Microsoft attacked over Vista name

[Alpine]

IT SEEMS JUST ABOUT everyone is slating Microsoft for its new OS name choice, but the latest to have a go at The Mighty Vole are two charity groups that help health care organisations set up US Veterans Administration software, reports Infoworld.

WorldVista and The VistA Software Alliance are upset with Microsoft's choice, believing there's going to be a fair bit of confusion between the veteran admin software and Microsoft's Next Big Thing. Barbara Boykin, chair(wo)man of the VistA Software Alliance is especially irate: "The confusion created by Microsoft and its choice of the word 'Vista' is an affront to the people who take care of our nation's veterans." She added that "Microsoft is demeaning the passion and dedication to our veterans by expropriating the name Vista."

VistA perhaps has reason to be a tad uppity, since the group has been around for 20 years, providing electronic records for millions of veterans across 163 hospitals, 135 nursing homes and 850 clinics across the country. According to Infoworld, a Volette said that Microsoft did a thorough search on both AskJeeves and Yahoo [this bit is a joke, Ed.] before picking the name, to ensure that Windows Vista would not infringe on any trademarks. She said since the name of the new Microsoft product will be Windows Vista, it's clear that it's a Microsoft product and there shouldn't be any confusion.

Source:

The INQuirer