Man I could just listen to your stories for hours, really....I'm glad you decided to take that leap into UA-cam and outta your comfort zone, it helps me understand a tiny bit more of the industry with each video
I agree wholeheartedly!!! And being in computers and using computers since the Commodore Vic 20 and getting real good at hardware up and including today. My biggest complaint is the damn cellphones, you cannot change batteries like you could 20 years ago. Well, Dave has done himself a good job. And yes I am on the Spectrum!!!😅😅😅😅😅😅 DE N2JYG
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
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.
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 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!
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.
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.
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!
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!
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 😊
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
You are my most favorite UA-cam 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'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 !
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.
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.
I've recently been learning x86 Assembly, and to be honest, it's really helped me with regards to High Level Programming, but - contrary to what a lot of people say - I actually find Low Level Programming easier to understand and work with. It's so much more simpler. In my opinion at least. You have to be a lot more careful with it, but - to be honest - I think that should be part of any coding and programming, because then you'll build up a much clearer/deeper understanding of what the code will do before you compile and run it.
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.
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 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).
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.
I think the industry owes RadioShack a huge thank you for the 1000's of computer labs they setup globally, like Dave and yourself (and I am sure many others), its was my Friday/Saturday go to and lead to my first commercial programming job.
Great history lesson, I hope you keep posting more videos like this.
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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.
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!
Very interesting. I too am a retired software developer, initially, C on VMS and for the last 22 years C++ on Unix, HPUX, Solaris, AIX etc for the telecomms industry, but my career began quite differently, as a ship's radio officer. I would travel with either an Apple ][ or Rockwell AIM 65 if I had to fly to join a ship, and I learnt to code while away at sea. I've never been a Microsoft fan but when the last outfit I worked for was taken over by a US company we were all forced to run Windows desktops, so I have some experience with it. I too often think back over my nearly 40 years in the business and am still proud of my achievements, most of it will be running across the globe for many years to come. I've kept my hand in since retiring, I'm a CW amateur radio operator and enjoy experimenting with software defined radio, it is very rewarding to build hardware and software that you can actually use in real time. You've certainly had a long and interesting career in what is a very rewarding industry, and I'm very happy to have had a slice of it too.
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. ❤️
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!
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.
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 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.
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.
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 ❤
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!
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!
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!
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!
Holy shit, that off the cuff line about being suicidal while working for 7-11, at least that's how I interpreted the shiny blade line. You dropped that so casually, but I feel like you probably spent hours deciding whether or not to include that in the script. Honestly, thank you for doing so. I'm currently aiming to become a security analyst while working 50 hours a week managing an extremely busy and understaffed cafe, and there's been more than one late night when I've had the thought cross my mind. You're inspirational.
Dave this was very interesting to live trough your experience from youth to Microsoft ! Congrats and thanks for making a difference in Software history
I love how you mention your tendency to volunteer for something you have no experience with and just act like you know what you are doing. This is a concept i wish i knew when i was younger because i started doing this after joining the military and it has driven me into a more successful career than i could have imagined back in my home town
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 UA-cam 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.
Dave--as the average UA-cam 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...😊
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.
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.
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 👊
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.
As a 25 years old guy and IT system engineer from Germany I just want to thank you for sharing your insights as an OS-engineer. Topics like the story behind the bluescreen, the development of Task-Manager or like the software activation system for Windows works, are gold for me and I could listen to them everytime.
Fascinating history intertwined with a personal journey. I'm old enough to have used MS Dos and marvelled at Windows 3.11....... I'm glad I discovered your channel - thanks from the UK.
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 :).
I enjoyed hearing your history. I grew up doing similar things as you but did not have access to a pc until much later in life. By then I was more steeped in hardware with only some programming experience. I as well have matching diagnosis's to yours and unfortunately by the time I started to re-enter the art of programming my mind refuses to take to it, which is abnormal enough for me to be somewhat ill about it. I do however keep trying despite my minds ability to wander away when it gets the slightest bit confused. People like yourself give me and others hope that we can still make something of it if we keep at it, it is appreciated!
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 :)
What a story. Thanks for sharing with us. I wrote a menu system for DOS 3.1 that allowed me to go between Ventura Publisher, Wordstar 2000, Windows 3.0 and other programs to produce a 300+ page product catalog for a local company--all within that 640 k limitation. I was proud of that accomplishment. Thanks again.
I love LOVE hearing this, am in my 20s, and am already coding for a aircraft company, while building cars as a side project(s). And I just can relate to you very much.
Wow!! Loved this story! I just retired at 58. Started my software journey creating simple games on my Atari 400 in Basic and 6502 machine language. All for my own enjoyment. I am so jealous of your career. Mine was quite unremarkable.. some consulting and working for a big company for 35 years in Michigan. I wish I had moved when I graduated from college.
Hi Dave, I love listening to your stories on coding for the Microsoft world. I became involved in the XT and 286 world writing an interface for a product my company Summa Four made for PBX vendors to collect and report on phone calls made through their PBX systems using an RS-232 interface based on a product of Basic that was compiled in the late 80s. It was a knock of of Visual Basic. It was so satisfying and fun. I considered my work coding assembly language subroutines that could be called from Basic to control the printer output, screen layout and user interface exciting. Keep your videos coming as you have a great way of explaining things and you are very clear and concise.
