Code name

What is code name?
A code name is a name for hardware, software, or other technology that is under development. Code names are often given for convenience because a project may not have a distinguished name for publication and production. Code names also get an air of mystery about upcoming technology projects. They have become a source of curiosity in technology culture.

Typically, a company creates a code name to describe a working project. When the project is published, the actual commercial name will be used and the code name will be redundant. In some cases, the code name never becomes common knowledge.

Many code names have been assigned to the many operating systems that have used the personal computer over the past few decades. On the Microsoft side, some of the operating system code names represent companies through the history of Windows development, for example code name 'Chicago' for Windows 95, 'Memphis' for Windows 98 and 'Whistler' for Windows XP. Windows Vista was code-named 'Longhorn' and Windows 10, the last operating system to be released, was code-named 'Redstone' after an element in the Minecraft video game.

On the Apple side, code names have also been widely used for a variety of operating systems and other technologies. For example, the OS X operating system used different code names for successive releases, including the 'big cat' series like 'Cheetah' for OS X 10.0, 'Puma' for OS X 10.1, 'Jaguar' for OS X 10.2 and ' Panther '' For OS X 10.3, as well as the additional code names Tiger, Leopard, Snow Leopard, Lion and Mountain Lion for successive OS X versions.