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Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft
The phenomenal success of Bill Gates and his Microsoft Corporation hinges, above all, on an ability to look to the future. Not content with holding a bulging share of the market for software applications, nor with dominating the crucial operating systems business by virtue of its DOS and Windows programs, Microsoft is always looking to the future. And the future for Microsoft now goes by the name of Windows NT. A software innovation of the first order, NT could redefine the standards for computing throughout the world, into the next century. NT endows inexpensive personal computers with the capabilities of giant mainframes -- yet without sacrificing the inherent flexibility and appeal of PCs. Showstopper! is the inside story of this stunning breakthrough in computer technology. Stripping away myth after myth, this unprecedented tale lays bare the messy, wrenching reality of winning innovations. To date, America has dominated the global software industry through creating cutting-edge code and by depending on both the ingenuity of a few visionaries and the coordination of huge, costly teams of programmers and testers. Gates -- a managerial genius as well as a technical visionary -- promotes an atmosphere of controlled chaos at Microsoft, and the story of Windows NT perfectly reflects this ethos. The brain-child of David Cutler, a legendary programmer recruited by Gates in 1988, NT took five years and $150 million to complete. For much of that time, the massive program demanded the obsessive attention of more than 200 testers, writers and technicians. Focusing on Cutler's mercurial ability to inspire and lash his team, Showstopper! brilliantly portrays the human drama of this mammoth undertaking exposing the pressures, disappointments and ultimate triumph that emerge from a cauldron of constant deadlines, competition with peers and a perpetual war against the inevitable and ubiquitous bugs in the program -- among them the potentially lethal "showstopper." Gripping vivid and accessible, Showstopper! reveals the outsize personalities that stand behind great the mavericks, the organizers, the fixers, the motivators. Even as they wrestle with forces that threaten to tear them apart, Cutler and his team feverishly hunt for
312 pages, Hardcover
First published June 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 97 reviews
September 11, 2013
This was terrific. As project leader Dave Cutler says at one point, the creation of Windows NT may be the last time anyone ever assembles a team to build a completely new computer operating system, and this book gives a good account of the personalities, the stresses, and the working environment involved in making it happen.
I was particularly interested to read about the experiences of the women on the NT team, working for a bawling, testosterone-fuelled boss in offices full of computers with screen saver images of naked glamour models. One female programmer contributed a major section of the NT code, then became so obsessed with fixing every last bug that her marriage collapsed. Around twenty others formed a social group, Hoppers (after legendary coder Grace Hopper), and eventually managed to get the bosses at Microsoft to issue a no-porn-at-work edict.
Anyway. Probably not a great choice of book if you want in-depth technical details about the writing of the Windows NT kernel, but if you're interested in the human aspect of a massive undertaking like this I highly recommend it.
I was particularly interested to read about the experiences of the women on the NT team, working for a bawling, testosterone-fuelled boss in offices full of computers with screen saver images of naked glamour models. One female programmer contributed a major section of the NT code, then became so obsessed with fixing every last bug that her marriage collapsed. Around twenty others formed a social group, Hoppers (after legendary coder Grace Hopper), and eventually managed to get the bosses at Microsoft to issue a no-porn-at-work edict.
Anyway. Probably not a great choice of book if you want in-depth technical details about the writing of the Windows NT kernel, but if you're interested in the human aspect of a massive undertaking like this I highly recommend it.
March 16, 2013
I read this after seeing it recommended on the dadhacker blog. Overall, I found the book much more intriguing than I thought I would, and yet I was simultaneously frustrated by it.
The book starts off as a dual biography of David Cutler and Windows NT. The first chapters are pretty focused, and really delve into Cutler the man, and the genesis of Windows NT. I was especially intrigued because Cutler at the time that NT was being developed was in his mid-forties; definitely not a "cool" age for people to be doing big, cutting-edge high tech products today. As a software developer/manager presently in my early 40s, I found Cutler's viewpoint to be of incredible personal interest. I also relate directly to many of Cutler's personal struggles as the nature of the project, the team, and his role in the project changed.
As the book rolls on, however, it introduces character after character after character, and it eventually becomes really difficult to keep track of who is who, even if you happen to recognize a number of the names as I do (as authors, speakers, MS personalities, etc.). Often, the narrative side-tracks into personal details of comparatively minor characters. I suppose Zachary hoped to explore the effect the scope of the NT project by pursuing the stories of the effect it had on various peoples' lives, but as the narratives digs into spouses, children, and in-laws (seriously!), I just got lost in a sea of names and people.
