson is notoriously unimaginative.