我们最熟悉的windows开发代号恐怕就是longhorn了，开发代号是在windows的beta前开发中为windows命名用的，相当于windows的乳名吧。
这是历代windows发行版本和他们的开发代号的列表：
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━┳━━━━━┓
┃Codename ┃ Windows ┃ Version ┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━╋━━━━━┫
┃Janus (希腊两面神) ┃3.1 ┃3.1 ┃
┃Chicago (芝加哥) ┃95 ┃4.0 ┃
┃Memphis (曼菲斯) ┃98 ┃4.1 ┃
┃Millennium (千禧年) ┃ME ┃4.9.3000 ┃
┃NT5 (听说这并不是真的) ┃2000 ┃5.0.2195 ┃
┃Whistler (维斯勒) ┃XP ┃5.1.2600 ┃
┃Whistler Server ┃Sever 2003 ┃5.2.3700 ┃
┃Longhorn (长牛角) ┃Vista ┃6.0 (估计)┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━┻━━━━━━┻━━━━━┛
Windows Pre-9x:
===============
Windows 1.x (Codename: Inerface Manager)
Windows 3.1 (Codename: Janus)
Windows For Workgroups 3.11(Codename: Snowball)
Windows 9x:
===========
Windows 95 (Codename: Chicago)
Windows 96 (Codename: Nashville)
Windows 97 (Codename: Detroit)
Windows 98 First/Second Edition (Codename: Memphis)
Windows Millenneum Edition (Codename: Georgia)
Windows NT:
===========
Windows NT 3.1 (Codename: OS/2 3.0)
Windows NT 3.5 (Codename: Daytona)
Windows NT 4.0 (Codename: Cairo、SUR)
Windows NT 5.0 (Windows 2000) (Codename: NONE)
Windows NT 5.1 (Windows XP) (Codename: Whistler)
Windows NT 5.2 (Windows Server 2003) (Codename: Whistler; .NET)
Windows NT 6.0 (WindowsVista)(Codename: Longhorn)
有人或许会问：win1呢？那是因为列这张表的人认为真正的windows是始于3.1版本，而之前的只能算dos下的gui程序，呵呵，确实如此。
我们看到Windows3.1的开发代号叫：Janus，Janus，又译作杰纳斯，他可是古罗马人的门神，不是我们贴在自家门上的那种神荼郁垒，而是古罗马人树立在城市门口作为保佑出门的旅人和出征得将士的巨神。他掌管门户出入与水陆交通，最可怕的是他有两张脸，所以现在医学上，又用它作为双面联体的名词，这两张脸不是为了吓人长得，他们各有用处，一张看过去，一张看未来，微软使用janus作为开发代号，可能就是是想从他这里取个“承前启后”的好口彩吧。
后面的windows95和Windows98的代号分别是Chicago (芝加哥)和Memphis (曼菲斯)，我想没什么好说的，都是美国的城市，哪位要是知道有什么“八卦”，不妨补充一下。
开发完了Windows98，微软当时还计划在Windows 98之后开发代号为“Neptune”（尼普顿，海神，相当于希腊神话的波塞冬）的操作系统，不过微软很快转到了NT的开发上，所以我们看到上面的Windows2000的开发代号是莫须有的NT5。其实微软曾经想用代号为“Odyssey”（奥德赛）的“继任OS”继承Windows 2000。在这里我们可以看出来了，原来的Janus和Neptune都不光光是神的名字，美国人喜好航天探险，尤其是很多IT人士。Janus是土卫十，而Neptune自然是海王星了，这个Odyssey不仅是古希腊的航海英雄，而且还是一部很著名的科幻小说，来自同步卫星之父的阿瑟·克拉克的同名作品《2001太空奥德赛》，象征这人类走向太阳系外的远航，这部小说后来被大导演库布里克改编成了传世的电影。估计微软是嫌海王星外的冥王星和彗星都不吉利，想了这么一个名字。不过过，“Odyssey”和“Neptune”的开发成果最终都被并入到了Windows XP中。而Windows XP Media Center Edition也有一个蕴味十足的开发代号，叫做“Freestyle”——自由式。
我们说到Windows XP，就会想到Whistler，虽然它的图标确实是个“吹口哨的人”，就像Longhorn的图标是一个长角牛头一样（据说这个创意来自毕加索那个烂人的雕塑“牛”——就一个自行车把插在一个自行车座上，我看确实如此！），但是无论口哨奏者还是长角都不是他们本来的意思。他们的本来意思是什么呢？等一下。
