Thank you CrowdStrike for making me find Dave and these wonderful stories. 😊

Man I could just listen to your stories for hours, really....I'm glad you decided to take that leap into KZfaq and outta your comfort zone, it helps me understand a tiny bit more of the industry with each video

I was an aimless ug student, around last month I started binging you in my long bus rides to and fro college. And you have helped me a lot. Now I actually am curious about everything that's going on in at low level. I can listen to you for hours. I want to listen to you for hours. Please start making podcasts. Please put all your knowledge out there so young people like me can learn sooner.

Dave, as somebody who's been working with/on computers for 40+ years, hearing these stories are pure gold. Many of the things I've wondered about over the years are now being told on your channel in a way that is immensely interesting and entertaining (and I'm learning many new things too). I'm glad I found your channel, thank you for taking the time to share your knowledge and experiences with the rest of the world!

Dave, yes I have run allot of your code I wanted to take a moment to express my appreciation for the impact your code has had on my 45+ year career. As I near the end of this chapter, I've found immense joy in retracing the steps of history, reminiscing about the days when I first started crafting inventory systems and games for TRS-80 computers in the late 70s. Your content consistently brings a smile to my face and serves as a poignant reminder that every day is an opportunity for new adventures and discoveries. Thank you for your ongoing dedication and please know that your work continues to inspire and uplift.

As someone who just got diagnosed as autistic and is questioning their cybersecurity major. You’ve been a really big inspiration for me to push forward with my major. Thank you Dave.

Dave you need to do an unabridged audio book version of this story and your career. This is pure gold for any developer, I'm sure it would be very successful!

You may be deeply indebted to us, but I'm deeply grateful to hear all of these stories. Thanks for sharing, Dave! Some day, I myself may start writing down stories of what it's like to be a UEFI firmware developer. I started in 'BIOS' right after the mass migration to C from assembly, and I've always been UEFI and not legacy BIOS (though I've looked at it from time to time). I'd need to make a few phone calls to get the really cool stories from the 90s and earlier.

The lesson here is to take every opportunity that comes your way and not let your fears or doubts hold you back. Even if you make a complete mess of things, you'll still walk away with a great story. Thank you for sharing, sir.

I love hearing these stories! Thank you for sharing your life with us!

You are what happens when you have supportive parents that fosters a kid's interests

YES! There IS a healthy audience for "retro shenanigans". I'd love to see the IMSAI and Altair up and running. That's one of the major reasons I subscribe to this channel...the anecdotes from Microsoft are very fascinating, but the deep-dive content you do is even more fascinating -- be it retro computing or modern IoT stuff, this is the reason I love the channel. Please keep up this excellent content!

Hey Dave. Thanks for sharing your story. I can totally relate to your story as a lot of it sounds like a (much more successful) version of my own. Like you, I was that kid tinkering with early home computers, making my own video games who somehow lucked into a job a Microsoft. I worked for Microsoft from 1990 to 2009 and I'm pretty sure I remember briefly crossing paths with you at some point. Like you, I also have some code in DOS, Windows and Windows NT (although nothing so cool or impressive as yours). I also worked on some early Xbox games and Office. All during that time I had a number of side hustles as well. So I can totally relate but I have to say that you were far more successful at it all than I ever was! Thanks again for another entertaining video!

Hi Dave, as a retired engineer in my 60's, who built and programmed a computer in my bedroom in the 70's, I'm really enjoying your book. "Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire". It seems many of us engineers are on the spectrum as so much of your experiences ring true in my world. Thank you.

Thank you for the story of HOW you got where you did, where you've been and how many of us have used your programs and not even realized it. DOS in the 6.x era was the first OS I used as a teenager. It's been a long strange trip.

As a lifetime electronics tech, the technical career is very under rated, and when techs get together the stories told can be quite fascinating. Thanks

Amazing , these are computer history and life stories at their best. Thank you!

I started out with 8080 ML, then went to Z-80 Assembly using a Zilog resident assembler, then 68000 on an Amiga. I was a happy camper until both RISC came along and x86 finally won out over 680x0 series. I then relegated myself to C and some RISC PIC stuff but never have been as happy as the old days doing Z-80 and 68K... So, I can see the love for the KIM. Thanks for the video Dave!

So glad to hear how much a commodore guy helped shape the ms world! Loved that Hard Drive book too! Intel Outside!😂

Love stories from the "old days". Being the same age as you, most of it seems like "yesterday".😄 Fun stuff, and thanks for taking the time creating these videos.

