Here’s some things I’ve heard whispered about here in the hallowed halls of Microsoft:
- The letters VI in "Vista" represent the roman numeral 6 which as everyone should know is the version number of Longhorn. The issue is that while theres a movement to change our product releases back to "version" numbers (witness the release of Windows Mobile 5.0 for example) 6 isn’t exactly a very popular number, and additionally, the Windows Marketing MBAs need something wizbang to throw in the commerials so they selected "Vista".
- If you look at the Windows logo, a casual glance might lead you to believe that it hasn’t changed much. But upon careful inspection, notice that the gradiency has changed from lateral (left to right) to a radial gradient. It’s supposed to be indicative of a broader view of information… i.e. a vista.
- The pronunciation being used for vista is "vist-uh" with a short i. Believe it or not, that question is a real popular one being asked. We have a large latin contingent that’s trying to get it to be "veet-stuh" because of their usage of the letter i as an "ee" sound. Heh – good luck that one guys.