观止——微软创建NT和未来的夺命狂奔（中、英）PDF

Over the Line, bursts into the Build Lab and takes stock of the largest, most complex

program ever created for a personal computer.

It is 10:20 in the morning, and the latest "build" of the program, called Windows NT, is

hours late. Cutler, the leader of the team making NT, is angry about the delay, angry about

a botched test the day before, angry at the world. He knows that nothing slows progress

more than a steady accumulation of small lapses, and he is bent on pushing ahead.

Cutler insists on frequent builds, or samples, of NT so that his 250 programmers can

"eat their own dog food." It is a frustrating experience, not unlike building a house from

Cutler's unhappiness is contagious. Three builders, who stitch together NT with the

aid of computers, hover behind Cutler, busying themselves while Cutler churns. One, a

shoeless and jittery young man, juggles three rubber balls. He is surrounded by dozens of

computers. The voice of Aretha Franklin, romping through "Dr. Feelgood," fills the room

from the stereo speakers mounted on the wall.

No fan of juggling or Aretha, Cutler growls. He jumps to his feet, flinging the chair

behind him, and storms out of the lab. The shoeless juggler and the chief builder dip into a

big jar of Rolaids, popping one each. The day has soured early.

him from containing his emotions. "The way you let off stress is to let it out," he says. He

isn't too particular about how he does it. A circle drawn on the wall near the door marks

the spot where he once unleashed a violent kick, cracking his toe. Just the other day, he

smashed a wall with his fist, which ordinarily would not have caused a stir except that this

time he hit a stud and broke a finger.

Cutler's impatience is ill mannered but understandable. Time means everything to him

now. He is a year behind schedule, and after years of work his team is tired and frustrated.

Only the enormity of their goal sustains them now. The 250 members of the team aim to

produce a computer program so powerful and versatile that someday everyone will need it.

Rather than a single entity, NT consists of scores of intertwined programs that

together comprise an operating system. This software turns a personal computer into a

precise tool of thought, helping a person or an organization control its most valuable asset:

information. NT exerts its power through a dizzying succession of ordinary actions.

Seemingly at once, it may open a computer file, move text or graphics from one place to

humanity's most intricate handiworks. "No one mind can comprehend it all," Cutler says.

A system as complicated as NT requires a rich patron. In William H. Gates, NT has one

of the richest. Gates is cofounder and chief executive of Microsoft Corp., the world's

largest software maker. With NT, Gates seeks to extend his software dominion from

desktop software, which he monopolizes, to the network. In the 1980s, Microsoft's DOS

and Windows system software defined the way most people worked with computers. In the

1990s, the company aims to define the software that electronically ties together workers

and businesses, consumers and homes. The making of NT, Gates hopes, will be the first

step toward realizing this grand dream.