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Microsoft codenames are the codenames given by Microsoft to products it has in development, before these products are given the names by which they appear on store shelves. Many of these products (new versions of Windows in particular) are of major significance to the IT community, and so the terms are often widely used in discussions prior to the official release. Microsoft usually does not announce a final name until shortly before the product is publicly available. It is not uncommon for Microsoft to reuse codenames a few years after a previous usage has been abandoned.

There has been some suggestion that Microsoft may move towards defining the real name of their upcoming products earlier in the product development lifecycle so as to avoid needing product codenames.[1]

Contents [hide]
1 Windows 3.1x/9x
2 Windows NT family
3 Windows CE family
4 Media Player family
5 Visual Studio family
6 Exchange Server Family
7 SQL Server family
8 Other server products
9 Experimental operating systems
10 Expression suite
11 .NET
12 MSN/Windows Live
13 Xbox 360
14 Others
15 Toaster
16 References
17 External links

[edit] Windows 3.1x/9x
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Janus Windows 3.1
Kato, Sparta Windows for Workgroups 3.1
Snowball (LB) Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Chicago/Cougar Windows 4.0 Windows 95 Cougar is the codename for the 32bit protected mode kernel of Chicago (Windows 95) which runs on top of Jaguar (Chicago kernel).[2]
O'Hare Internet Explorer, first shipped in Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 The codename O'Hare ties into the Chicago codename for Windows 95: O'Hare International Airport is the largest airport in the city of Chicago, Illinois — in Microsoft's words, "a point of departure to distant places from Chicago"[3].
Frosting[4] Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95
Detroit[5] Windows 95 OSR 2 Named after Detroit, Michigan. A writer for Maximum PC suggested that "Detroit" and other Windows 95-era names were answers to the question posed by Microsoft's "Where do you want to go today?" marketing campaign.
Nashville Windows 96 Windows Desktop Update, Internet Explorer 4.0 Cancelled upgrade for Windows 95; sometimes referred to in the press as Windows 96. Codename was reused for Internet Explorer 4.0 which incorporated many of the technologies planned for Nashville.
Memphis Windows 97, Windows 4.1 Windows 98 The codename was the key to activating an easter egg in Windows 98:
open the "Regional Settings" control panel;
go to the "Regional Settings" page;
hold the Control key and drag a line with the mouse cursor from Memphis, Egypt (or maybe Cairo, codename of Windows NT 4 - the map is too small to tell) to Memphis, Tennessee. Still holding the Control key, drag another line from Memphis to Redmond, Washington;
a window opens with the credits for Windows 98.

Dolly Windows 98 OEM/Corporate image cloning utility Dolly refers to Dolly the Sheep, the first sheep to be cloned.
Millennium Windows Me Me stands for Millennium Edition

[edit] Windows NT family
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
NT OS/2 OS/2 3.0 Windows NT 3.1
Daytona[6] Windows NT 3.5 Named after the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
SUR (Shell Update Release), Cairo[7] Windows NT 4.0 Microsoft originally planned for NT 4.0 to be just a simple "Shell Update Release" to integrate the Windows 95 GUI with Windows NT 3.51's kernel.
Wolfpack[8] Microsoft Cluster Server
Hydra[9] Terminal Services, Windows Terminal Server Terminal Server adds "multiheading" support to Windows (the ability to run multiple instances of the graphics subsystem), and the hydra is a mythological monster with multiple heads.
Impala[10] Windows NT 4.0 Embedded
Memphis NT Windows NT 5.0 Windows 2000 A watershed in Windows naming:
first major Windows NT release whose client variant was named "Professional" instead of "Workstation";
first major Windows NT release without the "NT" designation in the trade name, which caused confusion when Windows Me was released. The original MS-DOS-based Windows line has since been dropped altogether, and Windows NT operating systems since then are simply referred to as "Windows".

