When I originally heard that the next version of Windows was actually going to be name “Windows Vista” I could only imagine that it was a big joke. “Vista” is a word you’d use in a sentence with phrases like “new paradigm” or “going forward basis”; it’s a marketing word, and it’s devoid of any sort of imagination or thought.

I have a feeling that this name artificially created in a lab, and underwent analysis in focus groups filled with “average computer users” who weighed the and measured exactly how they felt about names like “Windows 2006″, “Windows2“, “Windows XXL”, or “Windows Mustang”. My limited experience with focus groups suggests that any answers that come out of them are watered down; often echoing back what the participants believe the people paying for the coffee want to hear. Dynamic ideas don’t originate in focus groups, and they don’t tend to survive them either.

I was catching up with my reading today, and found a number of references to the lameness of the name. I think that my favourite has been Hugh’s:

It. Is. Bland.

Microsoft. Stop. Being. Bland.

Now all you need is some uninspired-but-really-expensive Madison Avenue ad campaign (e.g. “What do you want your Vista to see?”) just to seal the deal.

It’s amusing that Scoble’s brother hates the name too, but not at all surprising. Robert even seems to find the name a bit lost;

this is better than a lot of names I could have imagined. Microsoft has a deep consensus culture which makes it tough to come up with really edgy names. Heck, usually we come up with “Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005.” Yeah, that kind of name really makes one’s heart warm.

This is the sort of thing that bores people into being caught up in the iPod Halo Effect. Shiney.

I’m hoping my PowerBook shows up this week (my first ever Real Macintosh), with its OS X TIGER loaded on it. See? Apple learned that “System 7″ and “OS 9″ were dumb names; that naming things after big scary cats is more appealing, and evokes a feeling. Admittedly, I am a bit afraid of what an OS named “Cougar” could bring, though; chain smoking 50 year old women in hot pants?