A (Microsoft) code name a day: G2
Even though more and more teams at Microsoft seem to be shying away from christening their fledgling products with good, old-fashioned code names – favoring the ever-so-boring “V.Next” designation instead -- there are still some who are doing so.
Microsoft code names always have piqued my interest. They offer some great clues about the Redmondians’ development priorities, not to mention a better understanding of which future Microsoft products fit together, from a strategy standpoint.
Microsoft
code name
of the day:
G2
In honor of Microsoft code-name junkies everywhere, I’m going to feature one, random Microsoft code name per work day for the rest of this month. I’ll provide as much information as I’ve been able to unearth on each, and attempt to provide some context as to how the team chose the name and how the forthcoming technology fits into the Redmond product hierarchy.
Microsoft code name of the day: G2
Best guess on what it is: Windows Live Messenger Mobile client for Windows Mobile devices (Yikes. Bring on the naming police!)
Meaning/context of the code name: There are lots of different meanings of "G2." My bet for this one? "Intelligence gathered from the field or customers" or "military intelligence." Makes sense, given this is an instant-messaging product (and one of the successors to MSN Messenger).
Back story: Microsoft is beta testing (and promising to be beta testing soon) a number of different Windows Live mobile services. G2 is just one of these. The LiveSide.net guys say the G2 service is in private beta only at this point. There is a public Microsoft site that is a placeholder for the forthcoming beta, however.
Additional info: Among the new features in G2, again, according to LiveSide, are "nudges" (your mobile device vibrates), support for voiceclips, file transfer capability and phonebook integration with Windows Live Contacts.
Anyone have more G2 on "G2"? Or do you have another Microsoft code name you’ve been wondering about? Send it my way and I’ll do my best to track down some leads on what it might be.
And if you want to keep track of the full month's worth of Microsoft code names I end up posting, bookmark this "Microsoft Codenames" page.