My other issue was, as a highly technical person myself, I was embarrassed at some of the non-technical metaphors and the occasional technical ignorance expressed by the author. And several times, especially in the discussion of NTFS, I felt that he was holding back on technical information that I would have loved to have seen, and would have made the story more enjoyable for me (but perhaps not everyone). My very favorite quote, which had me laughing out loud, was "By preventing code writers from making mistakes, C + + (sic) promised faster results and greater consistency." Which reminds me also that the Kindle version I read had a number of typos in it, largely mis-capitalizations and spacings. No idea if those existed in the dead tree version.
The core narrative is adequately relayed, and sometimes is relayed quite well. The strength of the book is that it's a very well chosen topic -- a story that is compelling regardless of the foibles of the author. So despite my issues with the book, I would give it a nice, strong recommendation.
The book starts off as a dual biography of David Cutler and Windows NT. The first chapters are pretty focused, and really delve into Cutler the man, and the genesis of Windows NT. I was especially intrigued because Cutler at the time that NT was being developed was in his mid-forties; definitely not a "cool" age for people to be doing big, cutting-edge high tech products today. As a software developer/manager presently in my early 40s, I found Cutler's viewpoint to be of incredible personal interest. I also relate directly to many of Cutler's personal struggles as the nature of the project, the team, and his role in the project changed.
As the book rolls on, however, it introduces character after character after character, and it eventually becomes really difficult to keep track of who is who, even if you happen to recognize a number of the names as I do (as authors, speakers, MS personalities, etc.). Often, the narrative side-tracks into personal details of comparatively minor characters. I suppose Zachary hoped to explore the effect the scope of the NT project by pursuing the stories of the effect it had on various peoples' lives, but as the narratives digs into spouses, children, and in-laws (seriously!), I just got lost in a sea of names and people.
My other issue was, as a highly technical person myself, I was embarrassed at some of the non-technical metaphors and the occasional technical ignorance expressed by the author. And several times, especially in the discussion of NTFS, I felt that he was holding back on technical information that I would have loved to have seen, and would have made the story more enjoyable for me (but perhaps not everyone). My very favorite quote, which had me laughing out loud, was "By preventing code writers from making mistakes, C + + (sic) promised faster results and greater consistency." Which reminds me also that the Kindle version I read had a number of typos in it, largely mis-capitalizations and spacings. No idea if those existed in the dead tree version.
The core narrative is adequately relayed, and sometimes is relayed quite well. The strength of the book is that it's a very well chosen topic -- a story that is compelling regardless of the foibles of the author. So despite my issues with the book, I would give it a nice, strong recommendation.
December 26, 2019
It was a fun rundown of how the NT project came to be and the crazy cultural process that birthed it, but I felt like it was light on contextual details of Microsoft the company at the time and what it meant for this particular piece of software to exist for the company, both in terms of where they came from and where they were going. Despite that omission, it actually held up really well 23 years later.
February 17, 2025
Wow! As a former Microsoft MVP, I’m not sure how I missed this book. Showstopper was a fascinating read about how Windows NT was built - from the origins of the Registry and User Profiles to the challenges of supporting legacy DOS filenames and the birth of “dogfooding.” Even beyond the technical details, it’s an incredible look at how projects of this scale take shape, evolve, and ultimately get delivered.
January 17, 2011
As a folkloristic book, it does a poor job of telling the aspects of the story that would actually be interesting. It digresses into irrelevant biographies all over the place, which convey little more than rap sheet facts. It doesn't have a conception of what is interesting about technology. The writer is clearly very thin on the subject, presenting analogies about the functions of software in strangely distant and awkward terms. He thinks he's throwing in a little secret sauce by posting occasional snippets of source code or shell commands that don't mean anything to anyone, cargo cult style.
Written by a programmer intent to expose some of the key technical points about Windows NT, this could actually have been an interesting book from a historical perspective. In its present form it succeeds at stating little more than that the development of NT was an immense chaos and saw many clashes between individuals. It conveys some of the atmosphere in which the process took place. And despite the constant blustering about how monumental NT supposedly is for its time, it offers precious little technical information to explain this.
This edition of the book also suffers from very poor production, with various misprints and errors around the place as if no one had proofread it.
