Customer Reviews

Show Stopper! Cloth: THE BREAKNECK RACE TO CREATE WINDOWS NT AND THE NEXT GENERATION AT MICROSOFT

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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. :-)

I am a beginner to the programming. it helped me a lot with a lot of interesting insights into the programming and the life of a programmer through this novel story of creation of a mammoth operating system called Windows NT.
helped to better understand the design cosiderations, priorities of a modern day operating system like NT, complexity management in a large scale software development project by controlled chaos and also gives an interesting insight into the inner workings and life at microsoft.

though this book won't go into a lot of technical details, gives very interesting technical anecdotes where ever appriopriate. As mentioned in the some of the reviews above, it focusses on the people behind the NT even with their personal details, with two chapters devoted to the NT's chief architect dave cutler and also about scores of other people on the project.

I am a beginner to the programming. it helped me a lot with a lot of interesting insights into the programming and the life of a programmer through this novel story of creation of a mammoth operating system called Windows NT.
helped to better understand the design cosiderations, priorities of a modern day operating system like NT, complexity management in a large scale software development project by controlled chaos and also gives an interesting insight into the inner workings and life at microsoft.

though this book won't go into a lot of technical details, gives very interesting technical anecdotes where ever appriopriate. As mentioned in the some of the reviews above, it focusses on the people behind the NT even with their personal details, with two chapters devoted to the NT's chief architect dave cutler and also about scores of other people on the project.

I bought this book with a lot of anticipation. I work in the software
industry, and in my company am responsible for managing the entire
chain of software development, from requirements to release. I was
very disappointed both with the recounting of the technical
difficulties as well as that of the personal challenges encountered by
the contributors to NT.

In a nutshell, I found the book to be quite bland. The counterpoint
was weak and the difficulties of the NT team hardly tangible. Part of
the problem with the book is it has so many disjointed pieces that the
result is an incoherent patchwork.

Also, I was shocked to see how little reference was made to Unix, it
was perhaps mentioned once. Let's face facts. Most of what NT wanted
to be already existed in Unix. Multi-process, multi-user,
network-enabled, access security, advanced file system, kernel space
protected mode -- for all the great things that NT was supposed to
include, it was just a Unix wannabe, which already had all this and
more. It's clear that most of what went into NT was cloned from Unix,
but there is no mention in Zachary's book of how Unix influenced the
construction of NT.

It is hard to believe that NT independently ended up looking so much
like Unix, but from the recounting in Showstopper, this is what
Zachary would have us believe. Perhaps he was just misled in his
interviews (the sin of ommission?), however it's clear that he either
did not do his homework, or he explicitly did not want to tell this
somewhat embarassing (for Microsoft) part of the story.

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.

Windows NT took Microsoft from a desktop OS and gave it the foothold into the enterprise computing arena. This is the account of the energy, sweat and the shear drive of David Cutler and his team of Digital Equipment Corps expatriates who combined with the Microsoft team, made the initial embyronic version of NT that helped cement Microsoft into a formidable force in the marketplace. If you study Microsoft as an organization, if you administer Windows NT as your profession, if you just want a good a book, this is your choice.

When I purchased this book I didn't expect it to cater to a professional software developer. However, I didn't expect it be so superficial.

The author had a serious dilemma which he failed to solve. He tried to write a book that would be readable by general audience. Unfortunately, if you write about software development process there are only two ways you can do it: either get into the details or end up with a melodramatic style describing feelings of characters involved. This book chose the latter one.

It is a wide misconception that serious book about software development process can only be read by people working in the field. In fact one of the best books on the subject is Fred Brooks's "The mythical men-month" and it is perfectly readable. I hoped the showstopper book would take the very same approach.

Instead, the book is extremely superficial - some 70% of the text is insights into personal lives of people involved and description of their "feelings." As interesting as it can be, this is not what I wanted to read. Coupled with endless explanations of what the operating system is and what bugs are, this makes a boring reading.

To conclude: don't. If you want a good book on the process get "The mythical man-month". If you want a book on Microsoft practices, get a book called "Microsoft Secrets". It definitely contains more information on the history of NT development than this one.

This book has given me such a wonderful reading time. I love each unique character in th book. How they managed to get together and create a great Operating System. The team leader, Cutler, is a strong character and he is the glue to bind the NT development team together. If you read this book, you wouldn't be disappoint!

I found the book boring. I can't see how anyone that is not in the business of developing software could find it interesting. However I am in the business of developing software and I still thought that it was boring.

This book is a brilliant picture of the true Microsoft; hot, dedicated, goal-oriented, clever, and 21st century. Showstopper is one of the best journalistic works of the cyber-industry. I literally give this book as gifts to friends and associates so they can understand the mind of a computer professional. P. Zachary is one of the few bright stars in the computer industry who can explain in simple terms the truth about intellectuals who live in a world called cyber-space. Read this book if you read no other book in the year 2000. I know this book is accurate, I loved every minute I worked in the environment called P. Zacary calls Microsoft. Read this book about Windows NT and learn why Microsoft will number one for years to come.