Most people know that the computer in 2001 A Space Odessey was a play on IBM (computer name HAL is IBM minus one letter — the leter before I is H, before B is A, and M is L). I heard that Windows New Technology (WNT) was a salute to this and VMS (W-1 is V, N-1 is M, T-1 is S).
So Cutler, disappointed in DEC, looked around until he found someone with a product whose name began with “W”
It’s all coincidence.