Written by a programmer intent to expose some of the key technical points about Windows NT, this could actually have been an interesting book from a historical perspective. In its present form it succeeds at stating little more than that the development of NT was an immense chaos and saw many clashes between individuals. It conveys some of the atmosphere in which the process took place. And despite the constant blustering about how monumental NT supposedly is for its time, it offers precious little technical information to explain this.
This edition of the book also suffers from very poor production, with various misprints and errors around the place as if no one had proofread it.
September 24, 2023
This was a concise summary of the last major operating system that might ever be released. In an age of constant iteration, it’s refreshing to see the humble beginnings of the monolithic Windows NT operating systems; well, as humble as a multibillion dollar company can muster. It was interesting to read about the personal lives and the drive behind the architects of the program. Although the book was written in 1994, when NT was absolutely fresh, it is nice to see a somewhat recent addendum from 2008 with the authors perspective in the face of rapid technological advancements. Would only recommend if you’re interested in seeing the thought process behind some lasting decisions made that makes modern Windows operational.
June 9, 2009
After I read this, I wanted to become a hardass and kick holes in walls whenever people checked in buggy code.
However, I'm not Dave Cutler so I couldn't get away with it. This book is interesting on many levels, from Cutler to the people who worked with/put up with him to accomplish some pretty amazing things. Definitely worth reading if you're into the whole "software team does death march to ship product" genre.
However, I'm not Dave Cutler so I couldn't get away with it. This book is interesting on many levels, from Cutler to the people who worked with/put up with him to accomplish some pretty amazing things. Definitely worth reading if you're into the whole "software team does death march to ship product" genre.
October 28, 2022
An enjoyable read, though not enough details to satisfy technical people. For example, I've never heard anyone refer to developers as "Code Writers". The reason for using that term seems fairly obvious. If you don't understand software development then "Code Writers" gives you some idea of what those people did. However, if you don't understand software development then this book isn't for you in any case.
February 3, 2019
Really interesting read if you are in the IT infrastructure sphere.
I can very much relate to the breakneck pace and pressure with deadlines and having to learn on the job.
Really interesting insight into the core technology that runs the core OS from Microsoft.
I can very much relate to the breakneck pace and pressure with deadlines and having to learn on the job.
Really interesting insight into the core technology that runs the core OS from Microsoft.
February 26, 2020
Interesting story. Terrible writing.
April 22, 2020
I enjoy books about tech history and business. I also enjoy biographies. So, Showstopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft by G. Pascal Zachary was a perfect fit for me. It has a compelling software business narrative, backed up by significant author access to the major players, and features non-stop action throughout most of the book.
Showstopper, written in 1994, is a book about the building of Windows NT, one of the last still-in-use desktop operating systems to be developed from scratch (Windows NT remains the underpinnings of Windows 10). Zachary had incredible access. He was able to interview all of the major players involved in NT development, including David Cutler, the project’s lead, and Bill Gates, the CEO of Microsoft at the time. It provides real insight into the market landscape at the time, the challenges that Windows NT faced, and what is was like for regular software developers and management to laboriously crank out NT over many sleepless nights throughout a period of roughly four years.
Zachary does a good job balancing vignettes about management with vignettes covering lowly software developers, testers, and their families during development. He pays attention to the human story. What was the toll of the breakneck development schedule and the high pressure environment on families and worker mental health? He clearly did his research, took the time to interview everyone relevant that was involved, and weaved their respective narratives into a cohesive largely chronological whole.
Where Showstopper falls short is in Zachary’s understanding of the technology. While seemingly written for a mainstream audience, I imagine most readers today, like me, will be software developers. From the beginning it was clear to me that Zachary did not fully grasp all of the software development technology that a book like this inevitably needs to cover. Or if he did, he dumbed it down too much for my liking. He did his best, and I think if I were a mainstream reader, his explanations would actually be quite good: just enough to give me a basic understanding. But as a software developer, I was left wanting.
The parts of Showstopper I liked least were the first thirty pages, largely covering Cutler’s career at Digital, and the Afterword in the 2008 edition with Zachary pontificating about 2008 Microsoft. I think Showstopper was at its best when reporting on the week-by-week challenges and worker vignettes during NT development, and at its worst when trying to analyze the big picture. Another problem with the book is that it tries to cover too many characters. It was easy to lose track of who was who. You will be treated to many mini-biographies, which while interesting, are not enough to get you invested in each of the players.
