Next Windows version – Windows Vista

Much speculation overnight in tech media and around the blogosphere that the next version of Microsoft Windows – currently codenamed Longhorn – will be called Windows Vista.

The official word is expected in a press release from Microsoft during today.

It’s an interesting name. ‘Vista’ comes from the Italian past participle of vedere, to see, from the Latin vidre. Here’s the modern English-language definition from Cambridge Dictionaries Online:

1. Literary – a view, especially a splendid view from a high position:
   After a hard climb, we were rewarded by a picture-postcard vista of rolling hills under a deep blue summer sky.
2. A possible future action or event that you can imagine:
   As leader, he opened up exciting vistas of global co-operation.

Sounds like an appropriate and optimistic name. I wonder what the goals were in planning what to call the product.

Whatever the name will be, Neowin has posted details of what they say is the schedule of key Windows Vista dates:

Beta 1: 27 July 2005
Beta 2: 16 November 2005
Release Candidate: 17 March 2006
Final version (release to manufacturing): 28 June 2006

(Disclosure: I am part of the beta testing programme for the next Windows version but I’ve not yet heard any dates mentioned.)

Time will tell.

[UPDATE 3:00pm] It’s official – the name will be Windows Vista, according to a Microsoft press release that just showed up in my RSS feed.

The new Vista website says this about the first beta:

Windows Vista Beta
Beta 1, targeted at developers and IT
professionals, will be available by August 3rd 2005.