Showstopper by G. Pascal Zachary

Author:G. Pascal Zachary
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: ereads.com
Published: 1994-06-16T16:00:00+00:00

In September 1991, the revamping of security went largely unnoticed as the team pushed to complete a working version of NT in time to demonstrate in October at the mammoth Comdex computer show in Las Vegas. This would be the first public showing of NT. It was critical because it was aimed at those people Microsoft hoped would write the first applications for their new operating system. Without programs especially tailored to NT, customers might never appreciate NT’s powers.

The Comdex deadline, which was hard and fast, drove Cutler to new heights of intensity. Yelling, pounding on walls and cursing became commonplace. The only outrage he didn’t commit, Cutler later joked, was to throw his desk out of a window. Why all the histrionics? “I just wasn’t used to working in a place where things got so screwed up so often,” he said.

At the same time, Cutler scrapped the October 1991 date for finishing the final code for NT. His new finish line was April 1992. If the code was in good shape by then, he thought it would still be possible to begin selling the finished edition of NT by the end of 1992. But this would take some doing. He was appalled by the slovenly condition of the code written by many on his team. Too few of them shared his zeal for getting the code right the first time. This galled him. At times like this Cutler would visit Perazzoli in his office, close the door and bemoan his situation. “We have a bunch of fucking jerks working for us,” he said many times. “How are we ever going to get NT done?”

On September 27, 1991, twenty-five days before Comdex, Cutler sent a long and spirited memo to the team’s code writers. He sketched out a plan that called for building four versions over the next two weeks, any one of which might end up as the build released to the public.

“Our schedule is very tight,” Cutler wrote:

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