Rating: 
Summary: Excellent Read if you are interested in Software Development
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Read if you are interested in Software Development
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: A Blind Eye
Review: 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.
Rating: 
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Big disappointment
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Riveting
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Great background for MS networking standard-bearer!
Review: I found this book to be:
1. A good read. This is oftentimes not a quality on books dealing with computers. Pascal held my attention by focusing on the personalities behind the development of NT, not the technical info. There are many books out there that do that. What he offered was interesting insight into the people behind the product.
2 Well balanced. The technical aspects were simply explained without being condescending or disinteresting. Again, this is a very difficult balancing trick.
As a network administrator and an MCT, I found the background information provided by Pascal both entertaining and useful.
I would recommend this book to any individual seeking to learn more about Windows NT, for whatever reason. I've put it on my recommended reading list for my students
Rating:
Summary: Well worth reading
Review: If you go into this book with the right expectations, you will find it a real page turner, despite what some people say. It is not about software development, or about the technicalities of the NT design, but about the people, the tensions, and in short, the environment surrounding the development of WindowsNT. It is not just for the programmer, or just the average computer user, or even the person who has never used a computer at all. It should appeal to all of the above, but that said, you must understand that it cannot satisfy all the questions that people of any one of those groups might have. Knowing that, and expecting it, I think you will enjoy this book quite a lot.
Rating: 
Summary: A must for every programmer !!
Review: It's a briliant read. The Author portrays a very vivid picture of the programmer and his life through a software project, the peer pressure, the deadlines, the compromises and everything else a programmer can go through. Thankfully, this is one book that does not talk about Microsoft or its Creaters,(Mr. Gates). If your day begins and ends with 'NT. Then this book is a must for you.
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