..and to be released late next year, albeit incomplete
Microsoft, the world's largest software maker, has said the next version of its much-delayed operating system will be known as Windows Vista.
The software, until now known by its code name Longhorn, is due for release towards the end of 2006, half a decade after the launch of Windows XP.
To hit the deadline Microsoft has already taken out a number of features it had promised for the system.
complete article here
Longhorn renamed as 'Windows Vista'
good on the other company 
iirc there was a 3D rendering program for the Amiga back in the day called VistasourceBy naming the next version of Windows "Vista," Microsoft may have stepped on the toes of another software company just down the road in Redmond.
That would be Vista, a business software and services company founded in 1999 by John Wall. He was not amused when Microsoft announced its choice yesterday, setting the stage for a massive rollout when its flagship operating system goes on sale in fall 2006.
Wall, a well-known technology executive in the area who earlier founded Wall Data, is examining whether the name violates the trademark his company has held for six years. He plans to raise the issue with Microsoft, a company notoriously protective of its own trademarks, and may take the issue to court.
