1M views · Oct 21, 2023 · 3:10:28 · 4 HN recommenders · 12 mentions · discussed 2023–2026
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.
Why Hacker News points people here: Recommended as a long, excellent first-hand interview with a legendary OS designer, though some note it is light on technical detail.
“there is an excellent 3 hour long interview with Dave Cutler on that channel.”HN comment, 2023
“Worth the 3 hours it takes.”
Long interview with Cutler on Windows history.
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 ( this video ) is great. Worth the 3 hours it takes.
“there is an excellent 3 hour long interview with Dave Cutler on that channel.”
Excellent three-hour Cutler interview.
That's not his channel, its a different Dave. However, there is an excellent 3 hour long interview with Dave Cutler on that channel. this video
“fantastic interview on YouTube with Dave Cutler”
Long Cutler interview with shorter highlight clips.
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. this video
“His series on YouTube, Dave's Garage, has really helped me to conceptualize Operating Systems”
Series on OS technology and company politics.
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). this video
Cutler on the origin of the NT name.
Was the origin of 'NT' in 'Windows NT' really New Technology? Some suggest that the name might have originated from the Intel i860 CPU. Originally, NT was targeted at the Intel i860 CPU, codenamed N10 (or "N-Ten"). Dave Cutler's put to rest that it was 'New Technology' this video
“The quality of OpenVMS is really something else”
Cutler on OpenVMS quality.
If you haven't already seen it some story's from Andy Goldstein[1]. The quality of OpenVMS is really something else, also repeated from Dave Cutler[2]. [1] link [2] this video
“Check out this interview with Dave Cutler by Dave Plummer”
Check out this interview with Dave Cutler by Dave Plummer: this video (from 02:03:00) Oh, and if someone can lipread, the audio mutes at 02:06:55 :-)
“its pretty light on the nitty gritty technical aspects”
Cutler interview, light on technical detail.
judging from how i've read other people describe him, Dave Cutler's personality seems antithecal to memoirs or biographies, from what I've read he seems to be very much like John Carmack in his total lack of sentimentality. Thankfully some enterprising people have managed to get him to sit infront of a camera, but its pretty light on the nitty gritty technical aspects: - Computer history museum interview: link - David Plummer's interview: this video
Cutler says marketing disliked NT meaning New Technology.
Here's a direct link: this video "New Technology", if you want to search the transcript. Per Dave, marketing did not want to use "NT" for "New Technology" because they thought no one would buy new technology.
Cutler on being recruited by Gates and Ballmer.
What's interesting is that Cutler said in an interview that initially he talked to Gates but wasn't interested until Ballmer swayed him in. with a few minutes of pretext: this video
Cutler on current work with Xbox Cloud hardware.
On his garage interview, he mentioned nowadays having fun with XBox Cloud hardware running Azure Linux. this video
Cutler on Linux on Xbox for Azure.
I have read that, yeah it also shows a lot how things changed. As per his interview on Dave's Garage, besides being of an age where he really doesn't need to work, at the time he was involved on getting Linux running on XBox on Azure, apparently Microsoft uses idle consoles from XBox Cloud for AI. this video
