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The Mind Behind Windows: Dave Cutler

Dave's Garage · 1M views · 2023-10-21 · 3:10:28

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Overview

Dave Plummer interviews Dave Cutler, architect of VMS and Windows NT, in a roughly three-hour conversation about his career and the history of Windows.

On Hacker News

Recommended as a long, excellent first-hand interview with a legendary OS designer, though some note it is light on technical detail.

Recommended by 4 HN people across 3 months · HN mentions 2023–2026

Topics

Operating systems & kernelsTech pioneers & interviewsHistory of computing
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dave cutlerwindows ntvmsoperating systemsmicrosoft

What people said

vetinari · 2023-11 · Strong recommendation

Because the userspace, old and baroque it is, is the compatibility layer for the existing apps. Not the kernel. The kernel is a very nice piece of work, but it come from slightly different assumptions, than the reality turned out to need. Btw, the recent Dave Cutler interview ( [VIDEO] ) is great. Worth the 3 hours it takes.

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progmetaldev · 2025-04 · Recommendation

His series on YouTube, Dave's Garage, has really helped me to conceptualize Operating Systems in the past that I used, but didn't really fully understand. I started with Atari DOS, but moved to the 286 roughly around the time it started to become popular, along with MS-DOS. I'm 45 now, so didn't think about things as deeply back then, as far as constraints and why things may have been built the way they were. I think his series really does a great job at looking into both technology and company politics (especially his time at Microsoft). [VIDEO]

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wil421 · 2024-02 · Recommendation

There’s a fantastic interview on YouTube with Dave Cutler. It’s 3 hours long but there are a few 10 minute highlight clips on the same channel. [VIDEO]

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Sources

Video by Dave's Garage, played through YouTube.

Data and selection notes

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