Windows codenames are the codenames given by Microsoft to Windows 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.
Windows (DOS-based)[]
Codename(s) | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
Interface Manager | Windows 1.0 | |||
N/A | Windows 1.5 | Windows 2.0 | Per antitrust documents. | |
N/A | Windows 3.0 | |||
Janus | Windows 3.1 Windows 3.11, and Windows 3.2 (China only, 1994) | Same codename as Windows 2000 64-bit | ||
Sparta (Kato), Winball (Jastro) | Windows Plus! | Windows for Workgroups 3.1 | Windows 3.1 (16-bit) with enhanced networking; designed to work particularly well as a client with the new Windows NT. | |
Snowball | Windows for Workgroups 3.11 | Although this release was still 16-bit Windows, it included a 32-bit TCP/IP stack (when running on compatible hardware). Along with Win32s, this was one of the first steps towards moving the Windows desktop to a 32-bit code base. | ||
Cougar | Windows/WFW "3.2\ | VMM32.exe in Win9x | Pre-Win95 project from 1992. Goal was to add a 32-bit virtual memory manager to Windows 3.1. Versions were internally dubbed "Windows 3.2". | |
Cougar, Chicago | Windows 4.0 | Windows 95 | ||
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 — in Microsoft's words, "a point of departure to distant places from Chicago". | ||
Frosting | Microsoft Plus! for Windows 95 | |||
Detroit | 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. | ||
Cleveland, Nashville | Windows 96 | |||
Memphis | Windows 4.1, Windows 97 | Windows 98 | The codename was the key to activating an easter egg in Windows 98:
|
|
Millennium | Windows 4.9 | Windows Me | Millenium Edition |
Windows NT family[]
Codename | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Razzle | NTOS, later NT OS/2 | Windows NT 3.1 | Originally OS/2 3.0 before 1990 |
Daytona | Windows NT 3.5 and Windows NT 3.51 | Named after the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. | |
SUR (Shell Update Release) | 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. | |
Cairo | Never released | Microsoft project undergone from 1991 to 1996. Many features planned - for example, a brand new UI and an object oriented file system. Never released, although most of the technologies sans the object-oriented file system shipped as part of Win95 or WinNT. Later attempts at an object oriented file system by Microsoft include scrapped features for MS SQL Server 98 and 2000, WinFS for Longhorn, developed from 1999 to 2006, and the Microsoft Semantic Engine, developed until at least November 2009. Two known leaked builds, one further known build. | |
Wolfpack | Microsoft Windows NT Cluster Server 4.0 | ||
Hydra | Windows NT 4.0 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. | |
Janus | Windows 2000 64-bit | Same codename as Windows 3.1x | |
Impala | Windows NT 4.0 Embedded | ||
Asteroid | Service Pack for Windows NT 5.0 | Codename in 1998 for release in the 4th quarter of 1999 that did not happen.[1] | |
Neptune | Never released | Never released, cancelled in January 2000. One known leaked build. | |
Never released | "NT6" planned from 1997-2000 | ||
Whistler | Windows XP | Named after Whistler, British Columbia, where design retreats were held. | |
Mantis | Windows XP Embedded | Named after the Mantis shrimp | |
Freestyle | Windows XP Media Center Edition | ||
Harmony | Windows XP Media Center Edition 2004 | ||
Symphony | Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 | ||
Emerald | Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 Update Rollup 2 | ||
Diamond | Windows Media Center | Included in Windows Vista | |
Springboard | Set of enhanced security features, included in Windows XP Service Pack 2. | ||
Lonestar | Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2005 | ||
Whistler Server | Windows .NET Server,
Windows .NET Server 2003 |
Windows Server 2003 | |
Whistler Small Business Server | Windows Small Business Server 2003 | ||
Eiger, Mönch | Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs | Mönch included additional features for use on mobile devices. | |
Whistler Server R2 | Windows Server 2003 R2 | ||
Longhorn | Windows Vista | Whistler-Blackcomb resort; initially planned as an "interim release" between |"Whistler" and "Blackcomb" (which was "Vienna"). | |
Quattro | Windows Home Server | ||
Vail | Windows Home Server 2011 | ||
Longhorn Server | Windows Server 2008 | ||
Cougar | Windows Small Business Server 2008 | Same codename as VMM32 | |
Viridian | Hyper-V | Virtualization update for Windows Server 2008. | |
Centro | Windows Essential Business Server | ||
7[2] | Windows 7 | ||
Longhorn Server R2, Server 7 | Windows Server 2008 R2 | ||
Fiji | Windows Vista Media Center Feature Pack 2008 | Windows Media Center TV Pack 2008 | |
Red Dog | Windows Cloud | Windows Azure | Windows cloud services platform |
Aurora | Windows Small Business Server 2011 Essentials | ||
Quebec | Windows Embedded 2011 | ||
Server 8 | Windows Server 2012 | ||
