Customer Reviews

Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft

5 star:		(12)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I found this an absolutely riveting read. The book provides a view into a type of company and an approach to software development that is different from anyplace *I've* ever worked. Many things about it have stuck with me--the perspective on testing an operating system that will have to work with every popular software product; the staffing philosophy at Microsoft; the "eating your own dog food" concept (developers and testers had to actually use NT as they were developing it, thus constantly exposing themselves to its flaws). The author does a good job of telling the stories both of the big players and the worker drones. It's a very personal book about what strikes me as a very impersonal company. It's one of those rare non-technical books that I recommend to people who are new to software engineering. I read it for the first time when I'd just gotten my first software development job, and again several years later, and I didn't enjoy it any less the second time around.

This book presents an entertaining account of how the first version of Windows NT was developed. It tells the "story of NT," how it was created and the personalities of the people behind it. It isn't a technical book and it doesn't try to be one -- its purpose is to entertain, not to inform. Even so, anyone who works with NT on a regular basis ought to read this book -- it will lead you to appreciate NT as a human achievement as well as a technical one.

When Windows 2000 is released, NT will become Microsoft's flagship operating system. This fact makes Zachary's book all the more worth reading.

I found this book to be: 1. A good read. This is oftentimes not a quality on books dealing with computers. Pascal held my attention by focusing on the personalities behind the development of NT, not the technical info. There are many books out there that do that. What he offered was interesting insight into the people behind the product. 2 Well balanced. The technical aspects were simply explained without being condescending or disinteresting. Again, this is a very difficult balancing trick. As a network administrator and an MCT, I found the background information provided by Pascal both entertaining and useful. I would recommend this book to any individual seeking to learn more about Windows NT, for whatever reason. I've put it on my recommended reading list for my students

It's really a wonderful book! If you are a software developer trying to figure out how the big projects are done, or if you are just someone who is trying to figure out what is inside a software developer mind, go and read it.

For software developer:
Don't forget, it's a book written by a non-technical person. Sometimes, the writer tries with no success to explain the difference between C and C++, the function of the memory manager and other ones. The first chapter of the book is just terrible. He starts telling the NT's manager history, since he was a child. But don't give up. The book will get really interesting after the second chapter.

For software developer relatives:
Want to understand why your husband stays working until late hours? Want to figure out why most programmers think they are the best human beings alive? Read this book. I hope you can understand us reading this. I'm still trying to make my wife read this. :-)

If you go into this book with the right expectations, you will find it a real page turner, despite what some people say.

It is not about software development, or about the technicalities of the NT design, but about the people, the tensions, and in short, the environment surrounding the development of WindowsNT. It is not just for the programmer, or just the average computer user, or even the person who has never used a computer at all. It should appeal to all of the above, but that said, you must understand that it cannot satisfy all the questions that people of any one of those groups might have.

Knowing that, and expecting it, I think you will enjoy this book quite a lot.

Just about everybody uses Microsoft software, but how does it get written? This book tells all. The entire process of creating Windows NT is reviewed in this work. Good for the curious. The technical language is minimal and well explained, although it's not dumbed down-- techie types like me should get along just fine. It's not a business-centric book, if you're looking for that (or looking to avoid it).

It's a briliant read. The Author portrays a very vivid picture of the programmer and his life through a software project, the peer pressure, the deadlines, the compromises and everything else a programmer can go through.

Thankfully, this is one book that does not talk about Microsoft or its Creaters,(Mr. Gates).

If your day begins and ends with 'NT. Then this book is a must for you.

I received a copy of this book from the manager of a Release Engineering team many years ago. Not only did I find the book an easy read, but it also exemplified the mentality that *needs* to be instilled in Software Developers - "don't break the build!!".

The image of Dave Cutler roaming the hallways looking for the miscreant who checked in bad code was wonderful - and the anecdotes about how the Release Engineers were empowered to make incremental updates in order to ensure that the build must go on ("the show must go on") is particularly enlightening.

Now, over 10 years after having read the book myself, I find it helpful to share this with team members, in order to demonstrate what a totally committed team can accomplish, working in unison, but with a firm oversight to not be a SHOW-STOPPER.

I must say, I just finished this book and it was fantastic. From the consumer side, I have sat and wondered many times what happens during the production of an OS. I remember the drum beat running up to Win '95 and I guess that will be the next one I hunt down. This book is a HISTORICAL DRAMA. If you didn't know the outcome you would be held in suspense! At times, I had to remind myself that it DID SHIP!

The David Cutler part of the story is enthralling. Since he is so reclusive, it is remarkable that he would even be interviewed. In the back of the book it list who was interviewed and it must have been his children and ex-wife(s) in the list. Eventually, a biography of Cutler (whether authorized or not) would be a fantastic gift to the community.

Congrats to the author on a fantastic read. I fully recommend it. But, it left me with a question that may never be able to be answered: If a project such as this were to be taken on today with modern programming tools (IDE, Internet, ect, ect) how long would it have taken and how much better/worse would the end product have been? If you take Microsoft's new approach to Visual Studio, the team approach, you might would think they built a product like that because of what they learned in projects such as NT. How many project hit brick walls, like Cairo, or as mentioned in the book "Microsoft's first in house build from scratch database system." This is just two projects that fell to the cutting room floor. How many more could there have been that would have "made it" to "ship mode" if modern tools and communications were introduced?

I kept hearing about this book on my podcasts and finally checked it out. I was not disappointed. The author did an excellent job of interviewing dozens of MS employees and writing a riveting account of the creation of NT. Highly recommended.