Despite its flaws, Showstopper! is worth reading because it pulls back the covers of a Herculean software project in human terms. If you are interested in computer software history or the business history of Microsoft in the early 1990s, it’s a must read. Software developers with an appreciation of computer history will find it compelling and enthralling, if they make it past page thirty.
Showstopper, written in 1994, is a book about the building of Windows NT, one of the last still-in-use desktop operating systems to be developed from scratch (Windows NT remains the underpinnings of Windows 10). Zachary had incredible access. He was able to interview all of the major players involved in NT development, including David Cutler, the project’s lead, and Bill Gates, the CEO of Microsoft at the time. It provides real insight into the market landscape at the time, the challenges that Windows NT faced, and what is was like for regular software developers and management to laboriously crank out NT over many sleepless nights throughout a period of roughly four years.
Zachary does a good job balancing vignettes about management with vignettes covering lowly software developers, testers, and their families during development. He pays attention to the human story. What was the toll of the breakneck development schedule and the high pressure environment on families and worker mental health? He clearly did his research, took the time to interview everyone relevant that was involved, and weaved their respective narratives into a cohesive largely chronological whole.
Where Showstopper falls short is in Zachary’s understanding of the technology. While seemingly written for a mainstream audience, I imagine most readers today, like me, will be software developers. From the beginning it was clear to me that Zachary did not fully grasp all of the software development technology that a book like this inevitably needs to cover. Or if he did, he dumbed it down too much for my liking. He did his best, and I think if I were a mainstream reader, his explanations would actually be quite good: just enough to give me a basic understanding. But as a software developer, I was left wanting.
The parts of Showstopper I liked least were the first thirty pages, largely covering Cutler’s career at Digital, and the Afterword in the 2008 edition with Zachary pontificating about 2008 Microsoft. I think Showstopper was at its best when reporting on the week-by-week challenges and worker vignettes during NT development, and at its worst when trying to analyze the big picture. Another problem with the book is that it tries to cover too many characters. It was easy to lose track of who was who. You will be treated to many mini-biographies, which while interesting, are not enough to get you invested in each of the players.
Despite its flaws, Showstopper! is worth reading because it pulls back the covers of a Herculean software project in human terms. If you are interested in computer software history or the business history of Microsoft in the early 1990s, it’s a must read. Software developers with an appreciation of computer history will find it compelling and enthralling, if they make it past page thirty.
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July 10, 2025Like with all stories of greatness (software engineering greatness, in this case), for me, it always starts with an abridged version.
What piqued my interest in this story was the Dave's Garage interview conducted last year\2023, titled "The Mind Behind Windows: Dave Cutler", Dave seemed like a rude, cruel but honest guy to work with, a bit old hat, but fascinated me with his war stories.
In the same reflection as the mythical man-month, I'd say this book is well worth a read. - It's funny as fuck at times. And makes me yearn for the years where dedication to the craft of software engineering were the norm. it doesn't feel pretentious in anyway, just brutally honest, I wish I had a mentor like Cutler to tell me how I fucked up. or that I'm a stupid worthless fuck, because proving him wrong is the ultimate satisfaction.
What makes a product full proof, is what makes a product worth buying, and hearing the story of how this sausage was made was kind of nuts, sure, I've crashed a few machines running NT in my life, but for the most part Windows has never skipped a beat, despite my recent animosity towards the newer versions of Windows (10 to 11), XP (and server 2003) was a fucking solid piece of work, and it got there by building on the strengths, blood sweat and tears, of the NT versions that came before it. – 98 was a pig of a system in comparison, but the layman looking at the two probably couldn't tell the difference, I know as a kid growing up, I couldn't, but you only see things through the lens of a graphical user interface in that context, it's only when the underlying technology which powers the operating system peaks your interest, do you dare to look inside.
This thing [NT] powered workstations, built Quake 2, and was probably the reason for it going to a client server architecture.
I just wish they could bring back the old Windows personalities and not the self-inflicted A.I en-slop-aification shit it ships with now.
I think I've now gotta find a book on Blackcomb (Windows 7. ❤️), to understand what the fuck happened with vista (longhorn), I know back in 2006, Dave went over to Xbox, and that's around the time Windows started going to shit in the vista era (although Windows 7. ❤️ was still to come...)
Possible issues with the book:
- Swearing (if you're not into that)
- There's a very boisterous attitude throughout the book, giving off a kind of boy's club vibe, in certain sections, although there is also vindication for the female colleagues who also don't receive the same level of respect as their male counterparts, so I was glad to see character development.
