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In case you ever wondered where the codename "Longhorn" came from, Windows XP was codenamed Whistler, and the follow-up version was codenamed Blackcomb, after the Whistler and Blackcomb mountains at the popular, eponymous Whistler Blackcomb ski resort in British Columbia a few hours away from Seattle.

The Blackcomb release of Windows started slipping, so an interim release was planned. It was codenamed Longhorn, after the Longhorn Saloon and Grill at Whistler Blackcomb: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g154948-d70639...



I'm from Whistler, and maybe it is just local legend, but we hear that the reason Whistler and Blackcomb were chosen is because so many Microsoft employees come up on weekends.

There are a LOT of local Whistler references in microsoft codenames https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Microsoft_codenames

Harmony, Symphony, Emerald, Springboard, Bobcat, Cougar in the NT family from what I can tell.


This is 100% true. I worked on Longhorn at Microsoft.


Dave Cutler's likes skiing, he was the head of WinNT and most important person behind XBox and Azure ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dave_Cutler ).


Back in the 90s, before I fully migrated away from Microsoft operating systems, I remember a few other code names as well.

If memory serves, "Chicago" was the code name for W95 and "Memphis" was the code name for W98. Also, I want to say that WFWG was called "Snowball" but I'm much less sure about that one (it's been a little while!).


Snowball was WfW 3.11.

WfW 3.1 was Sparta.




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