A (Microsoft) code name a day: Sedna
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:
Sedna
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: Sedna
Best guess on what it is: Add-ons to Visual FoxPro (VFP) 9.0 that will enable integration with Visual Studio 2005, SQL Server 2005 and Windows Vista
Meaning/context of the code name: The VFP add-ons take their name from the trans-plutonian planet Sedna, which is named after the Inuit goddess of the sea. VFP 9.0 was code-named "Europa," the sixth of Jupiter's known satellites.
Back story: In spite of Microsoft's plans to phase out VFP support by 2010, there remains a vibrant and vocal VFP user community that is still committed to using their favorite data-centric programming language. A number of VFP enthusiasts also are working on a parallel project, known as VFPX, or "SednaX," dedicated to developing open-source extensions to Sedna.
Additional info: Microsoft has released a couple of Community Technology Preview (CTP) test builds of Sedna this year. Last time I checked, Sedna was due out in the first half of 2007. Based on some of the tester feedback I've seen, I'm betting the final release date could slip to later next year.
Anyone have more details to share on "Sedna"? 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.