*I actually didn't mind these aspects of the book.
Quite a number of marriages ended as a result of the long hour spent working on the project...
What piqued my interest in this story was the Dave's Garage interview conducted last year\2023, titled "The Mind Behind Windows: Dave Cutler", Dave seemed like a rude, cruel but honest guy to work with, a bit old hat, but fascinated me with his war stories.
In the same reflection as the mythical man-month, I'd say this book is well worth a read. - It's funny as fuck at times. And makes me yearn for the years where dedication to the craft of software engineering were the norm. it doesn't feel pretentious in anyway, just brutally honest, I wish I had a mentor like Cutler to tell me how I fucked up. or that I'm a stupid worthless fuck, because proving him wrong is the ultimate satisfaction.
What makes a product full proof, is what makes a product worth buying, and hearing the story of how this sausage was made was kind of nuts, sure, I've crashed a few machines running NT in my life, but for the most part Windows has never skipped a beat, despite my recent animosity towards the newer versions of Windows (10 to 11), XP (and server 2003) was a fucking solid piece of work, and it got there by building on the strengths, blood sweat and tears, of the NT versions that came before it. – 98 was a pig of a system in comparison, but the layman looking at the two probably couldn't tell the difference, I know as a kid growing up, I couldn't, but you only see things through the lens of a graphical user interface in that context, it's only when the underlying technology which powers the operating system peaks your interest, do you dare to look inside.
This thing [NT] powered workstations, built Quake 2, and was probably the reason for it going to a client server architecture.
I just wish they could bring back the old Windows personalities and not the self-inflicted A.I en-slop-aification shit it ships with now.
I think I've now gotta find a book on Blackcomb (Windows 7. ❤️), to understand what the fuck happened with vista (longhorn), I know back in 2006, Dave went over to Xbox, and that's around the time Windows started going to shit in the vista era (although Windows 7. ❤️ was still to come...)
Possible issues with the book:
- Swearing (if you're not into that)
- There's a very boisterous attitude throughout the book, giving off a kind of boy's club vibe, in certain sections, although there is also vindication for the female colleagues who also don't receive the same level of respect as their male counterparts, so I was glad to see character development.
*I actually didn't mind these aspects of the book.
Quite a number of marriages ended as a result of the long hour spent working on the project...
January 3, 2022
Книга очень подробно описывает всю историю создания NT внутри Microsoft в начале девяностых. Практически всё в ней основано на интервью автора с членами команды проекта и их семьями. Фокус повествования здесь явно не на самой NT (вместо нее мог бы быть, наверное, любой крупный софтверный проект), а на людях, которые ее делали. Автор подробно описывает биографии разработчиков, их эмоциональное состояние на разных этапах проекта, и то, как проект влиял на их семьи. Это, на мой взгляд, куда интереснее и познавательнее технических деталей.
Отдельно понравились разделы с описанием немногих женщин, работавших над NT (их, кажется, было меньше 20 из 250 человек в команде). Учитывая общую атмосферу в команде, которая, мягко говоря, не была дружелюбной, приправленную предрассудками именно в отношении женщин, упорство и энтузиазм этих разработчиц кажутся поразительными.
Дэйву Катлеру, техническому руководителю NT, посвящено довольно много времени в начале книги. Но по мере продвижения вперед и, соответственно, роста команды разработчиков, Катлер постепенно отходит на второй план, превращаясь практически в эпизодического, фонового персонажа. Не знаю, намеренно ли это было сделано автором, но это лишний раз подчеркивает, насколько размытой становится роль "патриархов" в больших командах, и ограниченность их контроля над происходящим. Автор явно (и небезосновательно, на мой взгляд), считает NT в большей степени продуктом командной работы, а не проектом одного гения.
В целом, книга написана очень дескриптивно. Автор воздерживается от каких-либо выводов и даже обобщений вообще до самого эпилога. И даже в нем он, пожалуй, лишь довольно сдержанно подмечает основные тренды разработки NT, оставляя более далекоидущие выводы на совести читателя. Это ни в коем случае не недостаток: у автора журналистский бэкграунд, его мысли относительно разработки крупных технических проектов были бы, наверное, в значительной степени спекулятивными. Поэтому надо отдать должное его дисциплине в поддержании фокуса именно на NT на протяжении всей книги.
Язык книги очень живой и богатый, просто читать ее было очень приятно.