Asteroid Windows 2000 Service Pack 1
Janus Windows 2000 64-bit Same codename as Windows 3.1
Neptune Microsoft Neptune[11] Never named A consumer version of Windows 2000. Merged with Odyssey to form Whistler.
Odyssey Never named An upgrade to Windows 2000. Merged with Neptune to form Whistler.
Whistler Windows XP Named after Whistler, British Columbia, where design retreats were held.
Mantis[10] Windows XP Embedded Named after the Mantis shrimp
eHome Windows XP Media Center Edition The Media Center application's filename is actually ehome.exe, and many other files to do with MCE specifically are related to this.
Freestyle Windows XP Media Center Edition 2003 Name of a terrain rating system in the Whistler-Blackcomb resort.
Harmony Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 Name of a ski lift and alpine bowl in Whistler, British Columbia.
Symphony Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Name of an alpine bowl in Whistler, British Columbia.
Emerald Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2 Name of a ski lift in Whistler, British Columbia.
Diamond Windows Vista Media Center Edition
Trainyard Windows XP Service Pack 1 Trainyard was an engineering package of driver updates to ship simultaneously with Windows XP Service Pack 1, the most major of which was support for USB 2.0 which was also ported backwards to Windows 2000.
Springboard Windows XP Service Pack 2 Name of a ski run on Blackcomb in Whistler, British Columbia.
Lone Star Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 A branch of the Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 codebase, featuring enhancements specifically for Tablet PC hardware.
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 Small Business Server 2003 Bobcat is a ski-run on Whistler Mountain.
Eiger Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs A low-end version of Windows XP that is intended to be a thin-client that works with older hardware. Available through Software Assurance program. The Eiger is a mountain in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. The Eiger is part of a trio of mountains, The Eiger, The Mönch and The Jungfrau.
Mönch Similar to Eiger, but supports Windows Mobile devices, Windows Image Acquisition, wireless networking, VPN-s and advanced IP (Internet Protocol) security. The Mönch is a mountain in the Bernese Oberland in Switzerland. The Mönch is part of a trio of mountains, The Eiger, The Mönch and The Jungfrau.
Longhorn Windows Vista Went gold (RTM) on 8 of November 2006. Named after the Longhorn Bar in the Whistler-Blackcomb resort; initially planned as an "interim release" between "Whistler" and "Blackcomb" (which was "Vienna" and is now Windows 7).
Mojave Windows Vista Spoof codename used for the Windows Vista "Mojave Experiment" marketing exercise.[12]
Q, Quattro Windows Home Server Announced at CES 2007. Original project codename was "Quattro" because it was the leader of the project's 4th attempt at building a home server at Microsoft. Renamed to Q once the project moved out of incubation stage.
Vail Windows Home Server v2 Next major release of Windows Home Server currently in development.
Cougar Windows Small Business Server "Longhorn" In development. Cougar is a ski-run on Whistler Mountain.
Longhorn Server Windows Server 2008 Server equivalent of Windows Vista Service Pack 1, released January 18, 2008.[13]
Viridian Hyper-V Virtualization update for Windows Server 2008[14]
Centro Windows Essential Business Server In development. Planned "mid-size" (25-500 PC) edition of Longhorn Server.[13].
Blackcomb, Vienna Windows 7 Originally codenamed "Blackcomb" after the Whistler-Blackcomb resort. Renamed to "Vienna" in January 2006 and "Windows 7" in 2007.
Fiji Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008 Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 This will be the first out of band release for Media Center since Windows Vista was released.[15]
Red Dog Windows Cloud Windows Azure Windows cloud services platform [16]
Quebec Windows Embedded 2011 [17] Details were (?) unveiled at PDC 2008

