Ok. I can’t help but pile on with my reaction to Longhorn’s new name. Peter Spande and Rex Baldazo

already chimed in with their takes on the name, so I

thought I should as well – as I’m sure are millions of other people.

In a word – Ick.

What were they thinking? Two things popped into my mind. The first thing was the old Plymouth Colt Vista.

This was a little car that was part-car, part-minivan. It tried to be

everything to everyone. It got good mileage, but had no get up and go.

It could carry lots of stuff, but beyond a bunch of kids and some

groceries, it was too small for much else. In the end, it didn’t really

do anything very well. Hmmm…

The second thing I thought of was the Visa Card. Micrsoft’s old slogan

was “Where do you want to go today?”. Visa International’s is

“Everywhere you want to be.” So combining the two – Windows

Vis(t)a – kind of completes the circle, doesn’t it?

Anyway, I don’t get it. I guess I’ll wind up getting used to it.

Windows XP sounded kind of clunky too at first. Now everyone just calls

it XP. I’m sure that Windows Vista will wind up just being called

Vista. When the beta ships, it will be interesting to see if the view

is going to be good or not.