Windows Nashville

Nashville

Version of the Windows 9x operating system
Microsoft "Nashville" 4.10.999 desktop, with Athena PIM, Start Menu, My Computer and System Properties open
Developer	Microsoft
Working state	Historic, never released
Source model	Closed source
Latest preview	4.10.999 / 1996
Kernel type	Windows 9x
License	Commercial software
Preceded by	Windows 95 (1995)
Succeeded by	Windows 98 (1998)
Official website	www.microsoft.com
Support status
Cancelled in 1996

Nashville (previously Cleveland),^[1] popularly known as Windows 96 by contemporary press, was the codename for a cancelled release of Microsoft Windows scheduled to be released in 1996,^[2] between "Chicago" (Windows 95) and "Memphis" (Windows 98, at the time scheduled for release in 1996,^[3] later 1997).^[4] Nashville was intended to be a minor release^[5] focusing on a tighter integration between Windows and Internet Explorer, in order to better compete with Netscape Navigator.^[6]

Microsoft claimed that Nashville would add Internet integration features to the Windows 95 and NT 4.0 desktop, building on the new features in the Internet Explorer 3.0 web browser (due for release a few months before Nashville).^[7] Touted features included a combined file manager and web browser, the ability to seamlessly open Microsoft Office documents from within Internet Explorer using ActiveX technology and a way to place dynamic web pages directly on the desktop in place of the regular static wallpaper.

A leaked build had version number 4.10.999 (in comparison to Windows 95's 4.00.950, Windows 95 OSR2's 4.00.1111, Windows 98's 4.10.1998, Windows 98 Second Edition's 4.10.2222 A, and Windows ME's 4.90.3000). The project was eventually cancelled as a full release of Windows, with Windows 95 OSR2 being shipped as an interim release instead. The codename "Nashville" was then reused for the Windows Desktop Update that shipped with Internet Explorer 4.0^[8] and delivered most of the features promised for Nashville. The Athena PIM application would be released as Microsoft Internet Mail and News in 1996 along with IE3, which would later be renamed to Outlook Express in 1997 with IE4.

• List of Microsoft codenames

Microsoft confidential

• Comes v. Microsoft. Plaintiff's Exhibit 2013: "Desktop Operating Systems Mission—Draft". Microsoft Confidential (February 4, 1994).
• Comes v. Microsoft. Plaintiff's Exhibit 3208: "Desktop Operating Systems Mission Memo". Microsoft Confidential.
• Comes v. Microsoft. Plaintiff's Exhibit 5648: "Systems Three Year Plan". Microsoft Confidential (April 1994).
• Comes v. Microsoft. Plaintiff's Exhibit 2247: "Personal Systems Division 3 Yr Outlook". Microsoft Confidential (February 28, 1995).
• Comes v. Microsoft. Plaintiff's Exhibit 5735: Microsoft Confidential (October 25, 1995).
• Comes v. Microsoft. Plaintiff's Exhibit 2667: (March 10, 1997)

Articles

• Miller, Michael J. (24 October 1995). "Beyond Windows 95". PC Magazine. pp. 75–76.
• Honeyball, Jon (June 1996). "The Road to Cairo Goes Through Nashville". Windows IT Pro.

Other

• Schnoll, Scott. "The History of Microsoft Internet Explorer Archived 2011-07-22 at the Wayback Machine".

• Windows Nashville (build 999) on the Internet Archive