14 DAY TRIAL // The Fiji government is taking on Microsoft, and Windows Media Center is well at the center of the problem. Debuted into development back in 2007, following the launch of Windows Vista, and currently in private Beta testing, Windows Fiji is designed as the next step in the evolution of the Media Center default component of the latest Windows client. Aiyaz Sayed-Khaiyum, Fiji's interim Attorney-General revealed that Fiji's Mission in Washington is trying to sit down with Microsoft before the next release of Windows Media Center is made available.
The apple of Discord is, of course, the use of the Fiji label. "In respect of the usage of the word Fiji by Microsoft we've through our foreign affairs and through our mission are still trying to establish contact with Microsoft to see an amicable resolution in respect of the use of word Fiji by Microsoft for their commercial gain. We obviously will like to talk to them before the launch," Sayed-Khaiyum stated, as cited by FijiLive.
The Redmond company has so far failed to comment on the matter but, at the same time, the issue is already resolved. Windows Fiji is nothing more than a codename for Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008, and not the final name of the product. Fiji is used exclusively as an internal reference, in accordance with the codename tradition at Microsoft, designed to keep the final name of the next Windows Media Center release under wraps until it is close to finalization.
However, leaked information from Beta testers revealed that Windows Fiji and Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008 are one and the same. Expected by the end of this year, Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008 will come as an update to Windows Media Center in Windows Vista Home Premium and Ultimate SKUs, the only editions of the operating system featuring the component. When the final product will be made available, Microsoft will scrap the usage of the Window Fiji codename.