Windows Neptune Build Leaks

[marioandsonicfan98]

Has anyone leaked any builds from Windows Neptune that has a build of 5111 or higher?
Thank you.

[johnleakedfan]

There have been fakes of Neptune Builds, Build 5111 is the only confirmed Build that has been Leaked at the Moment

Thank You, JohnLeakedFan

[ReztaNZ]

Take a look at winworldpc, they have Windows Neptune 5111. Any other builds including *genuine* 5056 don't exist online. Always a good place to start if you're new in the beta world

[PivotGuy246]

"There is no such thing as a 5056." - Rebel Teacher from Half-Life 2: Episode Two.

[Overdoze]

There probably was 5056, since there are files with this version clearly labeled as "Microsoft Neptune" in Windows ME build 2380.2. However, this particular copy posted yesterday is fake.

[marioandsonicfan98]

No, I mean like build 5112 or higher or something.

[johnleakedfan]

No, I mean like build 5112 or higher or something.

I kind of cleared it out in the First Post already MarioandSonicFan98

[Overdoze]

No, I mean like build 5112 or higher or something.

Well, 5111.1 is from 11th December 1999. If we consider that 25th December and later weren't working days and that the project was canceled someday in January, there's still enough time for MS to make several builds after 5111.1, including 5111.6. Some possible candidates include 5116 and 5117 (from file versions). Nothing confirmed or leaked though, except 5111.6 which we know exists because a disc of it is kept in MS archives.

[marioandsonicfan98]

No, I mean like build 5112 or higher or something.

Well, 5111.1 is from 11th December 1999. If we consider that 25th December and later weren't working days and that the project was canceled someday in January, there's still enough time for MS to make several builds after 5111.1, including 5111.6. Some possible candidates include 5116 and 5117 (from file versions), and perhaps 5118, 5119 and 5120 (bug reporting page version in Whistler builds). Nothing confirmed or leaked though, except 5111.6 which we know exists because a disc of it is kept in MS archives.

So, Build 5111 is like a release candidate?

[hounsell]

No. To compare it to a project that actually finished, 5111 is probably equivalent to about mid-6500s in Windows 7. It was just cancelled pretty early in development.

[Overdoze]

It's M2 from what we know. The disc of 5111.1 had Neptune_M2 volume label IIRC. So yeah, that's pretty early in development.

EDIT: Also, it seems I mixed up the build numbers in my earlier post. Files from ME 2380.2 that I mentioned are actually versioned 5067.1, not 5056.1 as I claimed. My bad.

[marioandsonicfan98]

What do you think Neptune would looked like?
And also, when would it have been released?

[WindowsCollector2000]

1.) Neptune may have looked like Windows XP, possibly mixed with ME.

2.) According to the release date of the build (December 11, 1999) and the fact that it isn't a release candidate, it's probably late 2000. But then, it could be early 2001 as most versions of Windows have a development of 2 years or more.

[Overdoze]

Hard to say how it would've looked like, since it got canceled so early in development. Assuming that the whole HTML UI thing survived, it could be pretty interesting, kinda like Modern UI on Windows 8 and later I guess. They've had some cool ideas and concepts that weren't reintroduced until years later.

As for release date, here is the document from February 1998 which details the general plan for Neptune and its successor Triton. The release date for Neptune was originally planned for March 2000. However, as you can see, they've pretty much missed that deadline by late 1999, as well as with Windows NT 5.0 (2000) which was supposed to be released in September 1998 (1.5 years earlier). Plus they've later decided to do Windows ME as well (possibly due to Neptune delay?) which took away quite a few things from Neptune. By late 1999, before the whole thing was killed, they've already started removing some of the stuff Neptune was basically all about. So I doubt they'd meet their deadline if the project continued. More likely it'd be released in 2001 I'd say.

[Karzahni]

It'd be cool if the community was able to finish what Microsoft started. Doubt it's possible, but there's unofficial SPs already, and OpenNT (might help)

Maybe Neptune would have looked a little like Whistler. Maybe in between Whistler and XP.

Not sure why I love Neptune so much. I guess it's because its probably the only beta OS that I was able to install and have work out of the box. That was refreshing after the 9x betas with no bootable CD.

