Windows Springfield

Windows Springfield was the codename for a cancelled version of windows planned to be released in 1997, between Windows 95 and Windows 98. This has lead people to call it Windows 97, which possibly could of been its final name if development was not canceled. There are only 8 builds leaked, though more most likely exist or existed at one point in development. It seems that Springfield was cancelled around 3-4 months into its development for unknown reasons, although its rumored to have been due to more focus on Windows 98 development (called Memphis at the time). Springfield was not going to be NT based, but instead be a DOS based operating system, part of the Windows 9x series.

History
After Nashville's Early 1996 Cancellation, Microsoft started work on another version of windows, being developed at the same time as Windows Memphis (Later Renamed to Windows 98). Its codename was Springfield, and the reason why was because Springfield was planned to be a intermediate release of Windows, meaning it would be bigger than a minor windows release, but smaller than a major one. Another reason for the name was because Windows 95 was codenamed Chicago, after the largest city in Illinois, while Springfield was named after Springfield, Illinois, one the larger cities in Illinois, but not the biggest, fitting with the theme that Springfield would be an intermediate release, unlike the major release Chicago was. From what is known, development seems to have been started sometime in May 1996. Over the next 3-4 months, development was done, until sometime in September of 1996, when development ceased on Springfield and it was canceled. The earliest evidence of Springfield comes from an April 1996 Microsoft Confidential Document, discussing possible names for the next Windows Version after Windows 95, one of which being Springfield, which was ultimately chosen out of the names (Since this was before Memphis development started in Late 1996). One idea for why Springfield was cancelled was because Windows 98 needed more developers to work on it and Microsoft decided to take the development team from Springfield and put them into the Memphis Development Team, causing Springfield to get cancelled entirely. While this makes sense, there is no evidence to support this idea, so it remains unknown as to why it was cancelled not that long after development started. The Kernel Number for leaked builds is 4.05, which does prove that it was going to be released between Windows 95 (Kernel Number 4.00) and Windows 98 (Kernel Number 4.10). Also from the documents, it was planned for Springfield to have several service packs released over the next few years after its release.

Known/Leaked Builds
The image for Build 1101 is a placeholder.

Unleaked Builds (That could of existed)

 * Pre-1101 Builds (Sometime in May 1996)
 * Builds 1102 - 1110 (Would've been compiled between 05-29-1996 and 06-10-1996)
 * Builds 1112 - 1123 (Would've been compiled between 06-12-1996 and 06-22-1996)
 * Builds 1125 - 1155 (Would've been compiled between 06-24-1996 and 07-13-1996)
 * Builds 1157 - 1168 (Would've been compiled between 07-15-1996 and 08-02-1996)
 * Builds 1170 - 1183 (Would've been compiled between 08-04-1996 and 08-12-1996)
 * Builds 1185 - 1202 (Would've been compiled between 08-14-1996 and 08-28-1996)
 * Builds 1204 - 1234 (Would've been compiled between 08-30-1996 and 09-04-1996)
 * Post-1235 Builds (Sometime in September 1996)

Timeline

 * Early May 1996: Development on Springfield is started
 * May 28, 1996: Springfield Build 1101 is compiled
 * June 11, 1996: Springfield Build 1111 is compiled
 * June 23, 1996: Springfield Build 1124 is compiled sometime on this date (from the conversation)
 * July 14, 1996: Springfield Build 1156 is compiled
 * This is not complete, i will add more

Trivia

 * The Windows Logo for Springfield, is similar to the one used for the boot screen in Windows Whistler Beta 1 (In which the windows logo was also white)