I liked hearing about your programming, it was very much like my own. I'm a 84 year old retired "Senior Software Engineer".

Hands down one of the best videos I've ever seen. Watching you tell old stories is like watching an artist paint. It's beautiful. Thank you so much for this 40 minutes of absolute joy. ❤️

Your channel is a safe haven for all geeks alike. I love your channel, and you have inspired me to dive deeper into C++ and do my indie game dev projects that I always put on the backburner because projects that paid the bills always took priority. Thank you for sharing your story. It's truly amazing!!

Thanks for the walk down memory lane. I started on TRS-80s but 10 years ahead. I was also a fixture at the local Radio Shack and the store manager would redirect customers to me when they asked "What does this thing do?" One day I walked in and he offered me the deal of the month - 12k of memory to bring my machine up to 16k. My response? "I can't imagine writing a program that big". Also like you , a lot of people have run code that I wrote. Anyone typing a key on early clone PCs with a Phoenix BIOS, or anyone that sorted the list view on the Windows Volume Manage has. It was a hell of a ride, from 8085 assembly on factory hardened terminals to BIOS for a clone that never made it, to Windows 3.x device drivers, I worked startups up and down Route 128 outside Boston. If my ex wasn't such a Pilgrim, I might have been working for you. Keep the memories coming Dave.

2:21 Today I learned a new word: aptronym. Big fan of your work, book, and shirt, Dave. As someone who got started coding on a 386 and remembers using 5.25" floppies and typing `win` to launch the 3.11 interface, it's fascinating to hear how MS-DOS and Windows was developed during that era and how using tools you helped build led to my own rewarding career in IT. Thank you for sharing!

First fifteen minutes was so much nostalgy at once that I had to pause. There are probably millions of us who have similar experiences and what can I say. Those were the days. And it has been a ride! I don't know if anyone else than nerds can understand. Listening to this I felt a lot. A lot. Feelings I've not had for decades. That excitement what we had back in the days when "everything was new" and we were learning by doing. Nostalgy, sure. Thank you for these stories, you have no idea how much it affects me. Thank you for the video. I must finish it later.

Man you are such an inspiration. You've always been scrappy, hard working, and inquisitive since the beginning. Total badass.

You are an amazing man, and you tell wonderful stories (history) lessons. 😊

You're such a great storyteller Dave, so glad I found your channel.

I love your anecdote, Dave. Personally, I have a lot of overlap with your life until the end of high school. Coding in C and Assembly, and hacking have been at the heart of my computing fun all through my childhood and up to now, although not professionally. I was especially touched when you mentioned your friend Chris, who coded on Test Drive II, which I blitzed the high score table of, that came with the box set. Later on in 1997, I aced an Australia wide competition in lap times in a Need For Speed edition for EB Games stores' competition, that saw me win a trip to a famous race in Australia, the Bathurst 1000. I have always given the creators of Test Drive and Test Drive II credit for all the practice I got, which helped me win that competition. Like you, I grew up on a C64, then an IBM PC XT, then an Amiga, and then more PCs. Even though I have a kick-ass PC now, I still have my original C64, A500 and several other Amigas I love to tinker on. Can't get enough of your content, Dave - keep it coming.

Thank you for sharing your experience, it's so cool. I learned a lot.

This is so interesting to hear about. Thank you for sharing @Dave's Garage.

Great story. I saw you on Dave Bombal's channel and identified some similarities with myself. Brings back fond memories of DOS and early Windows experiences. My dad got a Commode 64 with intent to put his business on it when I was in highschool. But I was the only one in my family who used it, learned BASIC and wrote games (from books mom got me). I went into technology, a 2 year degree in Avionics. I got a job with my brother. But 2 years later I decided to go back and get a BS in Computer Engineering. I remember quitting my $20k/year job and my mom asked if there was actually a future in Computers.

So much connect to your experience! And great story telling! Clap clap

It's fascinating to get first hand information and view from someone so close with the industry in the early days. The way you write and talk is really engaging, I'm happy I've found the channel. Stay happy and in good health

You are my most favorite KZfaq channel. It's amazing to learn about your career, and to relive those days. You're about 5 years ahead of me, but we have had an overall very similar career path. My love of computers started with a C=64 in the basement of my parents in Germany, then I started a series of my own businesses, which lead me to silicon valley, and now pretty much coding recreationally. It's kinda fun when you realize suddenly that... " What would I do if I had enough money that I don't have to work anymore"... And the answer is "well, I would basically just want to program anyways". So, all the best to you. Thank you for making such cool content. And, from one gray beard to another, happy tinkering!