В общем, очень крутая книга. Однозначно рекомендую людям, вовлеченным в создание любых сложных программных систем.
Отдельно понравились разделы с описанием немногих женщин, работавших над NT (их, кажется, было меньше 20 из 250 человек в команде). Учитывая общую атмосферу в команде, которая, мягко говоря, не была дружелюбной, приправленную предрассудками именно в отношении женщин, упорство и энтузиазм этих разработчиц кажутся поразительными.
Дэйву Катлеру, техническому руководителю NT, посвящено довольно много времени в начале книги. Но по мере продвижения вперед и, соответственно, роста команды разработчиков, Катлер постепенно отходит на второй план, превращаясь практически в эпизодического, фонового персонажа. Не знаю, намеренно ли это было сделано автором, но это лишний раз подчеркивает, насколько размытой становится роль "патриархов" в больших командах, и ограниченность их контроля над происходящим. Автор явно (и небезосновательно, на мой взгляд), считает NT в большей степени продуктом командной работы, а не проектом одного гения.
В целом, книга написана очень дескриптивно. Автор воздерживается от каких-либо выводов и даже обобщений вообще до самого эпилога. И даже в нем он, пожалуй, лишь довольно сдержанно подмечает основные тренды разработки NT, оставляя более далекоидущие выводы на совести читателя. Это ни в коем случае не недостаток: у автора журналистский бэкграунд, его мысли относительно разработки крупных технических проектов были бы, наверное, в значительной степени спекулятивными. Поэтому надо отдать должное его дисциплине в поддержании фокуса именно на NT на протяжении всей книги.
Язык книги очень живой и богатый, просто читать ее было очень приятно.
В общем, очень крутая книга. Однозначно рекомендую людям, вовлеченным в создание любых сложных программных систем.
February 15, 2026
Who besides a techie person, such as myself be interested in a back about the behind the scenes work of building a new operating system? Given this, there are two many analogies meant to explain technical concepts to a layperson.
Also, it seems the author wanted to hit a word count or something by instead of using "programmer" or "programming", they insisted on using "code writer" and "code writing". In my 30+ year I've never heard those terms used.
The below issues are with my particular edition, the Open Road paperback. This must have been scanned from a prior printed version as there are several typos that can be attributed to bad OCR. A simple proofreading shoud have found these:
temperamerit instead of temperament (page 23)
Home instead of Horne (pages 160-165)
systern instead of system (page 246)
penally instead of penalty (page 285)
There were additional typos that I won't bother listing here.
Also, it seems the author wanted to hit a word count or something by instead of using "programmer" or "programming", they insisted on using "code writer" and "code writing". In my 30+ year I've never heard those terms used.
The below issues are with my particular edition, the Open Road paperback. This must have been scanned from a prior printed version as there are several typos that can be attributed to bad OCR. A simple proofreading shoud have found these:
temperamerit instead of temperament (page 23)
Home instead of Horne (pages 160-165)
systern instead of system (page 246)
penally instead of penalty (page 285)
There were additional typos that I won't bother listing here.
December 18, 2022
It was a good read. It is a nicely done writeup on creating big software projects (hundreds of people involved), on corporate culture and some glimpses on how it influences individual lives.
The interesting part is, even though the book describes early 90', if you swap some technical parts here and there, not that much has changed in how some big software projects are delivered.
I've enjoyed some snippets of manager wisdom. Things like
"Cutler’s guidance was in line with Microsoft’s tradition of giving its programmers free rein. “We mostly hire people who have to be constrained, not motivated,” said a veteran.",
“When all is said and done, much more is said than done.”
or "When the person whose code “broke” the build was identified, there was hell to pay. “If you break the build,” Cutler often said, “your ass is grass, and I’m the lawn mower.” ;)
The interesting part is, even though the book describes early 90', if you swap some technical parts here and there, not that much has changed in how some big software projects are delivered.