Midori | Windows 8 | ||
Server Blue | Windows Server 2012 R2 | ||
Blue | Windows 8.1 | ||
Threshold 1 | Windows 9 | Windows 10 | TH1/1507 (initial release) |
Threshold 2 | Windows 10 1511 | TH2/1511 (November Update) | |
Redstone 1 | Windows 10 1607 | RS1/1607 (Anniversary Update) | |
Threshold Server | Windows Server 2016 | Released on October 12, 2016 | |
Redstone 2 | Windows 10 1703 | Creators Update | |
Redstone 3 | Windows 10 1709 | Fall Creators Update | |
Redstone 4 | Windows 10 1803 | April 2018 Update | |
Redstone 5 | Windows 10 1809 | October 2018 Update | |
Redstone 5 Server | Windows Server 2019 | ||
19H1 | Windows 10 19H1 | April 2019 Update | |
Vanadium | Windows 10 19H2 | November 2019 Update | |
Vibranium | Windows 10 20H1 | May 2020 Update | |
Manganese | Windows 10 20H2 | October 2020 Update | |
Iron | Windows 10 21H1 | May 2021 Update | |
Santorini | Windows 10X | Cancelled May 19, 2021 | |
Iron/Cobalt Server (not correct) | Windows Server 2022 | ||
Cobalt, Sun Valley | Windows 11 21H2 | October 5, 2021 (initial release) | |
Nickel, Sun Valley 2 | Windows 11 22H2 | September 20, 2022 (Windows 11 2022 Update, previously 22H1)[3] | |
Copper, Sun Valley 3 | Windows 11 23H2 | Second half of 2023 (previously 22H2)[3] | |
Zinc, Next Valley | TBA 24H2 | Second half of 2024[4][5] | |
Hudson Valley | Windows 12 | TBA 24H2 (Original release) | Second half of 2024 |
Windows CE family[]
Codename | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Pegasus, Alder | Windows CE 1.0 | (released November 1996) | |
Birch, Gryphon | Windows CE 2.1 | ||
Cedar, Galileo, Rapier, Merlin, Stinger | Windows CE 3.0 | (released April 2000) | |
Talisker | Windows CE .NET | Windows CE 4.0 | (released January 7, 2002) |
Macallan | Windows CE 5.0 | (released July 9, 2004) | |
Yamazaki | Windows CE 6.0 | Windows Embedded CE 6.0 |
Visual Studio family[]
Codename | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Thunder | Visual Basic 1.0 | The first version of Visual Basic. 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. | |
Boston | Microsoft Visual Studio 97 | Named after Boston, Massachusetts. | |
Aspen | Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 | Named after the popular ski destination Aspen, Colorado. | |
Cassini Web Server | ASP.NET Development Server | The lightweight local Web server that is launched in Visual Studio in order to test Web projects. | |
Hatteras | Visual Studio Team System's Source Control System | Named after the Cape Hatteras Lighthouse in the Outer Banks region of North Carolina. | |
Ocracoke | Visual Studio Team System load testing suite | Named after the Ocracoke Island Lighthouse on Ocracoke Island, also in North Carolina. | |
Currituck | Team Foundation Work Item Tracking | Named after the Currituck Beach Lighthouse in Corolla, North Carolina. | |
Bodie | Team Foundation Server SDK | Named after the Bodie Island Lighthouse in North Carolina. | |
Tuscany | Online version of Visual Studio. | Currently a research project. | |
Phoenix | A Microsoft research software development kit. | ||
Eaglestone | Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere | This is the name given to the Teamprise suite Microsoft acquired. The product is now named Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere | |
KittyHawk | Visual Studio LightSwitch | RAD tool aimed at non-programmers. | |
Rainier | Visual Studio .NET (2002) | Named for Mount Ranier, a volcanic mountain peak visible from the Seattle area (where Microsoft is based). | |
Everett | Visual Studio .NET 2003 | Named after the town Everett, Washington in Washington state. | |
Whidbey | Visual Studio 2005 | Named after Whidbey Island in the Puget Sound | |
Orcas | Visual Studio 2008 | Named after Orcas Island in the Puget Sound | |
Dev10 | Visual Studio 2010 | ||
Rosario | Visual Studio Ultimate 2010 (formerly Team System or Team Suite) |
SQL Server family[]
Codename | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Sphinx | SQL Server 7.0 | ||
Yukon | SQL Server 2005 | (Version 9) | |
Katmai / Akadia | SQL Server 2008 | (Version 10) | |
Kilimanjaro | SQL Server 2008R2 | (Version 10.5) | |
Plato | Olap Services 7.0 | This was the first release of Microsoft Analysis Services | |
Blue | SQL Report Designer 2.0 | This is the stand alone release of the tool for SQL Server Reporting Services. | |
Denali | SQL Server 2012 | (Version 11) | |
Juneau | SQL Server Data Tools | Will be included in the next CTP of SQL Server "Denali" | |
Crescent | Power View | A data visualization tool that will be included in SQL Server "Denali" |
Other server products[]
Codename | Final name | Ref |
---|---|---|
Hermes | Microsoft System Management Server 1.0 | |
Catapult | Microsoft Proxy Server 1.0 | |
Geneva | Active Directory Federation Services |
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. |