I really enjoy your videos Dave, especially the Windows War Stories from your time at Microsoft. Like yourself I am on the Autism spectrum, but for me I really enjoy building and maintaning computers and servers as I find the hardware really interesting. I like going down the sometimes deep rabbit hole when dealing with a computer, server or piece of hardware that has failed, and won't stop until I've found the problem. I do enjoy the software side of finding and fixing problems in code, but not as much as the hardware. Keep up the good work, and I always look forward to your next video.

Fantastic storytelling. Maybe my favorite of Dave's videos to date.

The anecdote about the custom's officer needing help with Word is so funny!

You are a treasure Dave, keep doing what you love and sharing it with us.

Your stories are fascinating. These 40 minutes flew like an instance. Coding seem easier these days, there are so many resources to help you; thus coding for the constraints of the past hardware and accomplishing great thing is just incredible to me.

It's very weird hearing someone online say these names and words just like I would in my life... I am currently growing up in Saskatchewan (though too young to ever have seen the Radio Shack in Regina... never knew that even existed there) and trying to make a name for myself online. Ive been loving your channel and learning that a guy from my home province made task manager was so cool and i still think it's amazing! This is a great video, thank you for making it :)

Incredibly interesting, thank you very much, I love your channel!

All I can say is a big "Thank You" for the fantastic content as the previous comments, here and on all of your earlier videos, mirror my own fond sentiments.

Thanks for the well-paced, informative, and enlightening video, Mr. Plummer.

Thank you for making this video and this channel. I find it enjoyable to learn more about these topics. Take care and stay well!

Dave, this is one of your best videos yet! Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.

Dave, it was great to meet you at VCF West and loved your talk. Asking you a question and being able to listen to those stories and many jokes made my day 😊

I've watched you for a long time Dave, and I can say that this was one of your best videos ! Please take us on that journey into the land of old retro hardware !! Cheers !

as a fellow autistic person who is canadian to boot, i love your channel, and hearing your story like this was great. my dad used to be in TPUG, and while he’s much more an electrical engineer than a software guy, you kind of remind me of him (i’m pretty sure he’s autistic too, haha). it makes your channel feel nice and familiar.

Wow great video! As a professional software engineer, I find it striking just how much things have changed. Things used to be so bare metal and now we operate on much higher levels of abstraction. Its so interesting to hear about how things used to get done when those layers of abstraction didnt exist.

You worked hard, and the world appreciates it still in 2023! Thank you for your service to progress! Task Manager is beloved. (We all also love blinking lights).

I appreciate your videos. I am 41, I ran a dialup BBS in the 90s until 2005. I started out with dos and desqview, then win 3.11. I also remember seeing ads for your software you mentioned too. I also have autism. I appreciate your videos and the time and effort you put into them. Thank you.

Fascinating career Dave, thanks for sharing your story! I'm keen to see an episode about getting Zork running on the PDP 11/23/73.

What a wonderful story! Parts align with mine, started at Microsoft at 2007, left in 2016. Great company indeed. Not as gifted at programming as you are, but I recognize the love for building stuff and seeing it working at the end. Keep up the great videos!

Fascinating life story, keep'em coming! On a slightly related note, Task manager always stood out for me within Windows as something better than the rest of the stack. Too bad I used to have to use it too often back in the days.

Dave--as the average KZfaq video gets shorter every day, I love that you're recording long-form pieces. Your videos are about the only long ones I watch regularly--thank you! As someone just a smidge younger, your C64 and x86 stories are so relatable. Also: visual zip is great, but you don't know how many times my students try to open files directly from the zip file in an IDE, causing all sorts of issues...😊

It's a shame that there aren't more like Dave creating software now, it saddens me to think where we could be if there were.

Appreciate the stories. Also coded on the C64, a CS major, and based on your adventure path: i would not have gotten hired by MSFT. So I had a career in public service and dev'd a bunch of SQL systems that are still in play +20-25 years later. You add a real story to all the floppies and boxes that I've opened through the decades. I did my best according to my abilities.

