Project code name

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A project code name is a code name (usually a single word, short phrase or acronym) which is given to a project being developed by industry, academia, government, and other concerns.

1 Reasons for a project code name
2 Well-known project code names
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] Reasons for a project code name

Project code names are typically used for several reasons:

To uniquely identify the project within the organization. Code names are frequently chosen to be outside the normal business/domain jargon that the organization uses, in order to not conflict with established terminology.
To assist with maintaining secrecy of the project against rival concerns. Some corporations routinely change project names in order to further confuse competitors.
When the goal of the project is to develop one or more commercial products, use of a code name allows the eventual choice of product nomenclature (the name the product(s) are marketed and sold under) to be decoupled from the development effort. This is especially important when one project generates multiple products, or multiple projects are needed to produce a single product.0This allows for subprojects to be given a separate identity from the main project.
As a political tool by management, to decouple an early phase of a development effort (which may have failed) from a subsequent phase (which may be given a "fresh start").
To prevent casual observers from concluding that a pre-release version is a new release of the product, thus helping reduce confusion.

Different organizations have different policies regarding the use and publication of project code names. Some companies take great pains to never discuss or disclose project code names outside of the company (other than with outside entities who have a need to know, and typically are bound with a non-disclosure agreement). Other companies never use them in official or formal communications, but widely disseminate project code names through informal channels (often in an attempt to create a marketing "buzz" for the project). Still others (such as Microsoft) discuss code names publicly, and routinely use project code names on beta releases and such, but remove them from final product(s). At the other end of the spectrum, Apple Computer has recently been including the project code names for Mac OS X as part of the official product name.

[edit] Well-known project code names

Microsoft often names projects (in particular, versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems) after place names. Examples include Chicago (Windows 95), Daytona (Windows NT 3.5), Longhorn (Windows Vista), Memphis (Windows 98), Whistler (Windows XP), Cairo (originally thought to be Windows NT 4.0, though many observers now believe that Cairo never turned into a project), and Xenon (Xbox 360). See Microsoft codenames.

Intel often names CPU projects after rivers in the American West, particularly in the state of Oregon (where most of Intel's CPU projects are designed). Examples include Willamette, Deschutes, Yamhill, Tualatin, and Clackamas.

Apple Computer has named the various major releases of Mac OS X after big cats, such as Jaguar, Tiger, Panther and Leopard. Also a redesign of Mac OS had the code name Copland, after composer Aaron Copland.
- Apple got into a legal battle in 1993 with the late astronomer Carl Sagan, when Mr. Sagan objected (via his lawyers) to a project within Apple with the code name Carl Sagan (apparently chosen under the belief that it would earn Apple "billion and billions" of dollars). The project was renamed BHA (short for "Butt-head Astronomer"). Sagan sued Apple for libel, claiming that the pejorative "Butt-head" was defamatory, and lost.

Nintendo often uses code names for new consoles. The best-known is that of Wii, which was codenamed Revolution for over a year. Others include the GameCube's codename of Dolphin, the Game Boy Advance's code name of "Atlantis," the Nintendo 64 as Project Reality, the DS codename Project Nitro, and the Game Boy Micro codename Oxy.

The United States government referred to the project to develop the atomic bomb as the Manhattan Project; the A-bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki were respectively known as Little Boy and Fat Man.