List of fictitious company names used by Microsoft

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Microsoft uses a number of fictitious company names, sometimes with associated domain names and employees, in order to demonstrate its products and services. This has been noted in various Microsoft documentation[1] and at least one employee blog.[2]

See also the more general List of fictional companies.

[edit] Example Companies

A. Datum Corporation

A fictitious company used in MCAC/MCSD training materials.

Awesome Computers

Awesome Computers is a fictitious company used in Microsoft Server product documentation.[3]

Adventure Works Cycles

This is a fictitious company used in Microsoft SQL Server 2005,SQL Server Reporting Services 2000 and Microsoft CRM to demonstrate the software's capabilities.[4] The name Adventure Works was also used in some versions of Microsoft Works.
The domain name www.adventure-works.com redirects to Microsoft's website.

Coho Winery

Used as an example in their Small Business Server 2003 documentation. The domain cohowinery.com is registered by Microsoft and redirects to their company homepage.

Contoso

Used by Microsoft as their primary example company and domain (www.contoso.com) in most literature. The domain is registered by Microsoft and redirects to their company homepage.
  • It is used in Microsoft's Windows SharePoint Services product as the example company in the intranet.
  • Contoso is used in a product demonstration for Word 2007.
  • Contoso was also featured in a Microsoft demonstration video for User Account Control in the Windows Vista operating system. [5]
  • It is used in the Microsoft Commerce Server Resource Kit. [6]
  • Microsoft also used Contoso in Microsoft Outlook 2007. When a person sets up a new account, it says "Barbara Sankovic" as the example for name and "barbara@contoso.com" for the email address example.
  • Contoso is used heavily in the training for most MCP tests, along with Fabrikam, Adventure Works, and Northwind Traders.
  • The Contoso company has been used in an example phishing page, found here, to display Internet Explorer 7's anti-phishing capabilities.
  • One fictional story behind Contoso, the company it represents, and an example case study can be found here.

Fabrikam

A fictitious company used in Microsoft Office to demonstrate workgroup features. It is also used as the default OEM name in Windows XP.
Fabrikam has also recently been used to demonstrate Microsoft Expression Interactive Designer in the context of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) applications.
Fabrikam is also the example company in Microsoft's Groove 2007 product demo.
The domain name www.fabrikam.com redirects to Microsoft's website.

Fourthcoffee

The domain name fourthcoffee.com is used in some literature and redirects to Microsoft's website.

Humongous Insurance

A fictitious company used in MCAC/MCSD training materials. There are real companies called Humongous, but presumably not an insurance company.

LitWare, Inc.

The domain names www.litware.com and www.litwareinc.com point to Microsoft's website.

Lucerne Publishing

The domain name www.lucernepublishing.com can be found in MCSE/MCSA training books published by Microsoft Press.

Northridge Video

A fictitious company found in MCSE/MCSA training books.

Northwind Traders

A fictitious company used in Microsoft Access and Microsoft SQL Server to demonstrate database software capabilities.

Some examples in ISA Server also point to Northwind site.

The domain name www.northwindtraders.com redirects to Microsoft's website.

ProseWare

A fictious software development company used as an example in Microsoft's MCSE exams. Located in Sacramento, California, ProseWare produces software for the publishing industry and was recently purchased by competitor LitWare, Inc. The newly merged company is also called LitWare, Inc.
The domain name www.proseware.com redirects to Microsoft's website.

Tailspin Toys

Appears in C# samples and Active Directory materials. Also used as a sample database in Microsoft Retail Management System (formerly QuickSell).
The domain name www.tailspintoys.com points to Microsoft's website.

Trey Research Inc.

A fictitious company used in MCAC/MCSD training materials.

Wingtip Toys

An example company used to test Windows Live Local. The domain name www.wingtiptoys.com points to Microsoft's website.

Woodgrove Bank

An example bank in Internet Explorer 7 beta trials to demonstrate the new high-assurance certificates supported by the browser. Accordingly, (www.woodgrovebank.com) is a mock-up of a bank website.

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Microsoft Windows SDK, retrieved 13 Oct 2006. "Unless otherwise noted, the example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places and events depicted herein are fictitious..."
  2. ^ The Old New Thing, retrieved 13 Oct 2006.
  3. ^ "[T]he fictitious company Awesome Computers, which is used for many of the examples in this documentation ..." Microsoft TechNet, retrieved 13 Oct 2006.
  4. ^ SQL Server 2005 Books Online, begins the 'Adventure Works Cycles Business Scenarios' section with, "Adventure Works Cycles, the fictitious company ..." and includes a disclaimer that "The example companies, organizations, products, domain names, e-mail addresses, logos, people, places, and events depicted herein are fictitious. No association with any real company, organization, product, domain name, e-mail address, logo, person, places, or events is intended or should be inferred."
  5. ^ MSDN's User Account Control blog
  6. ^ Ch. 2, A Retail Scenario, retrieved 13 Oct 2006.
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