I've enjoyed some snippets of manager wisdom. Things like
"Cutler’s guidance was in line with Microsoft’s tradition of giving its programmers free rein. “We mostly hire people who have to be constrained, not motivated,” said a veteran.",
“When all is said and done, much more is said than done.”
or "When the person whose code “broke” the build was identified, there was hell to pay. “If you break the build,” Cutler often said, “your ass is grass, and I’m the lawn mower.” ;)
October 14, 2024
It's been many years, but it gave me a lot of insight into how Windows NT, the ancestor of today's Windows was made and why. Microsoft took over a decade to merge the codebase for MS-DOS, through Windows 3.11, Win95, Win98, WinME, and it was all in an effort to get back to what Dave Cutler did in this book. They give a little bit of his background with DEC, Digital Equipment Corporation, with VMS, which NT took a lot of inspiration from, I wish there was more about DEC here. What stuck with me was "Eating you own dogfood", a technique in which the OS was built using it's own code. Previously, almost all computers were coded in a much more powerful machine with a polished OS and tools. The Windows programmers had to hoist themselves by their own bootstraps. I think the work is rather neglected when considering it's importance to PCs today.
July 9, 2019
One of the better books from the Computer industry; showcasing not only the grandeur of a corporation, product or personality; but actual goings in the trenches -- the thoughts, decisions, influences in/from daily lives, depicting what is takes, openly telling on pragmatic stands taken; rather than presenting them in a manner to appeal to theatrics thus ending up with some real and raw storytelling.
One of my quickest reads in a while; the writing is quite gripping; one gets attached to the title in a sense and tries to read out the book; you feel as if you are also traversing the journey of the NT development and completion along.
One of my quickest reads in a while; the writing is quite gripping; one gets attached to the title in a sense and tries to read out the book; you feel as if you are also traversing the journey of the NT development and completion along.
January 9, 2024
I'm going to echo some of the other reviews for this book in saying that it was very interesting, both from a technical and people/psychology perspective, but suffered from introducing way too many characters to keep track of.
Obviously, the story of a massive team developing next generation software is going to require lots of interviews, contributions, and telling the stories of many people. But at a certain point it just starts to lose you, and you see a name referenced and think "wait who is that again?". All told, an interesting story, but it just suffers from the nature of what it's trying to tell.
Obviously, the story of a massive team developing next generation software is going to require lots of interviews, contributions, and telling the stories of many people. But at a certain point it just starts to lose you, and you see a name referenced and think "wait who is that again?". All told, an interesting story, but it just suffers from the nature of what it's trying to tell.
May 20, 2025
There were many typos such as missing commas and missing periods. The author gave wrong info such as C++ being a safe language. He likely embellished details such as thoughts people had, the type of breaths they took, and how they held a phone. He included superfluous details such as one's office arrangement. That said, he gave great analogies to make IT concepts understandable to the layman. He provided a great chronicle of a major software initiative: corporate infighting to increase one's influence, tensions between coders and testers, crunch time, discovering and fixing countless bugs, burnout, MVPs.
April 26, 2024
Creation of NT, the bedrock for all that followed.
This book was an amazing read to me as I lived (and worked in IT) through the years described with Microsoft and Windows products. Though I never directly bought or used NT, I learned it was the big "Monster" that lead to all the major releases of Windows that followed to this day. To be able to relive its creation and meet the major players that made it happen was enchanting to me. I had to look up David Cutler and I was happy to see he is doing well. Great book, great story.
This book was an amazing read to me as I lived (and worked in IT) through the years described with Microsoft and Windows products. Though I never directly bought or used NT, I learned it was the big "Monster" that lead to all the major releases of Windows that followed to this day. To be able to relive its creation and meet the major players that made it happen was enchanting to me. I had to look up David Cutler and I was happy to see he is doing well. Great book, great story.
August 7, 2019
A book about how Bill Gates and his crypto-jew cronies could not write a serious OS, and had to steal someone from DEC to do something (the Windows XP) for them. Even that was a real kludge to run old 16-bit windows programs. They had to put special precautions for each popular program like PhotoShop to run on it. Its a good resource to compare how shitty windows is compared to development of Unix by truly smart engineers in AT&T.
August 14, 2024
This is a fantastically well written book considering the narrow scope - the inside story of building windows NT (it's legacy still with us today). It's also an historic document of the "wild west" system development in the early 90's.
The focus is on the human effort and the technical part is more of a backdrop. The author provides us with general concepts but there is no heavy explanation of the actual technical feat that was pulled off. Highly recommended for (nostalgic) developers.
The focus is on the human effort and the technical part is more of a backdrop. The author provides us with general concepts but there is no heavy explanation of the actual technical feat that was pulled off. Highly recommended for (nostalgic) developers.
March 26, 2018
Truly excellent read
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be software engineer, to built, maintain and test software, the good and the ugly — this is the book for you.
