Longhorn's real name unveiled

MICROSOFT Longhorn will be called Windows Server 2008, according to two outstanding sources.

Let's break cover here and name them, even if it means the Pulitzer prize will remain tantalisingly out of reach.

The first is Mary Jo Foley, a woman who knows Microsoft backwards, and the second is her pointer to a Windows Hardware Engineering Conference (WinHEC) web page that used the moniker. Microsoft has since pulled the mention but Ms Foley has the snapshot.

As she suggests, that probably means that Microsoft will announce the branding at WinHEC and, as she notes, it's a shame companies can't keep familiar, evocative codenames rather than replacing them with dull corporate branding stuff.

Later today, we will post the greatest technology names ever, so send in your suggestions of the daftest, maddest brands and products. µ