Contoso

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contoso is a fictional company used by Microsoft as their example company and domain (www.contoso.com) in almost all literature. The domain is registered by Microsoft and redirects to their company homepage.

It is also used in Microsoft's Windows SharePoint Services product as the example company in the intranet.

Billboards for the fictitious company appear in Chapter 3, the New York City level, of Ninja Gaiden II.

The story behind Contoso and the company it represents is told here.

[edit] Other example Microsoft companies

In Microsoft Access, an example company called Northwind Traders is used to demonstrate database capabilities.

In Internet Explorer 7 beta trials, Woodgrove Bank (www.woodgrovebank.com) was used as an example bank to demonstrate the new high-assurance certificates supported by the browser.

In Microsoft CRM training material, a bicycle company called AdventureWorks is used as an example of a company that deployed Microsoft CRM. Microsoft SQL Server example databases are also based around AdventureWorks.