The true meaning of Vista

Vista bears a negative meaning to me mainly because the latest Microsoft windows sucks. Some smart ass has also coined an acronym "VISTA", which stands for Vietnam, Indonesia, South Africa, Turkey and Argentina, for the emerging financial markets. It is nothing more than a publicity stunt or gimmick.

However, after I looked it up in the dictionary, I found that it is actually quite a beautiful word. The mean is a "view as seen between long rows of trees, buildings, etc" or "long series of scenes, events, etc that one can look back on or forward to". After reading these annotations, I immediately conceived a peaceful picture of a long narrow aisle leading into a forest with tall and beautiful trees along both sides. I can even smell the scent of the new-mown hay and hear the chirpings.

Whosoever changed the name Longhorn to vista must be an ass-kisser of Bill Gates after glimpsed on the cover of his book "The road ahead" where Bill standing in front of a vista of a road. I did not read the book, but I am pretty sure that his road has deviated significantly from the path he planned. For example, the failure of Vista and the rise of apple are not in there. I am not judging or predicting the deeds of both of them, but simply want to redeem the meaning of "vista" and redress it.