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Microsoft Codenames
No great discovery was ever made without a bold guess. -Isaac Newton
Experience is the name everyone gives to their mistakes. -Oscar Wilde
Persistence and positive thinking to make things happen.

About this document:

This document is for educational / informational purposes only. Contain 180+ Microsoft
codenames.
About the Author:
bcdalai, MCP, MCSE, MCTS: Windows Vista. The author is an IT pro working on Desktop,
Server and Networking - as system administrator, Tech. Support, software troubleshooter and
reviewer. He is available for tech. support in Microsoft forums, community and in other online forums
with the online name bcdalai. He can be reached at: http://bcdalai.blogspot.com or e-mail:
bcdalai2020@gmail.com.
License:
The subject matters are for system administrators and everyday computer users. This article
is completely free to read, distribute (through website, CD/DVD or magazines) or share without any
modification and may be reproduced in printable media with a link to this article. The article must be
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Disclaimer:
This document is for educational and informational purposes. THIS DOCUMENT IS
PROVIDED “AS IS”, WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED. It is assumed
that you will use the contents of this document in proper and productive way. All names, websites,
trade names and registered trademarks mentioned herein are the property of their respective owners.
Copyright © 2004-2010 by bcdalai.
Thanks:
I‟m greatly thankful to all the readers for reading and sending feedbacks to me.

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Microsoft Codenames
Operating Systems
Sl. Codenames Final Products / Technology Description / Details
01 Janus Windows 3.1
02 Sparta Windows for Workgroups 3.1
03 Kato, Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Snowball
04 Daytona Windows NT 3.5
05 Cairo Windows NT 4.0 Capital of Egypt.
06 Hydra Windows NT Terminal Services First "multithreading" support in Windows. Inspired
from “Hydra” a mythological monster with multiple
heads.
07 Impala Windows NT 4.0 Embedded
08 Chicago Windows 95
09 Frosting Windows 95 PlusPack!
10 Detroit Windows 95 OSR 2
11 Memphis Windows 98
12 Dolly Windows 98 OEM/Corporate Dolly refers to the first sheep to be cloned.
image cloning utility
13 Georgia Windows ME Proposed name was “Millennium”. Me stands for
Millennium Edition
14 Cairo Windows 2000 Capital of Egypt.
15 Janus Windows 2000 64-bit Same codename as Windows 3.1
16 Sundown Windows 64 bit
17 Whistler Windows XP Proposed name was “Windows .NET 2001”. Whistler,
British Columbia, where design retreats were held.
The „XP‟ stands for eXPerience.
18 Mantis Windows XP Embedded
19 eHome Windows XP Media Center Edition First Multimedia based Windows OS.
20 Freestyle Windows XP Media Center Edition Name of a terrain rating system in the Whistler-
2003 Blackcomb resort.
21 Harmony Windows XP Media Center Edition Name of a ski lift and alpine bowl in Whistler, British
2004 Columbia.
22 Symphony Windows XP Media Center Edition Name of an alpine bowl in Whistler, British Columbia.
2005
23 Emerald Windows XP Media Center Edition Name of a ski lift in Whistler, British Columbia.
2005 Update Rollup 2
24 Diamond Windows Vista Media Center
Edition
25 Trainyard Windows XP Service Pack 1
26 Springboard Windows XP Service Pack 2 Name of a ski run on Blackcomb in Whistler, British
Columbia.
27 Lonestar Windows XP Tablet PC Edition Enhancements specifically for Tablet PC
2005
28 Whistler Windows Server 2003 Proposed was “Windows .NET Server”
Server
29 NAS 3.0 Windows Storage Server 2003
30 Bobcat Windows Small Business Server Bobcat is a ski-run on Whistler Mountain.
2003
31 Longhorn Windows Vista The Longhorn Saloon & Grill is situated between the
Whistler and Blackcomb mountains. Named after the
Longhorn Bar in the Whistler- Blackcomb resort
32 Cougar Cougar is a ski-run on Whistler Mountain.
Windows Small Business Server
33 Centro Windows Server
34 Longhorn Windows Server 2008 Proposed name was “Windows Server „Longhorn‟”.
35 Q, Quattro Windows Home Server Released in Aug 2007.
36 Fiji Windows Media Center TV Pack First update release for Media Center on Windows
2008 Vista.
37 Windows 7 Windows 7 Successor to Windows Vista. Originally codenamed
"Blackcomb" after the Whistler-Blackcomb resort.
Renamed to "Vienna" in Jan, 2006.