.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. The team was based in building 42, hence Project 42. "Next Generation Windows Services" appeared in the earliest press releases about the upcoming platform. |
Roslyn | Next Generation C# compiler | Unspecified, speculative to Microsoft .NET v5 or .NET v6 compiler | Roslyn is the next generation of design guidelines for developer tools, which is often highlighted by a C# compiler being written in C# (currently it is C++) and being offered as a service. This would enable scenarios like C# having its own version of the JavaScript eval command ultimately leading to meta-programming. Mono has had a similar feature since early on its life |
Project 7 | Codename for early .net academic recruiting program. 7 was a prime factor of 42. |
Xbox and Xbox 360[]
Codename | Preliminary name | Final name | Notes | Ref |
---|---|---|---|---|
DirectX Box | Project Dakota | Xbox | The original codename for the Xbox. | |
Natal | Project Natal | Kinect | Motion sensitive control system. | |
Xenon | Xbox 2 | Xbox 360 | ||
Durango | Xbox 720 | Xbox One |
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. | |||
Albany | Microsoft Equipt | Albany is Microsoft's all-in-one, subscription-based service for office, communication, and security software. | ||
Alexandria | Zune Marketplace | An online music store. | ||
Argo | Zune | A digital media player. | ||
Atlanta | A cloud service that monitors Microsoft SQL Server deployments | |||
Atlas | ASP.NET AJAX | An implementation for ASP.NET of Ajax native to the .NET Framework 2.0. | ||
Avalon | Windows Presentation Foundation | Graphical subsystem released as part of .NET Framework 3.0. | ||
Bandit | Schedule+ 1.0 | Microsoft's first Personal Information Manager. | ||
Blackbird | An online content-authoring platform centered around the concept of distributed OLE (Object Linking and Embedding) and meant to be an alternative to HTML. The developer tools were originally released in beta and some titles were made available on MSN before it was scrapped in favor of web development around ASP and ActiveX and the designer was refashioned into Visual InterDev. | |||
Marvel | The Microsoft Network | The classic version of MSN, originally as a proprietary, "walled garden" online service. | ||
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 | |||
Cashmere, Opus | Microsoft Word for Windows | Developed 1984-1989 per antitrust docs | ||
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 | The platform was initially code named Tsunami, 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. | ||
D | M | Modelling language | ||
Dallas | Easily discover, purchase, and manage premium data subscriptions in the Windows Azure platform. | |||
Darwin | Microsoft Installer | Windows Installer | ||
Danube Phase I | Microsoft CRM version 1.2 | |||
Danube Phase II | Microsoft CRM version 3 | |||
Deco | Microsoft PhotoDraw | |||
Dorado | Zune PC Client | |||
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. | ||
Greenwich | Real-Time Communications Server 2003 | Microsoft Office Live Communications Server 2003 | ||
Indigo | Windows Communication Foundation | An application programming interface (API) in the .NET Framework for building connected, service-oriented applications | ||
Istanbul | Microsoft Office Communicator 2005 | |||
Kumo | Bing | Microsoft's set of features improving Live Search search engine | ||
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. | ||
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. | |||
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 | Microsoft Security Essentials | MSE was codenamed after the Morro de São Paulo beach. | ||
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. | |||
Tahiti | Microsoft SharedView | A screen sharing tool which allows users to take over sessions and interact with remote desktops. No audio or conference facilities. | ||
Tahoe | Sharepoint Portal Server 2001. | |||
Titan, Kilimanjaro | Microsoft CRM version 4 | Was originally Kilimanjaro but changed to Titan as Kilimanjaro was too difficult to spell. | ||
Jakarta | Visual J++ | |||
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) | ||
Metro | Windows Phone 7 user interface, largely based on Zune HD | |||
Mango | Windows Phone 7.5 | Windows Phone 7, largely based on Zune HD |
References[]
- ↑ Platforms Group - Desktop (PDF), Microsoft. 1998-02.
- ↑ What was the code name for Windows 7? by Raymond Chen, Microsoft. 2019-07-22.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Windows 11 22H2 is almost cooked suggests a leaked internal script for Insiders by Sayan Sen, NeoWin. 2022-01-24.
- ↑ Microsoft moves to new Windows development cycle with major release every three years, feature drops in between by Zac Bowden, Windows Central. 2022-07-15.
- ↑ Microsoft quietly stomps into Windows 11 Zinc development semester by Sayan Sen, Neowin. 2022-12-13.
External links[]
- Category:Windows versions at the BetaWiki
- Microsoft Codenames List at the WindowsWiki