[edit] Windows CE family
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Pegasus, Alder[18] Windows CE 1.0 (released November 1996)
Mercury, Apollo Windows CE 2.0 (released November 1997)
Birch,[18] Gryphon Windows CE 2.1
Wyvern, Jupiter, Orion, Hermes, Goldeneye Windows CE 2.11
Cedar,[18] Galileo, Rapier, Merlin, Stinger Windows CE 3.0 (released April 2000)
Talisker[18] Windows CE .NET Windows CE 4.0 (released January 7, 2002)
Jameson Windows CE 4.1 (released June 2002)
McKendric Windows CE 4.2 (released April 23, 2003)
Ozone Windows Mobile 2003 (released June 23, 2003, powered by Windows CE 4.20)
Ozone update Windows Mobile 2003 SE (released March 24, 2004, powered by Windows CE 4.21)
Macallan[18] Windows CE 5.0 (July 9, 2004
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. (based on Windows CE 5.0)
Crossbow Windows Mobile 6.0 Windows Mobile 6.0 Update to Mobile 5.0, released in February 12, 2007.
Yamazaki[18] Windows CE 6.0 Windows Embedded CE 6.0
Photon Windows Mobile 7.0 (James Smith/Bob Stewart) Major update to the platform, merging Smartphone and Pocket PC. Expected in 2010. (based on Windows CE 6.0)

[edit] Media Player family
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Quartz ActiveMovie DirectShow The implementation is still contained in a DLL called quartz.dll. DirectShow and Windows Media Player first appeared as ActiveMovie and ActiveMovie Player as optional components in Windows 98.
ActiveMovie Player Windows Media Player ActiveMovie was the old name of DirectShow.
Corona Windows Media Player 9 Series
Polaris Windows Media Player 11 for Windows XP
Aurora Windows Media Player 11 for Windows Vista

[edit] Visual Studio family
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Thunder Visual Basic 1.0 The first version of Visual Basic.[19] The standard dialogs and controls created by the Visual Basic runtime library all have "Thunder" as a prefix of their internal type names (for example, buttons are internally known as ThunderCommandButton).
Zamboni Microsoft Visual C++ 4.1 After Zamboni, an ice resurfacing machine.[19]
Escher Microsoft Visual Basic 1.0 for MS-DOS
Rainier Visual Studio .NET 2002 After Mount Rainier, a large mountain just south of Seattle, visible from most of the metropolitan area.
Everett Visual Studio .NET 2003 After Everett, a large city near Seattle, which is on the way (from Redmond) to Whidbey Island.
Saturn ASP.NET Web Matrix Free development tool for ASP.NET Web sites. Predecessor to Visual Web Developer Express Edition.
Cassini Web Server ASP.NET Development Server The lightweight local Web server that is launched in Visual Studio in order to test Web projects.
Venus Visual Web Developer Express Edition Named in keeping with a space-oriented theme for ASP.NET developer tool internal names.
Whidbey Visual Studio 2005 After Whidbey Island in Puget Sound. A little farther from Seattle than Everett.
Orcas Visual Studio 2008 Named after Orcas Island, located in Puget Sound. Farther still from Seattle.
Rosario Visual Studio 2010 Named after the Rosario Strait which passes Orcas Island. It's also the second most important city in Argentina.
Burton Visual Studio Team System
Hatteras Visual Studio Team System's Source Control System Named after the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina.[20]
Ocracoke Visual Studio Team System load testing suite Named after the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse on Ocracoke Island, also in North Carolina.[20]
Currituck Team Foundation Work Item Tracking Named after the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla, North Carolina.[20]
Bodie Team Foundation Server SDK Named after the Bodie Island Lighthouse in North Carolina.[20]
Whitehorse Visual Studio Team System's designers for architects. Includes Application Designer, Logical Data Center Designer, System Designer, and Deployment Designer.
Fidalgo Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for WinFX Named after Fidalgo Island, located in Puget Sound in the San Juan Islands.
Tuscany Online version of Visual Studio. Currently a research project.[21]
Phoenix A Microsoft research software development kit.
Hawaii Microsoft Visual Studio 2010
Camano Test Case Management Client in VSTS 2010. Named after Camano Island, located in Puget Sound
Eaglestone This is the name given to the Teamprise suite Microsoft acquired until the formal name is decided.[22]

