Windows Neptune

Neptune was the codename for an unreleased version of Windows. It identifies as NT 5.5, and was intended to be the first consumer version of Windows NT. The project, however, was scrapped together with Odyssey, which was the planned next major version that would succeed Neptune, and replaced with Whistler. As of 2020, only one build has leaked, but others may exist.

Major enhancements were planned to ship with Neptune, such as Activity Centers, which were HTML and JavaScript-based applications meant to replace Win32 apps. A new log-on screen was also developed that would later resurface in Whistler. Early builds of Millenium reused files and resources from Neptune; the purpose of these files being to help bridge the gap between NT and the 9x kernel. A lot of these features were reportedly reminiscent of Metro in Windows 8.

According to antitrust documents, a minor update to Neptune called Triton was planned to be released 12 months after the initial release of Neptune in 2001-03 presumably to bridge the gap between Neptune and Odyssey.