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38 Windows 7E Windows 7E The browser-free version of Windows 7 that MS has

said it plans to launch in Europe.
39 Windows 7 Windows Server 2008 R2 Successor to Windows Server 2008. General
Server availability: October 22, 2009.
40 Windows 8 Windows 8 Successor to Windows 7. Working feature list out to
OEMs now.
41 Windows 8 Windows Server 2011/2012 Successor to Windows Server 2008 R2. By mid 2012
Server according to the latest leaks.
42 Red Dog Windows Azure For Windows cloud services platform.

Other Microsoft Product / Technologies

Sl. Codenames Name of Products / Technology Description / Details
001 A1 Windows Live OneCare Online security suite contains antivirus,
antispyware, data backup & recovery, and
maintenance.
002 Acrylic Expression Design Proposed name was “Expression Graphic
Designer”
003 Alder, Pegasus Windows CE 1.0
004 Alexandria Zune Marketplace Microsoft online music store like Apple‟s iTunes
Store.
005 Apollo, Mercury Windows CE 2.0
006 Argo Zune The portable music player
007 Athena Outlook Express
008 Atlas ASP.NET Ajax Implementation of Ajax in ASP.NET for the .NET
Framework 2.0.
009 Aurora Media Player 11 for Windows
Vista
010 Avalon Windows Presentation Foundation
011 Babylon Host Integration Server 2000 Ancient city located on the Euphrates River in
Asia (former capital of the Babylonian Empire)
012 Bandit Schedule+ 1.0 First Personal Information Manager (PIM) from
Microsoft.
013 Birch, Gryphon Windows CE 2.1
014 Bizet Microsoft BizTalk-Server 2002
015 Blue SQL Report Designer 2.0 Stand alone/successor release of the tool for
SQL Server Reporting Services.
016 Budapest Microsoft Office Communicator
Web Access 2005
017 Bullet Microsoft Mail 3.0 Microsoft‟s network based email product
018 Bulletproof Microsoft mail remote client
019 Catapult Microsoft Proxy Server 1.0 Microsoft‟s network proxy software
020 Cayman NetMeeting 3.01 Part of Windows Vista for compatibility with
windows XP.
021 Cirrus Access 1.0 Cirrus means, “A wispy white cloud at a high
altitude”.
022 COM+ 2.0 .NET Framework 1.0
023 Corona Media Player 9 Series Powerful development in windows multimedia
technology.
024 CRM v1.0, Microsoft CRM version 1.0 Microsoft‟s CRM software. Initial code name was
Tsunami “Tsunami”
025 Crossbow Windows Mobile 6.0 Released in Feb, 2007.
026 Danube Phase I Microsoft CRM version 1.2 CRM software.
027 Danube Phase II Microsoft CRM version 3
028 Darwin Windows Installer Proposed name was “Microsoft Installer”. Used
to install Microsoft software.
029 Denali Active Server Pages (ASP) Denali National Park in Alaska
030 Elroy Windows Live Mail For Windows desktop users.
031 Everett Visual Studio .NET 2003
032 Exchange 12 Exchange Server 2007 Version 12. E-mail server.
033 Exchange 14 Exchange Server 2010 Planned for 2010 release. Name fitting with office
2010. See at Office 2010 for more.
034 Felix Microsoft Office Docs Office Web Apps from Microsoft FUSE Labs.
Preview in April 2010.
035 Fidalgo Visual Studio 2005 Extensions for Named after Fidalgo Island.

