Microsoft drops more new codenames, including another 'Mojave'

Microsoft used this week's Professional Developers Conference to flesh out a bunch of codenames that had been circulating for the past several months -- everything from "Red Dog," to "Geneva," to  "Zurich." At the Los Angeles confab, the company also introduced a few brand-new codenames.

Among those that have caught my eye so far:

Anchorage: "Anchorage" is Microsoft SyncToy Version 2, which will be part of Sync Framework Version 2. Anchorage was mentioned during a PDC presentation on the Sync Framework Version 2 release. (There was some recent confusion as to Microsoft's Sync Framework release schedule, as the Redmondians rolled out two different Sync Framework releases labeled as "Version 1.")

Microsoft released a first Community Technology Preview (CTP) build of Sync Framework Version 2 on October 28. Version 2 sounds like it will include more providers and simplify how developers interact with the framework.

Huron: "Huron" is a "cloud-based data hub" that is another of Microsoft's newly unveiled SQL Services Labs projects.  Huron relies on the Sync Framework and SQL Services (formerly known as SQL Server Data Services) to publish databases, reports, forms and objects to the cloud, back-up and restore database apps to the cloud, and more. No word on when or exactly how Microsoft plans to commercialize Huron.

Mojave: Yes, we all know about the "Mojave" release of Windows Vista that was part of the company's marketing plan, designed to prove that users hated Vista because of its reputation more than its actual feature set. But there's another Microsoft "Mojave" that has nothing to do with Windows. This is the "Mojave" release of Microsoft Commerce Server, which the company detailed at the PDC this week.The Commerce Server Mojave release includes a "multi-channel" foundation, out of the box shopping (with Live and SharePoint integration, and an Office-like interface. Commerce Server Mojave has been out in CTP test-build form since August of this year. The final version is due out in Q1 2009. (The next two versions of Commerce Server are on the books, too: One for late 2009 or early 2010, and another for late 2010/early 2011.)

Paris: "Paris" is part of Microsoft's Office Communications Server family of products. Microsoft is in the midst of private testing of Office Communications Server Release 2 (R2), the next version of its integrated VOIP/conferencing/instant messaging product for business users -- the final release of which is due in late 2008 or early 2009. But Paris seems to be a new set of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) and Silverlight controls and programming interfaces that will be integrated into OCS Version "Next," which is part of the Office 14 wave (and thus due in either late 2009 or 2010).