[edit] Exchange Server Family
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Spitfire, Touchdown Exchange Server 4.0 "Spitfire" was the name for a server-based successor to Microsoft Mail that would have run on OS/2, using X.400 as its core architecture. When Microsoft changed direction to focus on Windows NT as a server platform, the Spitfire project was retooled (and most of its code scrapped), to become Touchdown. Spitfire's legacy lies in the fact that the 4.x and 5.x versions of Exchange were X.400-based (Exchange 2000 and later were SMTP-based).
Osmium Exchange Server 5.5 Originally called Iridium, but Microsoft received a cease and desist order from Motorola which already had a project with that code name, so Microsoft chose the previous element in the periodic table.
Platinum Exchange Server 2000
Titanium Exchange Server 2003
Exchange 12 Exchange Server 2007 So named so as to fit along with Office 2007's working name, Office 12.
Exchange 14 Exchange Server 2010 So named so as to fit along with Office 2010's working name, Office 14.

[edit] SQL Server family
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
SQL95 SQL Server 6.0 The first version of Microsoft SQL Server that was designed for Windows NT (the previous version, SQL Server 4.2, was essentially Sybase's SQL Server source code, with minor changes to accommodate platform differences, compiled to run on NT).
Starfighter SQL Server Enterprise Manager Management tool, included in SQL Server 6.0 - SQL Server 2000
Hydra SQL Server 6.5 same as Terminal Services, Terminal Server
Sphinx[23] SQL Server 7.0
Plato SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services (later called Analysis Services, in SQL Server 2000)
Shiloh SQL Server 2000 (32-bit) (version 8.0)
Liberty SQL Server 2000 (64-bit) (version 8.0), Intel Itanium based system only
Rosetta SQL Server Reporting Services
Yukon SQL Server 2005 (version 9.0)
Laguna SQL Server CE 3.0 SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition
Katmai / Akadia SQL Server 2008[24] (Version 10)
Blue SQL Report Designer 2.0[25] This is the stand alone release of the tool for SQL Server Reporting Services.
Kilimanjaro SQL Server 2008R2

[edit] Other server products
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Catapult[26] Microsoft Proxy Server 1.0

[edit] Experimental operating systems
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Singularity Singularity Experimental operating system based on the Microsoft .NET platform, using software-based type safety as a replacement for hardware-based memory protection.[27]
Midori "‘Midori,’ is a Microsoft research platform. Midori is closely related to Singularity in that it is written entirely in managed code.

[edit] Expression suite
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Acrylic Expression Graphic Designer Expression Design
Sparkle Expression Interactive Designer Expression Blend
Quartz Expression Web Designer Expression Web

[edit] .NET
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Lightning, Project 42 Next Generation Windows Services Microsoft .NET v1.0 Project Lightning was the original codename for the Common Language Runtime in 1997.[28] The team was based in building 42, hence Project 42.[29] "Next Generation Windows Services" appeared in the earliest press releases about the upcoming platform.[30]
COM+ 2.0, COM Object Runtime (COR), Universal Runtime (URT) Microsoft .NET Framework v1.0 The name COM+ is still in use to designate extensions to COM (currently at version 1.5) for resource management, integrated security and transactionality. .NET itself has little in common with COM and COM+.
WinFX .NET Framework 3.0
Avalon Windows Presentation Foundation
HailStorm .NET My Services Project to make MSN-hosted user data available to the same users at non-Microsoft web sites; never released. May also refer to a QQ-llama.
Indigo Windows Communication Foundation
Windows Presentation Foundation/Everywhere Silverlight
InfoCard Windows CardSpace
Accelerator Allows developers to use managed code to program GPU's to create highly parallel programmes.
Astoria ADO.NET Data Services A framework that takes advantage of Windows Communication Foundation and the Entity Data Model (EDM) to allow developers to expose data in the cloud.
Rotor Shared Source Common Language Infrastructure (SSCLI)
ParallelFX Parallel Extensions to .NET Framework An extension of the .NET Framework which allows developers to make better use of multi-core and multi-CPU operating environments without much effort. Applications written using ParallelFX will automatically scale to make use of the hardware they are running on.
Zermatt Microsoft Identity Framework An framework which allows developers to develop claims aware applications and systems.