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“WinFX”
036 Gandalf Microsoft Encarta 93 Encyclopedia software
037 Geneva Active Directory Federation Identity meta-system.
Services (ADFS); Windows
Identity Framework, CardSpace.
038 Greenwich Office Live Communications
Server 2003
039 Hawaii Microsoft Visual Studio 2010 Expected in spring 2010. Microsoft .Net
Framework 4.0 is one component.
040 Hermes System Management Server 1.0
041 Horizon Windows Live Sync Microsoft's collaboration/synchronization service,
formerly known as Live Mesh. Part of Windows
Live Essentials (Wave 4).
042 Hydra SQL Server 6.5
043 Ibiza Sync Framework Formerly codenamed Harmonica.
Synchronization service for online/offline
scenarios; designed especially for taking Web
services and databases offline.
044 Indigo Windows Communication
Foundation
045 InfoCard Windows CardSpace Identity meta-system.
046 Istanbul Microsoft Office Communicator
2005
047 Jameson Windows CE 4.1
048 Jolt Silverlight 1.0
049 Kahuna Windows Live Hotmail Redesigned email services from the “Hotmail”.
050 Katmai / Akadia SQL Server 2008
051 Kilimanjaro SQL Server 2008 R2 BI-focused upgrade to SQL Server 2008.
Released to manufacturing on April 21, 2010.
052 Kumo Bing Replacement/renamed product for Live Search.
Launched in June 2009.
053 Laguna SQL Server 2005 Mobile Edition
054 Latinum Microsoft BizTalk-Server 2000
055 Liberty SQL Server 2000 (x64) Version 8.0
056 Lightning, Project Microsoft .NET v1.0
42
057 Macallan Windows CE 5.0
058 Magellan Microsoft Office 2003 Small
Business Accounting
059 Magneto Windows Mobile 5.0
060 Marvel Microsoft Network (in Windows The network technology 1st included with
95) Windows 95.
061 McKendric Windows CE 4.2
062 Merlin Windows CE 3.0
063 Metro XML Paper Specification (XPS) Document format like the rival Adobe‟s PDF
format.
064 Milan Microsoft Surface Microsoft's tabletop touch screen
Technology
065 Mojave R2 Commerce Server 2009 R2 Next update to Commerce Server. Expected to
be 64-bit only and will possibly no longer support
Windows Server 2003 and SQL Server 2005.
066 Monad Windows PowerShell Proposed name was “Microsoft Shell” or MSH.
067 Morro Microsoft Security Essentials Microsoft Security Essentials is also as acronym
MSE. Free anti-malware service; successor to
Live OneCare.
068 Natal Kinect Kinect for Xbox 360, or simply Kinect is a
"controller-free gaming and entertainment
experience" by Microsoft for the Xbox 360 video
game platform.
069 Nemesis Windows Media Encoder 7.0 Multimedia Encoding software
070 O‟Hare Internet Explorer 1.0, first O‟Hare is the main airport of Chicago
available in Windows 95.
071 Office 14 Microsoft Office 2010 Version 14.0. Actually this is the next version
after “Office 12” i.e. Microsoft Office 2007 and
should be Version 13. But Microsoft skipped
version 13 because of the strong aversion to the

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number 13 e.g. triskaidekaphobia.

