Microsoft looks beyond Vista to Vienna

Although Microsoft is hard at work trying to ship Windows Vista this year, the company is beginning to set its sights on the next horizon, Vienna.

Vienna, once labelled Blackcomb, is the new codename for the successor to Vista. It is not clear when Vienna might ship or what features it might contain. Microsoft confirmed the name change on Friday, but declined to comment on what stage of development it is at with Vienna.

"The 'Blackcomb' codename has been changed to 'Vienna', but we do not have any other details to share on timing or focus," Microsoft said in a statement to CNET.co.uk's sister site News.com. "This does not reflect a big change for us; we have used city codenames in the past, which are derived from cities/locations in the world known for great 'vistas' -- the kinds of places we all want to see, experience and that capture the imagination. Vienna fits with this concept."

The code name for Windows XP was Whistler, a US ski resort. Blackcomb is also a ski resort, while Longhorn (Vista's code name) came from the Longhorn Saloon, about halfway between Whistler and Blackcomb.

Microsoft evangelist Robert Scoble first confirmed the new code name in a posting to the company's Channel 9 developer site.

As for Vista, Microsoft is slated to ship it in the second half of this year, roughly five years after it shipped Windows XP. The Vista update promises to have better search, a new graphics engine and other improved features.

However, there are several features that were pulled out of Vista that could conceivably become part of Vienna, most notably an new file-storing mechanism known as WinFS.