[edit] MSN/Windows Live
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
A1 Windows Live OneCare Security suite featuring antivirus, antispyware, backup & recovery, and tune-up
Blackbird Online content authoring technology developed alongside MSN 1.0 but cancelled in favor of HTML and ActiveX
Kahuna Windows Live Mail Windows Live Hotmail
Kumo Bing Replacement product for Live Search. Widely available June 3, 2009.
Elroy Windows Live Mail desktop Windows Live Mail
Marvel Microsoft Network, as shipped with Windows 95
Tornado MSN Messenger Service
Rome Live Search The latest version of Live Search. The first public beta of Live Search was unveiled on March 8, 2006, with the final release on September 11, 2006 replacing MSN Search.

[edit] Xbox 360
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Underwater Xbox 360 Blu-Ray Player This project was rumored to be created. This Blu-Ray player was planned to compete with the PS3's.
Blackwater XBL Cheater Scanning System Unknown, Might have not been developed to prevent any privacy issues with Xbox Live Gamers. Existence doubted.
Falcon Xbox 360 motherboard and chipset Third hardware revision with 65 nm CPU and 90 nm GPU.
Nitrogen Xbox 360 Screen Recording Software (Xbox 360 SRS) This was a external screen-capturing software for the Xbox 360, The existence of this product even in writing is doubted.
Firebird New Xbox Experience NXE The NXE was released, and the rumor is that the NXE's pre-announcement codename was Firebird.
Helium Xbox 360 Project "Helium" A concept in which an Xbox 360 would be able to emulate Windows XP. The project has apparently been scrapped since the release of Vista.
Jasper Fourth hardware revision with 65 nm CPU and 65 nm GPU.
Opus Revision of the Falcon motherboard but without an HDMI port. Used to replace Xenon motherboards during repairs.
Valhalla Future fifth hardware revision with unified 65 nm CPU/GPU chip.
Xenon Xbox 360 processor and codename Original production motherboard with 90 nm CPU and GPU.
Xenos Xbox 360 GPU and codename
Zephyr Xbox 360 Elite Black Xbox 360 console with HDMI port, increased size hard drive, and improved heat dispersal. Second hardware revision.
Natal The First generation of an Xbox 360 compatible gaming platform that uses unique 3D audio and visual sensors to control input during game play.

