List of Windows codenames

Windows 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.

Windows 3.xx/9x

Codename(s)	Preliminary name	Final name	Notes	Ref
3.00.55		Windows 3.0 (Windows 89-91)
Janus		Windows 3.1 (Windows 92) and Windows 3.11
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/Chicago	Windows 4.0	Windows 95	The 32bit protected mode kernel of Chicago (Windows 95) was codenamed Cougar and runs on top of Jaguar (Chicago kernel).
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 (96)/Memphis (97) (same as Windows 2000 is codenamed)	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. this codename is also visible from Windows 95 OSR in its version of DOS 7 - before any EXEs or windows is loaded the words: Microsoft (R) Memphis - are loaded into memory, although on the disc they are encrypted.
Georgia/Millennium		Windows 4.9

Windows NT family

Codename	Preliminary name	Final name	Notes
AXP		Windows NT 3.1 WorkStation
June 93		Windows NT 3.1 Advanced Server
Daytona		Windows NT 3.5 (Windows 94) and Windows NT 3.51	Named after the Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida.
SUR (Shell Update Release), Cairo (same as Windows 2000 Server Family is codenamed)		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		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.
NT 5.0/Menas Janus (same as Windows 3.1-11 is/are codenamed)		Windows 2000 Professional/Server Family and 64-bit
Impala		Windows NT 4.0 Embedded
Neptune		Windows 2000 Home Edition
Odyssey		Windows Datacenter Server 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 Server 2002, Windows .NET Server	Windows Server 2003
Bobcat		Windows Small Business Server 2003
Eiger, Mönch		Windows Fundamentals for Legacy PCs	Mönch included additional features for use on mobile devices.
Longhorn		Windows Vista	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.
Quattro		Windows Home Server
Vail		Windows Home Server 2011
Longhorn Server		Windows Server 2008
Cougar		Windows Small Business Server 2008
Viridian		Hyper-V	Virtualization update for Windows Server 2008.
Centro		Windows Essential Business Server
Blackcomb, Vienna		Windows 7
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
Chidori		Windows 8	The results of Project Midori and Project Singularity were included in Windows 8.
Blue	Windows Blue	Windows 8.1	Windows 8.1 will be the first mayor update of Windows 8, to be released late 2013.

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	(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 for 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
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

External links

• Microsoft Codenames List