[johnleakedfan]

Hard to say how it would've looked like, since it got canceled so early in development. Assuming that the whole HTML UI thing survived, it could be pretty interesting, kinda like Modern UI on Windows 8 and later I guess. They've had some cool ideas and concepts that weren't reintroduced until years later.

As for release date, here is the document from February 1998 which details the general plan for Neptune and its successor Triton. The release date for Neptune was originally planned for March 2000. However, as you can see, they've pretty much missed that deadline by late 1999, as well as with Windows NT 5.0 (2000) which was supposed to be released in September 1998 (1.5 years earlier). Plus they've later decided to do Windows ME as well (possibly due to Neptune delay?) which took away quite a few things from Neptune. By late 1999, before the whole thing was killed, they've already started removing some of the stuff Neptune was basically all about. So I doubt they'd meet their deadline if the project continued. More likely it'd be released in 2001 I'd say.

From What I've Heard, When they Canceled the Neptune and Odyssey Projects and Merged the Teams to make XP, they then had a team to make the 9x Stop-Gap Release "Millennium"

This might be correct, but Not Completely Sure

[Overdoze]

From What I've Heard, When they Canceled the Neptune and Odyssey Projects and Merged the Teams to make XP, they then had a team to make the 9x Stop-Gap Release "Millennium"

This might be correct, but Not Completely Sure

You're wrong. By the time Neptune (and Odyssey) got canceled and Whistler was started to replace it (January 2000), Windows Millennium was already in Beta 2 stage. It's been in active development since summer 1999 at least (I'm guessing Neptune also started at that time), so saying it was started when Neptune was cancelled is not true.

[johnleakedfan]

From What I've Heard, When they Canceled the Neptune and Odyssey Projects and Merged the Teams to make XP, they then had a team to make the 9x Stop-Gap Release "Millennium"

This might be correct, but Not Completely Sure

You're wrong. By the time Neptune (and Odyssey) got canceled and Whistler was started to replace it (January 2000), Windows Millennium was already in Beta 2 stage. It's been in active development since summer 1999 at least (I'm guessing Neptune also started at that time), so saying it was started when Neptune was cancelled is not true.

Thanks For correcting me,

[jdaniel125]

hopefully microsoft kept a few of their rare beta OS'es tucked away in their file servers... we need them so badly

[MrUTB]

You don't need them, you want them, it's different.

[MrFreeman]

hopefully microsoft kept a few of their rare beta OS'es tucked away in their file servers... we need them so badly

We don't need it, but maybe you need some fresh air. Speaking of fresh air.... *logs off, grabs a coat, and goes outside...

[Wheatley]

hopefully microsoft kept a few of their rare beta OS'es tucked away in their file servers... we need them so badly

Yeah, all those amazing betas you'll play with for 5 minutes in a VM and forget about soon afterwards. Seriously, as others pointed out, you don't need them. You want them.

[nazguz]

there is no need to keep Neptune backed up
as everything it "had", it got dumped onto WinME and XP

you can even consider win 8/10 to have "revised" UI of it

[Raritize]

Yeah, all those amazing betas you'll play with for 5 minutes in a VM and forget about soon afterwards. Seriously, as others pointed out, you don't need them. You want them.

I would technically need them. It'd make OpenNT development much easier. As long as it's checked builds.

[rthdribl]

Whoa, all those answers "we don't need them" surprised me a bit. Using the same rule, we don't need any betas at all. Let's just throw them away :D
Well, I agree that they're not essential, but they'd provide an insight about the Neptune development. Seeing how little is known about the development of Neptune and its friends, it would be nice to get some new facts.

That being said: the AC mockups translated into poor "real" ACs in 5111, so in the earlier versions would have even less. Builds after 5111 would be much more interesting and complete, but we know that they were never completed, because the project was ditched. So the most valuable version of Neptune is already here.

I am more interested about the early builds of Millennium. Those with the Activity Centers and alleged "Start Page". I still don't remember where I read about that alternate Start in Millennium, but I'm sure I didn't make this up (so if anyone knows, do tell!) :D
If I remember correctly, those builds remain unleaked. 2332 is basically just Windows 98SE... but then 3000 is as well :D