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Revision as of 22:15, 10 June 2005 by Kushboy (talk | contribs) (+Acrylic)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)There have been various Microsoft codenames that they have used to refer to its products before their final release. Since many of these releases, particularly those of new versions of Windows, are of major significance to the IT community, the terms are often widely used in discussions prior to the official release. Microsoft generally does not announce a final name until shortly before the product is finished, although it is usually possible to speculate ("Memphis", for instance, was expected to be "Windows 97", but was delayed).
| Codename | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Windows family | ||||
| Janus | Windows 3.1 | |||
| Kato | Windows for Workgroups 3.1 | |||
| Snowball | Windows for Workgroups 3.11 | |||
| Chicago | Windows 95 | |||
| Detroit, Nashville | Windows 95B (OSR 2) | |||
| Memphis | Windows 97 | Windows 98 | The codename was the key to activating an easter egg in Windows 98:
| |
| Millennium | Windows Me | |||
| Windows NT family | ||||
| OS/2 3.0 | Windows NT | Windows NT 3.1 | There never was a Windows NT 1.0. The version number was chosen to mirror the Windows version number at the time, but also because the OS/2 version at that moment was 2.1, and Microsoft wanted to state that WNT was "one up". | |
| Daytona | Windows NT 3.5 | |||
| Cairo | Windows NT 4.0 | |||
| Wolfpack | Cluster Server | |||
| Hydra | Terminal Services | Terminal Server | Terminal Server adds "multiheading" support to Windows, and the hydra was a mythological monster with multiple heads. | |
| Impala | Windows NT 4.0 Embedded | |||
| Windows NT 5.0 | Windows 2000 | A watershed in Windows naming:
| ||
| Asteroid | Windows 2000 Service Pack 1 | |||
| Janus | Windows 2000 64-bit | Same codename as Windows 3.1. | ||
| Odyssey | N/A | Never released. Also never compiled. | ||
| Neptune | N/A | A "Consumer" version based on the Windows 2000 codebase. Never released (became Whistler). | ||
| Whistler | Windows XP | Merge of initial Whistler (e.g. build 2202),Neptune and Project Odyssey. Named after Whistler, British Columbia, where design retreats were held. | ||
| Mantis | Windows XP Embedded | |||
| Freestyle | Windows XP Media Center Edition 1.0 | |||
| Harmony | Windows XP Media Center Edition 1.5 | |||
| Symphony | Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 | |||
| Whistler Server | Windows .NET Server | Windows Server 2003 | One of many unrelated Microsoft projects of the time to carry a ".NET" designation. See: Microsoft .NET. | |
| Bobcat | Windows Server 2003 Small Business Edition | |||
| Longhorn | N/A | Not released yet (as of June 2005). Named after a bar in the Whistler-Blackcomb resort; initially planned as an "interim release" between "Whistler" and "Blackcomb". | ||
| Blackcomb | N/A | Not released yet (as of May 2005). Named after the Whistler-Blackcomb resort ("Whistler" was also a codename, see above). | ||
| Windows CE family | ||||
| Magneto | Windows Mobile 5.0 | Windows Mobile 5.0 was officially announced at Microsoft's Mobile and Embedded Developers Conference 2005 in Las Vegas, May 9-12 2005. | ||
| Photon | Windows Mobile 2006 | |||
| Others | ||||
| COM+ 2.5 | Microsoft .NET | |||
| COM+ 2.5 Runtime (COR) | Microsoft .NET Framework | |||
| Quartz | ActiveMovie | DirectShow | ||
| Darwin | Microsoft Installer | Windows Installer | ||
| Godot | Microsoft Layer for Unicode | Named after the play Waiting for Godot (centered around the failure of a man named "Godot" to appear and the endless wait for him), because it was felt to be long overdue (source). | ||
| Acrylic | Microsoft's New Image Editing program based on its acquired Expression. | |||