卖个关子先，虽然Vista还没发布，让我们先展望一下未来的Windows，根据网上的情报，下一代正在开发中的Windows的代号叫Blackcomb，黑色梳子....-___-b这都什么名字啊，哈哈，不要紧。让我们上Google去google一下"Whistler Blackcomb"，发现了没？这竟然是一个滑雪胜地！这个秘密我原来怎么也没发现（虽然早就听说过Blackcomb的大名），上次一个微软的工程师来我们学校讲座的时候拖着他问了这个问题，他才笑着告诉我们这个小隐情。
原来Whistler Blackcomb是位于加拿大的一个滑雪胜地，从微软总部所在地西雅图驱车几个小时就能到，自然微软总部那帮流氓经常去那儿Happy了。所以索性就把这两座紧挨的滑雪名山作了两个相连的Windows的开发代号，于是Whistler安然的变成了WindowsXP跑到了我们的电脑上，而微软也放弃了NT命名法，Windows 2003 Server的代号就叫 Whistler Server。可是Blackcomb呢？BlackComb本来是作为Windows XP的下一代系统进行研发的，也就是说本来Blackcomb应该是现在的Vista，可是由于一些政治上的和商业上的原因，迟迟不能就位，为了不使产品线中断，微软只好先拿出一个过渡版本。这个过渡版本叫什么呢？我们都知道，就是Longhrorn。Longhorn其实是个小驿站的名字，那个微软的工程师说，“小的很，只是个供过路的人歇脚的地方”，那为什么他会跻身大山之列？很简单，因为它就在从whistler雪山到blackcomb雪山的必经之路上。
呵呵，卖了半天关子，玄机其实没什么。好了，微软历代Windows的开发代号的八卦到此为止，还是让我们一起期待Vista正式版的发布吧。
更详细的请看这里:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Microsoft_codenames
The most familiar Windows codename to us is probably Longhorn. The codename is used to name Windows during the pre-beta development stage, equivalent to the "nickname" of Windows.
This is a list of previous Windows release versions and their codenames:
┏━━━━━━━━━━━━┳━━━━━━┳━━━━━┓
┃Codename ┃ Windows ┃ Version ┃
┣━━━━━━━━━━━━╋━━━━━━╋━━━━━┫
┃Janus (希腊两面神) ┃3.1 ┃3.1 ┃
┃Chicago (芝加哥) ┃95 ┃4.0 ┃
┃Memphis (曼菲斯) ┃98 ┃4.1 ┃
┃Millennium (千禧年) ┃ME ┃4.9.3000 ┃
┃NT5 (听说这并不是真的) ┃2000 ┃5.0.2195 ┃
┃Whistler (维斯勒) ┃XP ┃5.1.2600 ┃
┃Whistler Server ┃Sever 2003 ┃5.2.3700 ┃
┃Longhorn (长牛角) ┃Vista ┃6.0 (估计)┃
┗━━━━━━━━━━━━┻━━━━━━┻━━━━━┛
Windows Pre-9x:
===============
Windows 1.x (Codename: Inerface Manager)
Windows 3.1 (Codename: Janus)
Windows For Workgroups 3.11(Codename: Snowball)
Windows 9x:
===========
Windows 95 (Codename: Chicago)
Windows 96 (Codename: Nashville)
Windows 97 (Codename: Detroit)
Windows 98 First/Second Edition (Codename: Memphis)
Windows Millenneum Edition (Codename: Georgia)
Windows NT:
===========
Windows NT 3.1 (Codename: OS/2 3.0)
Windows NT 3.5 (Codename: Daytona)
Windows NT 4.0 (Codename: Cairo、SUR)
Windows NT 5.0 (Windows 2000) (Codename: NONE)
Windows NT 5.1 (Windows XP) (Codename: Whistler)
Windows NT 5.2 (Windows Server 2003) (Codename: Whistler; .NET)
Windows NT 6.0 (WindowsVista)(Codename: Longhorn)
Some people might ask: What about Windows 1? That's because the person who made this list thinks the real Windows started from version 3.1, and the previous ones can only be regarded as GUI programs under DOS, heh, it's indeed like that.