This is an absolute treasure trove of information, personal stories and humour, from a hugely influential time. Definitely your best video yet! What a treat, thank you Dave ❤

In a few words: fantastic, informative, imusing, inspiring .. and I am pretty sure, that there are many more words, which can describe all your posts. Especially your voice is very smooth and realy nice to listen to. It is kinda strange to see and hear someone, who created so many programs, which I used in the past or which I am still using today, on the daily basis. God or rather Dave bless the Task Manager. Anyway please keep the chanel alive. Me and many more others will be waiting for the new posts .. as the child waits for the christmass presents :).

You're a great story-teller. Keep it up!

That was the best 40 minutes I've spent watching a screen in a long time! As a fellow 1968 David, Thanks for sharing!

Hey Dave, hello from Australia. Big fan of the channel. I’m a Java developer down under. Would love to hear more stories about your side businesses, more specifically the one you mentioned about leaving Microsoft for. Keep up the good work mate.

im 30 years old barely graduated high school. always struggled paying attention in school and finding motivation or interest in things. but ive always had a love of computers. my dad was a programmer and a lot of my friends are programmers to some degree or another. and as time has gone on ive started getting this desire to learn to code. up til now ive procrastinated. made excuses. worry that im not good enough or smart enough. whatever. but listening to your stories really have been inspiring. i think this vid has really just been another kick in the right direction for me. thank you for all the work youve put in to make windows what it is and for sharing your stories with us.

Dave, like many/most f the other comenters here, I really enjoy hearing your stories. I also enjoy your "retro" episodes about your old computers & old vehicles!

I love your videos, Dave. I can relate to the sentiment of essentially 'winging it' but being confident enough to say 'Yeah, I can do that.' and then having the ability to quickly figure it out and learn. There's nothing quite like the determination to achieve coupled with the risk of losing your job to motivate you to learn fast and get results. I've always been fortunate in that I'm a quick learner and a fast worker and am able to understand and pick up Programming logic quite quickly. I suspect the same is true of yourself.

YET. ANOTHER. AMAZING. HISTORY! Thank you for invest your time into telling it to us!

I'm 51 and had a similar experience in nerd terms as a kid and was looking forward to getting my VIC20 for Christmas in 1982 but the shop told my parents there was some issue with it so I never got it. I'll always never get over that but I went on to enjoy friends systems, work in factories and manual jobs until 1998 when the tech revolution swept the UK and I was out of work and ended up on a course that taught networking and installing DOS to Win 3.11 which was the pinnacle at the time. I learned and ended up building a dwdm network up and down the uk that still lives. My point? I'm a nerd and appreciate your videos decades later 👊

Loved MSDOS, it just friggin worked. These days, I can't get through the week without BSODs, green screens and system freezing. Appreciate all that you did! I spent countless hours in DOS playing games like Doom, Doom 2, Crusader No Remorse and No Regret, SimCity, the Bullfrog lineup (Dungeon Keeper anyone?) and countless others. You glued me to a computer screen for the first time, and I have never looked back. Kudos!

I know very little about computer programming but I've been binging your vids all week, love hearing little stories about something as everyday and seemingly mundane as Windows and you're an excellent story teller!

I always learn something interesting from your videos Dave. Love this channel, thank you so much!

Thank you for sharing this story. The sacrifices our parents made for us is nothing short of amazing. We owe the a great debt. FWIW, Commodore Pet did it for me.

I take valuable time I don't have from work I must do in order to watch your videos. They are always more than worth the sacrifice.

Thank you for sharing your life story and making us travel through memory lane. Also, thank you for inspiring someone like me, a 53 year old man from Puerto Rico and spending almost 25 years working in the IT industry, to further dream for new opportunites and adventures. I discovered your KZfaq channel by accident and feel fascinated by viewing your inside perspectives on Microsoft Windows features that we take for granted and that were created by you.

I never heard it put that way but you’re spot on about the 68k assembly language seeming to be for humans whereas some of the others seemed to be for compilers. Segmented memory on the Intels back then always broke my brain.

Great history lesson, I hope you keep posting more videos like this.

love your shirt Dave. This is oral history of computing.. keep them rolling. thanks.

Dave, you are a fantastic story teller and your life story is so interesting. Thanks for sharing, very inspiring.

As a young adult studying CS, hearing your fascinating stories is fantastic and really inspiring! Thanks for sharing your stories Dave!

Such an awesome story!! Thank Dave, I don;t feel so bad now, loving my hobbies!! "Old Guys Rule!!"

