Windows XP was born when two failed projects merged
By early 2000 Microsoft had two operating systems in the works, one for homes and one for offices, and both had grown too ambitious. It scrapped them for a single project called Whistler, named after a ski resort many employees used. That project became Windows XP, released in October 2001 and supported until 2014.
The home project, Neptune, was meant to move consumers off the ageing MS-DOS foundations of Windows 98, while Odyssey was to follow Windows 2000 for business. Technology writer Paul Thurrott reported that Neptune had become a dumping ground for features cut from Windows Me. Since both would share one codebase, Microsoft merged them. The result was the first consumer Windows built on the sturdier NT kernel rather than DOS.
Whistler took its name from Whistler-Blackcomb in British Columbia, and in February 2001 became Windows XP, the letters standing for experience. Microsoft planned at least $1 billion of marketing with Intel and PC makers. The slogan Prepare to Fly was dropped after the September 11 attacks in favour of Yes You Can. At the August 2001 sign-off event, copies of the final build were handed to PC makers in briefcases, and their representatives left in decorated helicopters.
Users met a softer look with drop shadows and colourful themes, sharper text on flat screens thanks to ClearType, and a two-column Start menu. The default wallpaper, Bliss, was a photo of green hills near Napa, California. Several people could stay logged in at once, and faulty driver updates could be rolled back. XP also introduced product activation: an unactivated copy stopped working after 30 days.
Critics praised it as far faster and steadier than Windows Me. Mainstream support ended in April 2009 and extended support in April 2014, though one embedded version kept receiving updates until 2019.
Source: Windows XP