072 Office 15 Successor to Office 2010 Rumored as- to be release on 2013.
073 Office10 Microsoft Office XP Version 10.0
074 Office11 Microsoft Office 2003 Version 11.0
075 Office12 Microsoft Office 2007 Version 12.0. Officially called as “Microsoft Office
2007 system”.
076 OfficeTalk Micro-blogging tool from Twitter like micro-blogging tool for business
Microsoft. (similar to Yammer concept) test from Microsoft
Office Labs.
077 Omega JET Engine ISAM database engine used in Microsoft Access.
078 Opal System Management Server 2.0
079 Oprah Netmeeting A Microsoft program for communicating with
others over internet or local intranet.
080 Opus Microsoft Word Popular Word processor
081 Orcas Visual Studio 2008 Named after Orcas Island, located in Puget
Sound.
082 Origami Ultra-Mobile PC
083 Osmium Exchange Server 5.5
084 Ozone Windows Mobile 2003 Developed from Windows CE 4.20 codebase.
085 Palladium Trusted Platform Module Services Hardware based Secure Computing technology.
(TPM) First introduced in Windows Vista.
086 Paxos Silverlight 1.1 Not released to end user.
087 Photon Windows Mobile 7.0 Expected release in 2010.
088 Pimento Zune Mobile Zune services for Windows Mobile devices.
Expected to include music/video purchase,
playback, sharing, social-networking and more.
089 Pinball High Performance File System Implemented as an Installable File System when
IBM and Microsoft were co developing OS/2.
090 Platinum Exchange Server 2000 E-mail server software from Microsoft.
091 PlayAnywhere Mobile Surface Research project focused on enabling 3D
interaction with mobile devices using a camera
and a projector.
092 Plutonium Microsoft Commerce-Server 4.0
093 Polaris Media Player 11 for Windows XP
094 Quartz DirectShow
095 Quartz Expression Web Same as “DirectShow”. Proposed name was
“Expression Web Designer”.
096 Quebec Windows Embedded 7
097 Rainier Visual Studio .NET 2002 “Rainier” a small town south of Seattle,
Washington
098 Rosetta SQL Server Reporting Services
099 Ruby, Diamond Successor of SMS 2003 Version 3.0
100 Sable E-Commerce Server 2001
Seahorse Pivot LiveLabs project using visual search to help
users “view the Web as a web”.
101 Shiloh SQL Server 2000 (32-bit) Version 8.0. Place of major Civil War battles in
Tennessee.
102 SkyBox My Phone Service for syncing phone information across the
Web; similar to Apple's MobileMe.
103 Softsled Media Center Extender software
104 Sparkle Expression Blend Proposed name was “Expression Interactive
Designer”
105 Sphinx SQL Server 7.0
106 Spitfire, Exchange Server 4.0
Touchdown
107 Starlite .NET Compact Framework 1.0
108 Stirling Microsoft Forefront Security Security products from Microsoft.
109 Tahoe SharePoint Server 2001
110 Talisker Windows CE 4.0 Proposed name was “Windows CE .NET”
111 Thunder Visual Basic 1.0
112 Tiger Microsoft Media-Server
113 Titan, Kilimanjaro Microsoft CRM version 4
114 Titanium Exchange Server 2003 Version11. E-mail server.
115 Topaz, Emerald System Management Server 2003 Version 2.5
116 Tornado MSN Messenger Service

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117 Tuscany Online version of Visual Studio. Yet to be release.

118 Vienna Office Live Communication Server Capital of Austria.
2005
119 Viper Microsoft Transaction-Server 2.0
120 Viridian Microsoft Hyper-V Server Microsoft‟s hypervisor-based server Virtualization
product.
121 Whidbey Visual Studio 2005
122 Windows Live Windows Live Next versions of services like Hotmail,
Wave 4 Messenger, for Windows Live Essentials. Final
versions of all expected by fall 2010
123 Windows Mobile Windows Mobile 6.5 Next release of Microsoft mobile OS platform.
6.5 Expected for end of 2009.
124 Windows Mobile Windows Mobile 7 Formerly known as Photon. Microsoft's mobile
7 phone OS for Windows Phone 7 Series devices.
Touch/gesture recognition and more consumer-
focused features expected.
125 WinFS Next Version of Windows File Means “Windows Future Storage”
System
126 WinFX .NET Framework 3.0
127 WPF/Everywhere Silverlight Cross browser platform.
128 XDocs Office InfoPath 2003
129 Xdrive Windows Azure Drive Tool for creating automatic backups of apps to
be moved to Windows Azure cloud OS.
130 Xenon Xbox 360 processor and The popular Gaming Console from Microsoft
codename after Xbox.
131 Xenos Xbox 360 GPU and codename
132 Yamazaki Windows Embedded CE 6.0
133 Yukon SQL Server 2005 Version 9.0. Named after Yukon Territory in
Canada, capital city Whitehorse.
134 Zamboni Microsoft Visual C++
135 Zephyr Xbox 360 Elite Black Xbox 360 console with an HDMI port and
an increased size hard drive.
Sources: All About Microsoft: Codename Tracker by Mary Jo Foley: http://zdnet.com/ and from the
internet news.
Author’s Note: Ok. I‟ll try to update this document with more and current information. If you find any
new codename please feel free to send it to me on my site: http://bcdalai.blogspot.com/.
Thank You

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