[edit] Others
Codename Preliminary name Final name Notes
Acropolis Application framework for Smart Clients
Aero Diamond Used during the development of Windows Vista to describe a set of advanced user interface effects for the Desktop Window Manager to be introduced after Vista's release.[31]
Albany Microsoft Equipt Albany is Microsoft's all-in-one, subscription-based service for office, communication, and security software.[32]
Alexandria Zune Marketplace An online music store.
Argo Zune A digital media player.
Atlas Ajax implementation in .NET ASP.NET Ajax An implementation for ASP.NET of Ajax native to the .NET Framework 2.0.
Bandit Schedule+ 1.0 Microsoft's first Personal Information Manager
Bullet Microsoft Mail 3.0 Microsoft's first LAN-based email product written in-house. (Microsoft had earlier purchased Intermail for AppleTalk networks and Network Courier for PC networks.)
Budapest Microsoft Office Communicator Web Access 2005
Catapult Microsoft Proxy Server 1.0
Cider Visual Studio designer for building Windows Presentation Foundation applications. Meant to be used by application developers.
Cirrus Access 1.0
Concur Aims to: define higher-level abstractions (above "threads and locks"); for today’s imperative languages; that evenly support the range of concurrency granularities; to let developers write correct and efficient concurrent applications; with lots of latent parallelism; that can be efficiently mapped to the user’s.
CRM V1.0, Tsunami Microsoft CRM version 1.0[33] The platform was initially code named Tsunami,[33] but once the decision was made to make it an actual product it was just changed to the initials as the initials were enough of a code name.[33]
Darwin Microsoft Installer Windows Installer [34]
Danube Phase I Microsoft CRM version 1.2[33]
Danube Phase II Microsoft CRM version 3[33]
Deco Microsoft PhotoDraw
Dryad A Microsoft Research project which aims to design a platform to make developing applications for large-scale distributed computing easier.
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.[35]
Greenwich Real-Time Communications Server 2003 Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003
Istanbul Microsoft Office Communicator 2005
Clarity LINQ Language Integrated Query Language extensions to expose query syntax natively to languages such as Visual Basic .NET and C#
Maestro Microsoft Office Business Scorecard Manager 2005.
Media2Go Windows Mobile software for Portable Media Centers Platform built on Windows Mobile found on portable media players.[36][37]
Metro XML Paper Specification (XPS)
Milan Microsoft Surface Table-top style computer with multi-touch touchscreen interface.
Mira Windows CE .NET-based technology for smart displays.[38][39]
Monaco Music-making program similar to Apple's GarageBand application
Monad MSH, Microsoft Shell Windows PowerShell Monads, according to philosopher Gottfried Leibniz's monadology, are the ultimate elements of the universe, individual percipient beings, and MSH is similarly composed of small, individual modules the user puts in interrelation.
Morro[40] Microsoft Security Essentials MSE was codenamed after the Morro de São Paulo beach[41] in Brazil.
Origami Ultra-Mobile PC
Omega JET Engine ISAM database engine used in Microsoft Access, a desktop database management system.
Opus Word for Windows Word for Windows 1.0 for Windows 2.x, named after the penguin in the comic strip Opus.
Palladium Trusted Windows Effort to develop a small, very secure operating environment within Windows, including curtained memory, trusted input, and graphics. Project renamed to Next-Generation Secure Computing Base, and was never fully implemented.
Pinball High Performance File System Implemented as an Installable File System when IBM and Microsoft were co developing OS/2.
Volta C# to JavaScript compiler.
Softsled Software based Media Center Extender.
Springfield Microsoft Popfly Website in Alpha testing stage providing mashup and webpages creation tools, with publishing as Rich Internet Application option.
Tahiti Supposedly a family of multi-core technologies including an operating system, applications and development tools designed to make better use of today's multi-core CPUs. It is believed that Midori may be a part of this suite of new Microsoft technologies.[42]
Tahoe Sharepoint Portal Server 2001.
Titan, Kilimanjaro Microsoft CRM version 4[33] Was originally Kilimanjaro but changed to Titan as Kilimanjaro was too difficult to spell.[33]
Jasper “Jasper” provides a programming interface to your data that is well-suited to rapid development. When a Jasper program runs, Jasper connects to the database, determines the database schema, and generates corresponding data classes. This generation step does not result in source files; the data classes are compiled in-memory and available for use within the running program.
Jolt Silverlight 1.0
Paxos Silverlight 1.1
Wolverine TCP/IP Stack for WfW 3.11 Named after the Wolverine the character from Marvel Comics.
Oslo set of SOA - technologies http://www.microsoft.com/soa/products/oslo.aspx
Velocity Distributed Caching for .NET
Zurich Azure Microsoft's Cloud platform (See Azure Services Platform)
D M Modelling language
Dorado Zune PC Client
Metro Windows Phone 7 user interface, largely based on Zune HD

[edit] Toaster
In Microsoft jargon, the "toaster" is the hardware equivalent of fictional entities, such as the Contoso company or the Tempuri URI (http://tempuri.org/), used in documentation and sample code as placeholders to be redefined by third-party developers.

The convention of calling a fictional hardware device "toaster" is by no means exclusive to Microsoft, but Microsoft formalizes the concept to an unprecedented level: the "toaster" is prominently featured in the Driver Development Kit (DDK), as a fictional hardware device that performs no function but is extremely complex. The "toaster" is removable, plugged in a dedicated bus, it has hotplug support, power management, a customized driver installation procedure, and even UPS functionality. Its device driver implements all the required APIs but no other function, and it's released as a sample "skeleton" driver for developers of actual hardware devices.