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From: kludge@panix.com (Scott Dorsey)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written
Subject: Re: Whoops! The Atlantic Makes Trump Look EPIC In Cover Intended as
 a Smear
Date: 1 Nov 2024 17:02:38 -0000
Organization: Former users of Netcom shell (1989-2000)
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D  <nospam@example.net> wrote:
>On Thu, 31 Oct 2024, Lynn McGuire wrote:
>> I advocate the reading of "Showstopper", it will amaze you.
>> https://www.amazon.com/Showstopper-Breakneck-Windows-Generation-Microsoft/dp/1497638836
>>
>> "Showstopper is the dramatic, inside story of the creation of Windows NT, 
>> told by Wall Street Journal reporter G. Pascal Zachary. Driven by the 
>> legendary David Cutler, a picked band of software engineers sacrifices almost 
>> everything in their lives to build a new, stable, operating system aimed at 
>> giving Microsoft a platform for growth through the next decade of development 
>> in the computing business."


This is a great book, and I recommend it.  In some way it's a puff piece,
but it's got some interesting insights about teams working together.

Unfortunately the end product they came up with was pretty dreadful in the
end, because of compromises caused by the need for compatibility.

NT turned out to be a shambling monstrosity in spite of the best initial
design efforts.

>You have probably already read it, but I counter with The Soul of a New 
>Machine!
>
>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Soul_of_a_New_Machine
>
>The Soul of a New Machine is a non-fiction book written by Tracy Kidder 
>and published in 1981. It chronicles the experiences of a computer 
>engineering team racing to design a next-generation computer at a 
>blistering pace under tremendous pressure. The machine was launched in 
>1980 as the Data General Eclipse MV/8000.[1]

This is a also great book, and I also recommend it.  It's less of a puff
piece than Showstopper and it has more technical information (including
good explanations of technical decisions for nontechnical readers).

Unfortunately the end product they came up with was pretty dreadful in the
end, because of compromises caused by the need for compatibility.

The 32-bit Eclipse machines kind of died on the market, and never made any
real inroads into the vax and system/36 markets.
--scott

-- 
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."