I got my son a Sinclair "ZX81 (which) is a home computer that was produced by Sinclair Research and manufactured in Dundee, Scotland, by Timex Corporation. It was launched in the United Kingdom in March 1981 as the successor to Sinclair's ZX80 and designed to be a low-cost introduction to home computing for the general public. It was hugely successful; more than 1.5 million units were sold" as I could not afford a Comodore or a PC knock off (due to a 17% mortgage on our house). It used a TV as it's monitor and ran Basic. My son also programmed it in assembler.

I used the 'Disk Doctor' program to write machine code directly to floppy.'I used it on the C64 , the SX64, the 128, and the 128D. When the 1581 came out, I removed one of the oldest drives, and added the 1581 in its place. I also redesigned the UI, by editing a duplicate copy of Disk Doctor.

26:05 and what follows brought a smile to my face as I lived in the UK while even my bespoke suit was being completed back home in Poland... flew in for measurements and last 'minute' adjustments and then a day before the wedding for the final touches (hair and the like), photo shoot 'before' and off to the vows and signatures the next day... or something much like that if memory deceives me

I enjoy hearing about your journey. I too went from a VIC-20 to a C-64 and Amiga. Then I jumped to a 386. I got a chance to work on a TRS-80 (Trash 80) in high school and I frankly found it exhilarating itself. This channel is very nostalgic for me.

Since you teased Zork, I would love to see you getting that up and running on classic hardware. I loved all the Infocom text adventures back in the day.

Great video Dave- as always! I got my start using and supporting (never programming) DOS/Windows back in 1989, and your stories about early Windows/95/NT/etc. are so entertaining. Born in '67.. named Brian. Have met SO many guys from that era named Brian, probably due to Brian Keith!

Dave - Great story! I can totally relate to your wedding . I was working in building 2 with the DOSWOW team, under mattfe, integrating my company's 16 bit emulation into NT. I can't remember the exact details but some sort of big deadline was coming up. I was due to head back to the UK to get married at the end of May 1992, but was repeatedly asked to stay in Redmond. Needless to say, my wife-to-be (now wife of 31 years) was getting a little concerned. Long story short: I made it back three days prior to my wedding, took an extra week and headed right back :-) I left my wife in the UK and returned for the weekend of our first wedding anniversary. Yes, that's right: just a flying visit - literally! In total I spent 5 years with the NT team both in building 2 and the new one (28?) that they moved to deeper in the campus. Thanks for bringing back the memories!

Dave you were so lucky. I was born in the UK in 1972 with Asperger's to two clueless abusive parents. I spent my whole life being bullied at school, then drifting from part time job to temporary job until the last 10 years, I spent unemployed until I just gave up searching for a job. I'm now left a broken useless feeling man.

I just want to say thank you for sharing your firsthand account of contributing to what likely will go down in history as the most influential software during an immensely pivotal time in modern history much less the history of computers. The stories alone are incredible but the historical context makes it all the more fortunate that we get the benefit of these videos.

What a fabulous story - thanks for telling it. I have worked on a lot of the really old gear that showed up in the marine industry and know my way around the hardware and software enough to be dangerous, but never and expert. As a result, the videos and stories that you present are just such a fabulous method to revisit some of the 'good old days' and answer a lot of questions that I had often wondered about. I'm retired not too, and fundamentally do the same thing you do, but instead of cars and things mechanical I play around with a full midi enabled hurdy gurdy. Keeps me occupied. Although I'm not motivated to share my past stories with strangers, you have my admiration as someone who does. I sincerely hope you keep making these - I have watched everything you have produced and it has been immensely entertaining.

I just love listening to your stories. Its nostalgic remembering my youth.

This guy needs to be applauded primarily due to the fact that we all have had our ‘windows’ moments. And he had his hands in parts of the software we love to hate😂

Charming and heartwarming biography! Love it. 😍

I had the same experience starting at a non Bell phone company. Sold as a training position. After 4 months, in early 1971, they threw me into the deep end. I learned to appreciate the opportunity.

Bloody brilliant. Can't fault the video, and even though it is 40minutes long, the time just flew by. Thank you.

thank you for your stories, dave. 💙

Dave this was very interesting to live trough your experience from youth to Microsoft ! Congrats and thanks for making a difference in Software history

Dave, you are brilliant. Thanks for everything that you've done.

you know its a good day when dave uploads