By 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.
"We're going to consider our options and talk to them," he said tersely.
But some naming experts applauded Microsoft's decision. They said it was wise to move away from odd letter combinations such as "XP" to an understandable word with positive connotations. Yet the name may matter less than Microsoft's clout.
"If they called it Windows Garbage, would people still buy it? Yeah, they'd buy it," said David Burd, owner of The Naming Co. in East Stroudsburg, Pa. "They've got something like 90 percent penetration in the world of operating systems."
A Microsoft spokesman said the company chose Vista from a list developed by the Windows team, based on attributes of the new software. Among its primary selling points are new tools for searching and viewing the contents of a PC; communications features; and a lighter desktop appearance with transparent objects.
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