A (Microsoft) Codename a day: Rouge
As I announced last week, I'm holding a short but sweet Microsoft codename contest this week, with the prize being a free signed copy of my Microsoft 2.0 book (which I will ship anywhere in the world to the winner).
Since I announced the rules and regulations, I've gotten more than a few interesting submissions. I was seeking from readers new (but real and existing) Microsoft codenames which I've had yet to detail as part of my growing Microsoft Codename list. I will be running some of the best ones (as judged by yours truly) on my blog this week.
Without further ado, let's get to it. Codename of the day: Rouge Best guess on what it is: Microsoft's business-focused premium mobile services
Meaning/context of the codename: Rouge sounds like the business-side complement to Pink, Microsoft's forthcoming family of consumer-focused premium mobile services.
Back story: First, there was Pink (and Purple?). Pink is expected to include and build upon some of the consumer mobile services from Danger Inc., the developer of the services that power the Sidekick. (Danger's services include social-networking, real-time mobile messaging, browsing and personal-information offerings.) Then came Rouge, the business-oriented mobile services that seem tied in with Microsoft's family of Office Communications Server, its corporate instant-messaging/VOIP/conferencing product.
Currently, there isn't really a mobile-services component to OCS. (Office Communicator Phone Edition, Microsoft's business IM client for handhelds, is the closest thing to one.) Rouge sounds like OCS services for mobile platforms (Windows Mobile, to start; maybe third-party competitive ones at some point.)
Additional info: In the same way that there is some kind of connection between "Echoes," Microsoft's telco-focused services platform, and Pink, so, too, is there an Echoes-Rouge connection, sources say.
Got a Microsoft code name you’ve been wondering about? Send it my way before the end of this week and you just might win my end-of-summer codename contest. There's still time to submit entries. (Winners names will be kept confidential unless they want them publicized. So don't be shy: Microsoft employees, customers, partners, competitors and others are all eligible!)
Meanwhile, 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.