There are few secrets in the technology world, but there are plenty of code names. Before marketers can step in and brand a product, programmers and project managers get to name their creations.
In rare instances, a code name can become the actual name of the product. To show what an unpopular choice Xbox would be with consumers, Microsoft’s marketing team put it on the list of names that it focus-grouped. Xbox won by a landslide.
Code names are usually not representative of product function. If they were, we’d have a virtual zoo (think Ubuntu’s Karmic Koala, Lucid Lynx, and Maverick Meerkat, as well as Apple’s Jaguar, Panther, Snow Leopard, and Lion) instead of OS releases.
Code names can also serve a very spy-like purpose: They can “out†leakers. Assigning multiple code names to a project and selecting those they’re shared with has proven effective. There are times when that method fails, though. Some believe Apple tried to use this tactic in 2006 when it never released a project code-named "Asteroid" but sued the two sites that published the leak in an attempt to get them to name the leakers. Not only did Apple lose, it paid the $700,000 in legal fees the sites incurred.
When it comes to code names, Apple’s got a few juicy tales, including a particular code name that caught Carl Sagan's attention. Read our story to find out more about some of the most infamous code names in the tech industry.