Show Stopper

SHOWSTOPPER!

by G. Pascal Zachary
ISBN 0-02-935671-7

Read this book in three days. SHOWSTOPPER! is the inside story of the development and release of Windows NT. An excerpt from the cover:

"Focusing on DavidCutler? '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..."

This book is a great read, especially for those that need some inspiration towards shipping software.

-- DavidHooker

I've read this book over and over, maybe ten times. It's a great read - a gripping story of shipping a very complex product and what it can do to people's lives. And as we know him from his days with us at DEC (Digital), David Cutler is a maniac -)). -- AuthorSquelched

Showstopper is one of the best journalistic works the computer industry has seen to date...and maybe to come. As an alumni Microsoft contractor, while not on the NT team, I can attest this book is true to understanding Microsoft culture inside and out. Although some may find the environment distasteful, to a computer geek it is heaven on earth. Read this book and learn what it really means to be dedicated and purposed to building an operating system. Read this book to understand what it is like to be inside the mind of a computer person. The best part is the sleeping cots in the hallway - all true - Microsoft really is a wonderful place to work. -- John Hayes

I agree. It inspired the heck out of me. I thought "Geek Heaven." -- AuthorSquelched

Uh, these comments are ironic, right? You guys don't actually think that stuff is healthy, right?

shipping a very complex product and what it can do to people's lives, like: make them sleep in the cots in the hallway. No thanks.

Until I read these comments I thought I was inside the mind of a computer person, my own mind. But apparently not. And now I've learned I'm thankful for it.

-- KeithBraithwaite

I wouldn't want to work like that but it makes me in awe of the people that can. It's fascinating read anyway. -- AuthorSquelched

Yes, it is true. Please do not judge me. I am one of those geeks. We are a meek and lovable bunch. Just give us Jolt or Diet Pepsi and lots of bags of chips to feed our cyber-bellys. We can sit in front of a monitor forever. It has to do with a mind that ticks like a eternal clock. Since this is about Showstopper and G. P. Zachary and not me - he does well in describing both the joys and the casualities. And the greatest joy is shipping and beta testing and beta testing and shipping again.

Thanks for your love.

-- John Hayes

I was also a Contractor at Microsoft, and had the actual pleasure of being on the NT 3.1 Dev Team under Ken Gregg as a Software Test Engineer on the Kernel, API & Test group. It was a *very* exciting, exasperating & exhausting time, and I learned more about actual software design and the whole development process during my stint there.

In regards to "sleeping on cots": most of us would have loved to go home to wives and family, but they understood the utterly critical importance of the work we were doing. Things settled into a fairly steady but frenetic pace as we approached the November PDC Beta Release, but we all held a vision of what we were trying to accomplish, and we firmly believed in the vision that BillG snd DaveC had for NT. Things like the "Shrimp & Weenies" debate kept things fun, and with the pressure we were under there had to be *some* sort of outlet.

"Showstopper" was an excellent read, and took me back to some very fond memories.

-- Scott Kindorf

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