Reading this in 2018. The tools are way better, the machines faster, building good and ambitious software is still as exhausting and exhilarating.
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to be software engineer, to built, maintain and test software, the good and the ugly — this is the book for you.
Reading this in 2018. The tools are way better, the machines faster, building good and ambitious software is still as exhausting and exhilarating.
April 29, 2022
I find the 90's era of Microsoft fascinating. This had some good insights, but wasn't too keen on the writing. I found the physical descriptions of everyone annoying (yes, shocking, programmers aren't all fat, ugly and hideous).
Could have been more interesting - I felt that it didn't quite take me back to the time.
Could have been more interesting - I felt that it didn't quite take me back to the time.
October 24, 2022
Interesting inside into team dynamics. Unfortunately quite one-sided as author focuses on superficial personal aspect only, leaving product and technical discussions aside. Exploring those discussions (as in Fred Moody's Encarta story) is something I was looking for. Regardless... still enjoyable read for somebody who used those systems from the day one.
April 11, 2023
The history and lore and personalities behind the development of windows NT.
It was interesting to read that - at first, NT wasn’t going to be windows, but instead have OS2 compatibility. It wasn’t until windows v3 became really popular and MS scuttled the IBM OS2 deal, that NT had windows built into it & compatibility with windows and DOS.
It was interesting to read that - at first, NT wasn’t going to be windows, but instead have OS2 compatibility. It wasn’t until windows v3 became really popular and MS scuttled the IBM OS2 deal, that NT had windows built into it & compatibility with windows and DOS.
January 14, 2024
Really enjoyed this in-depth look at the team behind the 1993 release of windows NT. The author introduced each key member giving an insight how they got connected to Microsoft, their part in development, and then finally where they went after the release.
Would recommend, as I did, to also watch the interview of Dave Cutler on Dave's Garage YouTube channel.
Would recommend, as I did, to also watch the interview of Dave Cutler on Dave's Garage YouTube channel.
January 23, 2024
It was an interesting perspective on the development of NT, but I didn't care for the somewhat shallow dives into people's personal lives. It was hard to keep track of all the 'characters' and so knowing some of their background wasn't so helpful. I wish it went into more technical details, it did show a few snippets of code, but is definitely not written for people in the software industry.
February 18, 2024
The material in the book is good, it's reasonably written, the story it tells is interesting. But the 2014 print edition must have been created using OCR from a scan with no editing or proof reading afterwards. There are several formatting errors and many repeated spelling mistakes, i.e. Horne -> Home.
February 18, 2025
I didn't really know what to expect when I started reading this book, but was intrigued by a story about a large development effort, such as the one of Windows NT. The book didn't disappoint on this count: It is packed with details about the organizational aspects of the project, about the people involved and their habits at the time and the politics that surrounded it.
However, as a software developer myself, I would have wished some more technical details. I guess that it would have spooked off many potential casual readers, though, so I understand why it was cut shorter.
Still, anyone familiar with modern development will find many interesting nuggets and be able to comprehend the stories that transpired during the development. For example: What a late pivot in a project (in this case, from OS/2 to Windows compatibility) means, how stressful bug fixing before a big release can be, how important working builds are, how program managers make constant demands, etc.
Except that everything seems to have been on a more extreme note at Microsoft at the time, which makes the book all the more captivating. Comparing the development practices at the time to the ones of nowadays is also interesting in itself: Although build labs have become a rarity, DevOps teams fight with similar issues around build pipelines in 2025.
I guess I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in a story about a huge development effort, how it was pulled off and which types of personalities were involved in it. Having a knack for the history of computing helps as well!
However, as a software developer myself, I would have wished some more technical details. I guess that it would have spooked off many potential casual readers, though, so I understand why it was cut shorter.
Still, anyone familiar with modern development will find many interesting nuggets and be able to comprehend the stories that transpired during the development. For example: What a late pivot in a project (in this case, from OS/2 to Windows compatibility) means, how stressful bug fixing before a big release can be, how important working builds are, how program managers make constant demands, etc.
Except that everything seems to have been on a more extreme note at Microsoft at the time, which makes the book all the more captivating. Comparing the development practices at the time to the ones of nowadays is also interesting in itself: Although build labs have become a rarity, DevOps teams fight with similar issues around build pipelines in 2025.
I guess I would recommend this book to anyone that is interested in a story about a huge development effort, how it was pulled off and which types of personalities were involved in it. Having a knack for the history of computing helps as well!
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