Most of the Microsoft products are internally code named. Often these code names are very interesting but do not really indicate the nature of the product. In general Microsoft code names fall in to categories like name of the cities, ski resorts, species of trees, famous poets, celestial bodies etc.Some of the code names are:
Interface Manager :GUI for MS-DOSGraphical and multitasking user interface for MS-DOS, released as "Windows 1.0"
Chicago: Windows 95
Daytona: Windows NT 3.5
Impala:Windows NT Embedded 4.0
Memphis:Windows 98Designed as Windows 97, but finally made available as Windows 98
Neptune:Windows Millenium sucessor, cancelled to merge with NT into Whistler
Cairo :Windows 2000Also included document centric shell based on OLE3, but that part have been dropped, and Windows NT unified distributed file system, which didn't make it for this release
Odyssey:Windows 2000 sucessor, cancelled to merge with 9X into Whistler
Mantis: Windows XP Embedded 5.1
Whistler: Windows XP / Server 2003Finally join Windows NT and Windows 9X into a single operating system.New user interface, skins support, everything available from the Start menu.
Longhorn : Windows XP successor
Cedar:Windows CE 3.0
Blackcomb:Upcoming Windows Server(Windows Longhorn server counterpart)
Avalanche:Microsoft IIS 5.0
Hydra:Microsoft SQL Server 6.5
Sphinx:Microsoft SQL Server 7.0
Shiloh: Microsoft SQL Server 2000
Liberty:Microsoft SQL Server 2000 (64 bit Version)
Yukon:Microsoft SQL Server 2000 successor(supposed to include unified storage engine)
Platinum: Microsoft Exchange 2002
Titanium: Microsoft Exchange Server 2003Outlook Web Access 2003, Outlook Mobile Access (WAP, iMode, light HTML), Server ActiveSync
Kodiak: Exchange 2003 Server successor(supposed to include unified storage engine)
Denali: Active Server Pages
Falcon:Microsoft Messaging Queue
Office 10:Microsoft Office XP
Tahoe:Microsoft Share Point Portal
Greenwich :Microsoft Instance Messenger
Everett:Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2003
Whidbey:Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2004.This release of Visual Studio and the Microsoft .NET Framework will offer innovations and enhancements to the class libraries, common language runtime (CLR), programming languages, and the integrated development environment (IDE). In addition, this product will provide deep support for SQL Server code name “Yukon” by enabling developers to write stored procedures using managed code.
Orcas:Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2005.This version of Visual Studio and the .NET Framework will provide tools support for the Windows operating system, code name “Longhorn.”
Agro:Microsoft English Query
Babylon:Microsoft Search Service (Full-Text Search)
Coyote:The Distributed Partitioned Views Feature of SQL Server 2000
DART:Setup for Oracle, SQL Server, ODBC Driver
kagera:OLEDB Provider for ODBC Data source
Luxor:Microsoft SQL Server OLEDB Provider
Plato:Microsoft SQL Server 7.0 OLAP Services
Slate:Microsoft Management Console(MMC)
Davinci:Database Design and Query Tools
Starfighter:Enterprise Manager of SQL Server 6.0
Starfighter I:SQL Server Agent
Stinger :Microsoft data engine(MSDE)
Stingary:Microsoft Internet Security And Acceleration(ISA)Server 2004
Jupitor:Microsoft e-Business server
Tripoli:icrosoft Search Server
Voyager:Microsoft BizTalk Server 2004
Catapult:MS Windows NT Based Proxy Server
Bobcat:Microsoft Windows Small Business Server 2003
Trinity:Visual Studio Tools For Office
Tungsten:Microsoft Right Management Services(RMS)
Hydra:Terminal technology for Windows (RDP) / Remote Desktop ServiceAvailable as "Windows NT 4.0 Terminal Server Edition" and integrated in next versions.
Nashville:"True Web Integration" technologyWeb based shell for Windows.Designed as Windows 96 but finally available as Internet Explorer 4 "Active Desktop Update" for Windows 95 and NT and integrated in next versions.
Detroit:USB services for Windows 95Made available as an USB upgrade for Windows 95 OSR
Corona:Windows Media 9 Series (3rd generation)Including Fast Stream and Dynamic Content Delivery
Lonestar:Windows XP Tablet PC Edition 2004 (Ink services)Update of Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
Ozone:Windows Mobile 2003 for Pocket PC & Smart phoneUpdated Pocket PC and Smart phone platforms based on Windows CE 4.2
HailStorm:.NET My Services.NET Personal information services from Microsoft.
Wolfpack:Load balancing service for Windows (Microsoft Cluster Server)
Snowball:Windows for Workgroups 3.11
Janus:Windows for Workgroups 3.1
Mira:Microsoft Smart Display
Slalom:Windows Longhorn - Media Center (eHome shell and services)Media Center components for Windows Longhorn
Palladium:Windows Longhorn - Digital Rights ManagementAllows documents and software digital rights management and copyright protection
WinFS:Windows Longhorn - Windows Future StorageFile system based on SQL Server Yukon (allow for complex file searches and cross-referenced files)
Avalon:Windows Longhorn - DirectX-based graphics subsystem
Indigo:Windows Longhorn - Communications Technologies(Unified WebServices-like interface for local and remote services)
Aero:Windows Longhorn - New visual style (3D)(I think this is the 3D GUI provided by Avalon)
Slate:Windows Longhorn - New visual style (gray)(default visual style of the PDC build of Longhorn)
Plex:Windows Longhorn - New visual style (blue)(More uniform than Windows XP Theme, all blue, no more green and red items, removed from PDC build and might be dropped for RTM build)