Project Rouge? Sounds like Seven Business Edition

By Daniel Rubino
last updated

Flashback 2008...

MaryJo Foley of ZDNet is continuing her Microsoft "code name of the day" contest, which seems really kind of fun and a neat way to gather info. Well, today's entry is "Rouge."

Rouge? Pink?  Sound related?  She thinks so. Using info that she's gathered she states: 

Best guess on what it is: Microsoft’s business-focused premium mobile servicesMeaning/context of the codename: Rouge sounds like the business-side complement to Pink, Microsoft’s forthcoming family of consumer-focused premium mobile services.

Basically, Rouge was meant to beef up Microsoft's "... family of Office Communications Server, its corporate instant-messaging/VOIP/conferencing product."

Call us crazy, but that sounds like the sort of thing we heard described to us about Seven Business Edition, with real-time document editing between multiple sources.

So is there a code-name for the supposed Media Edition?  What do you get when you combine Pink and Rouge?  How about Project Awesome.

[via ZDNet]

Daniel Rubino
Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central, head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007 when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and for some reason, watches. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.

6 Comments
  • Wow, I forgot about that article from August 25th, 2008. It's just so hard to guage what will happen between her work, your work, tweets (especially from neowin and zunethoughts after Mobius 2009), MS Research, the execs themselves and job postings. oy! But I've become interested again lately about how J Alard fits into all this. lol It could be a better idea to have 1 os that can be customized via installed apps geared towards biz or media.
  • "But I've become interested again lately about how J Alard fits into all this. lol" Unfortunately, I don't think he has much of a role at all as he was moved to the "Courier" project. From what I remember, he wanted to put WinMo *under* Zune, not the other way around. Still, it would have been interesting to see what he would have done, that's for sure.
  • I would agree, but the problem with that thinking is that there were some interesting bits in job posting over the last year or so. As you are, I've been obsessed over job postings and Microsoft Research info forever. Over the last year, you would have found postings for Pioneer Studios and Alchemy Ventures withing the MS fortress. People think J Allard (y'know Chief Tech Officer lol) has heavy involvement with Courier within Pioneer Ventures. But there's also rumors that he's heavily involved with Alchemy Ventures as well. Both are the "SkunkWorks" units at MS. So is it possible that he's involved with more than just one project? Is it possible the the mobile listings for both pioneer and alchemy last year were separate projects?
  • I think WM7 will be like that exactly, the business version will have more business related apps/gadgets/services front and center or just turned on, while the media version (zune phone if you will?) will have the media and social networking services/apps front and center on the UI. We'll have to wait and see if MS does brand it's own Zune Phone or if they just let their partners use it on their own media devices. Or will partners just get the business, more beefed up, version to play with? That's the big question right now.
  • well, some of the ninnies who fouled up winmo so amazingly moved to novell a year ago. prolly being smart and getting nothing done there now too.
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