We see that the codename of Windows 3.1 is: Janus, Janus, also translated as Janus, he is the door god of the ancient Romans, not the Shenshu Yulei we paste on our own doors, but the huge god set up at the city gates by the ancient Romans to bless travelers going out and soldiers going on a campaign. He is in charge of the entry and exit of doors and water and land transportation. The most terrifying thing is he has two faces, so now in medicine, it is used as the noun of double联体, these two faces are not for scaring people, they each have uses, one looks forward, one looks to the future. Microsoft using Janus as the codename, probably just wanting to take a good omen of "carrying forward and opening up" from him.
The codenames of the following Windows 95 and Windows 98 are Chicago (Chicago) and Memphis (Memphis) respectively, I think there's nothing much to say, both are cities in the US. If anyone knows any "gossip", feel free to add.
After developing Windows 98, Microsoft originally planned to develop an operating system with the codename "Neptune" (Neptune, god of the sea, equivalent to Poseidon in Greek mythology) after Windows 98, but Microsoft quickly shifted to the development of NT, so we see that the codename of the above Windows 2000 is the imaginary NT5. Actually Microsoft once wanted to use the codename "Odyssey" (Odyssey is both the name of the ancient Greek navigation hero and a very famous science fiction novel, from the eponymous work "2001: A Space Odyssey" by Arthur Clarke, the father of synchronous satellites, symbolizing human's voyage to beyond the solar system, this novel was later adapted into a timeless movie by the great director Kubrick. Estimated Microsoft thought Pluto and comets beyond Neptune were unlucky, so thought of such a name. However, the development results of "Odyssey" and "Neptune" were eventually incorporated into Windows XP. And Windows XP Media Center Edition also has a very meaningful codename, called "Freestyle" - free style.
When we talk about Windows XP, we will think of Whistler, although its icon is indeed a "whistling person", just like the icon of Longhorn is a long-horned ox head (it is said this creative idea comes from the sculpture "Ox" by that bad Picasso guy - just a bicycle handlebar inserted in a bicycle seat, I do think so!), but whether the whistler or the long horn are not their original meanings. What are their original meanings? Wait a minute.
Leave a suspense first, although Vista hasn't been released, let's first look forward to the future Windows. According to online information, the codename of the next developing Windows is called Blackcomb, black comb....-___-b What kind of names these are, ha ha, never mind. Let's go to Google to google "Whistler Blackcomb", did you find? This is actually a skiing resort! I never found this secret before (although I had long heard of the great name of Blackcomb). Last time when an engineer from Microsoft gave a lecture in our school, I dragged him to ask this question, he just smiled and told us this little inside story.
Originally Whistler Blackcomb is a skiing resort in Canada, it's a few hours' drive from the Seattle where Microsoft's headquarters are located, naturally those rascals in Microsoft's headquarters often go there to have fun. So they simply took these two adjacent skiing mountains as the codenames of two connected Windows, so Whistler safely became Windows XP running on our computers, and Microsoft also gave up the NT naming method, the codename of Windows 2003 Server is called Whistler Server. But what about Blackcomb? BlackComb was originally developed as the next generation system of Windows XP, that is to say originally Blackcomb should be the current Vista, but due to some political and commercial reasons, it has been delayed to be in place. In order not to make the product line interrupted, Microsoft had to take out a transitional version first. What is this transitional version called? We all know, it's Longhrorn. Longhorn is actually the name of a small post, that engineer from Microsoft said, "very small, just a place for passers-by to rest", then why does it get into the mountain ranks? Very simple, because it is on the only way from Whistler Snow Mountain to Blackcomb Snow Mountain.
Heh, left a lot of suspense, the mystery actually has nothing. Well, the gossip of the codenames of Microsoft's previous Windows ends here, let's together look forward to the official release of Vista.
For more details, please see here:
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Microsoft_codenames