Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, which drew much scorn and disdain, is something the company would like to put behind - as early as possible! However, that's not as easy as it seems, even with Microsoft's upcoming Windows 7 version!

During the process of a class-action lawsuit against Microsoft, documents unsealed by a federal court have raked up the name 'Vista' yet again. These documents, filed by the plaintiffs on December 8, 2008, were made public today by Marsha Pechman, a US District Court Judge.

As per the documents, in 2005, a group within Microsoft came up with the suggestion that the lowest-priced Vista version be launched sans the 'Vista' name, citing concerns over "user product expectations."

Making this disclosure in their filing, the plaintiffs said that as a result of the strategy proposed, Microsoft hoodwinked consumers with its 'Vista Capable' marketing program, till the operating system's January 2007 release.

Citing an internal Microsoft e-mail written August 2005, obtained during the legal discovery process, the plaintiffs said: "Microsoft studied the precise question of whether Home Basic should be called 'Vista.' The recommendation of the Windows Product Management Group was that Home Basic should 'carry the Windows brand alone without the Vista generation name'."

Meanwhile, denying that it tried to dupe consumers, Microsoft retorted that Home Basic is a lawful version of Vista. It said: "From the perspective of computer code and development, a jury could only conclude that Home Basic fairly belongs within the Windows Vista family." (Rupinder Kaur contributed to this report.)