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Show Stopper!: The Breakneck Race to Create Windows NT and the Next Generation at Microsoft Hardcover – June 1, 1994

by G. Pascal Zachary (Author)

27 customer reviews

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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 advances: 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

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Showstopper! is a vivid account of the creation of Microsoft Windows NT, perhaps the most complex software project ever undertaken. It is also a portrait of David Cutler, NT's brilliant and, at times, brutally aggressive chief architect.

Cutler surely ranks as one of the most impressive software engineers the field has ever produced. After leading the team that created the VMS operating system for Digital's VAX computer line--an accomplishment that most would regard as a lifetime achievement--he went on to conceive and lead the grueling multi-year project that ultimately produced Windows NT. Both admired and feared by his team, Cutler would let nothing stand in the way of realizing his design and often clashed with his programmers, senior Microsoft management, and even Gates himself. Yet no matter how involved he became in managing his 100-programmer team, he continued to immerse himself in every technical detail of the project and write critical portions of the code himself.

Showstopper! is also a fascinating look at programmer and managerial culture behind the Microsoft facade. The portraits of the men and women who created NT not only reveal the brilliance of their work but the crushing stress and the dislocating effects that new wealth had on their lives. For some team members, the NT project ultimately destroyed their marriages, friendships, and virtually every human relationship outside of work. Showstopper! also reveals the uncertainties, false starts, and blind alleys that dogged the project as Microsoft repositioned NT from an improved OS/2 to something that would ultimately challenge both OS/2 and Unix for the title of the world's most powerful operating system.

From Publishers Weekly

Released in mid-1993, Microsoft Corp.'s Windows NT software is arguably the best attempt yet at a universal operating system for personal computers, allowing PC users to open a file, move text or graphics, calculate a row of numbers and run several word processors, spreadsheets and other applications at once. With Windows NT (which stands for New Technology), Microsoft chief executive Bill Gates hopes to extend his dominion, with NT serving as the foundation for everything from desktop systems to corporate information networks. Critics, however, observe that the hardware required for NT is expensive and note that a forthcoming Microsoft operating system, Chicago, may eclipse NT. Wall Street Journal reporter Zachary tells how Microsoft wizard David Cutler and his team of programmers, working intensely for five years, overcame technical snafus, thousands of bugs, workplace skirmishes and collapsing personal lives to create Windows NT. This is both an enlightening primer on the management of complexity and a rare behind-the-scenes look at the cutthroat software wars.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product details

Hardcover: 312 pages
Publisher: Free Press (June 1, 1994)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0029356717
ISBN-13: 978-0029356715
Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 1 x 9.7 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
Average Customer Review: 27 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #132,669 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #119 in Books > Computers & Technology > Operating Systems > Windows > Windows Desktop
- #381 in Books > Computers & Technology > Software > Microsoft
- #470 in Books > Business & Money > Biography & History > Company Profiles

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Wilson Hines

What everybody else said and "WOW" to go along with it

March 28, 2009

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

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?

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PeterB

Especially amusing how good or bad management influences product directions and features for ...

September 1, 2016

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

I read it very quickly, it was both entertaining and very informative. Even though it talks about ancient times (so much progress in computer technology since then) it is still very much worth reading. Especially amusing how good or bad management influences product directions and features for years to come. Also that time projected to complete certain task is always underestimated in IT world,

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Just Another Jarhead

Good reading for a techie but probably boring for non ...

February 11, 2018

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

OK reading about the development of the next generation System. Good reading for a techie but probably boring for non technical people.

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Douglas W. Kinzinger

Ahh memories.

March 23, 2017

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

As someone who fondly remembers the pre-Windows NT 4.0 era and the persons involved, this book was a great read.

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Ryan C.

A decent book for those interested in computer science history

December 10, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

Didn't end up finishing this book. I found it to ebb and flow in terms of its storytelling. If you're interested in software engineering history, it's not a bad account.

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argsv

The People behind NT

November 20, 2013

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

This book is very light on the technical aspects of the NT operating system. It sheds light in a very interesting and easy to read way on the dynamics and the personalities of the team responsible for designing and creating Windows NT. The focus on the people aspect made the book engaging. In some ways you can easily picture yourself being with the team in their meetings or scrums.

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Deb

Three Stars

December 27, 2015

Format: HardcoverVerified Purchase

A little slow paced

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