Redmond, Washington based software giant Microsoft Corporation unveiled to the public yesterday the name of its highly anticipated next generation operating system, Microsoft Vista.

Formerly known as codename “Longhorn,� the new system will dramatically change the way users interact with their computers. The theme of the new operating system is “clarity,� allowing users to interact with Microsoft products seamlessly, and easily.

In a promotional video released at an employee-only sales conference in Atlanta on Thursday, the tagline “Clear... Confident… Connected� was used to introduce Vista.

The first beta for IT professionals and software developers will be available August 3rd, according to Microsoft, with a public launch scheduled for sometime in 2006.

On Thursday, a day before the software name was made public, speculation of the Vista name began to appear on internet message boards after the company registered several domain names for the product, including http://www.microsoftvista.com.