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.
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You are a fantastic story teller! I love listening to your videos. Thank you!
as born in 73 for me its more running down memory line. still got few amigas, c64, ataris and testdrive2 was my only game i ever played on. tnx for bringing good memories back, and congratulations to your career, or better always choosing the right options in life. greetings from austria 🇦🇹
This was such a joy to listen to. I’m ten years older, and the course of my professional life was set when I discovered computers. But I like to think that had I been your age, I would have been a coder. The C64 and the Amiga were my first computers. I am a builder of large mechanical musical instruments. I love my work. What strikes me is that the craft that I do is not much different from the thrill and fascination of what you do. I too am what they call neuro-diverse these days. That sense of peace you clearly feel in the flashing leds and mesmerizing computer displays, I feel when I tune a giant pipe organ or when I recreate large quantities of small parts out of wood leather and hide glue. Mazel tov! What a wonderful video. Thank you.
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 UA-cam and outta your comfort zone, it helps me understand a tiny bit more of the industry with each video
I agree wholeheartedly!!! And being in computers and using computers since the Commodore Vic 20 and getting real good at hardware up and including today. My biggest complaint is the damn cellphones, you cannot change batteries like you could 20 years ago.
Well, Dave has done himself a good job. And yes I am on the Spectrum!!!😅😅😅😅😅😅
DE N2JYG
Thanks, I really appreciate hearing that!
Yes - this video is time well spent!
@@DavesGarageYou look way too manly to be a coder nowadays 😂
@@franklinwerren7684 You can change the battery in a Fairphone :) It's a bit chunky though.
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
thank you sir. it's folks like you that kept me in the IT field.. you / we all were / are always willing to share. 2 fingers.
I liked hearing about your programming, it was very much like my own. I'm a 84 year old retired "Senior Software Engineer".
Awesome! I’m sure you have some amazing stories too!
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.
Amazing , these are computer history and life stories at their best. Thank you!
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!
Thanks, glad they're useful and/or entertaining!
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!
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.
Thanks for the kind words!
I wish I had said that! I agree with all your comments!
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.
Keep going!!
Man you are such an inspiration. You've always been scrappy, hard working, and inquisitive since the beginning. Total badass.
Thank you for sharing your experience, it's so cool.
I learned a lot.
So much connect to your experience! And great story telling! Clap clap
You're a great story-teller. Keep it up!
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 making this video and this channel. I find it enjoyable to learn more about these topics. Take care and stay well!
Thanks, you too!
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!
You are what happens when you have supportive parents that fosters a kid's interests
It sure helps! For me, at least, it never would have happened otherwise!
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.
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.
Thanks for the well-paced, informative, and enlightening video, Mr. Plummer.
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.
You're very welcome! Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
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!
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!
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 😊
Thanks, you too!
I love hearing these stories! Thank you for sharing your life with us!
My favorite is the Visual ZIP story.
You're very welcome, glad you found them interesting or entertaining!
You're such a great storyteller Dave, so glad I found your channel.
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.
So glad to hear how much a commodore guy helped shape the ms world! Loved that Hard Drive book too! Intel Outside!😂
This is so interesting to hear about. Thank you for sharing @Dave's Garage.
The anecdote about the custom's officer needing help with Word is so funny!
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.
Do it buddy! Otherwise, these stories die with the amazing folk behind them.
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.
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.
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.
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!!
You are my most favorite UA-cam 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!
You are a treasure Dave, keep doing what you love and sharing it with us.
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 !
Thanks, will do!
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.
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.
I've recently been learning x86 Assembly, and to be honest, it's really helped me with regards to High Level Programming, but - contrary to what a lot of people say - I actually find Low Level Programming easier to understand and work with. It's so much more simpler. In my opinion at least. You have to be a lot more careful with it, but - to be honest - I think that should be part of any coding and programming, because then you'll build up a much clearer/deeper understanding of what the code will do before you compile and run it.
I always learn something interesting from your videos Dave. Love this channel, thank you so much!
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.
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 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).
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.
I think the industry owes RadioShack a huge thank you for the 1000's of computer labs they setup globally, like Dave and yourself (and I am sure many others), its was my Friday/Saturday go to and lead to my first commercial programming job.
Great history lesson, I hope you keep posting more videos like this.
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.
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!
Wow, thanks! Glad you're enjoying them!
Very interesting. I too am a retired software developer, initially, C on VMS and for the last 22 years C++ on Unix, HPUX, Solaris, AIX etc for the telecomms industry, but my career began quite differently, as a ship's radio officer. I would travel with either an Apple ][ or Rockwell AIM 65 if I had to fly to join a ship, and I learnt to code while away at sea. I've never been a Microsoft fan but when the last outfit I worked for was taken over by a US company we were all forced to run Windows desktops, so I have some experience with it. I too often think back over my nearly 40 years in the business and am still proud of my achievements, most of it will be running across the globe for many years to come. I've kept my hand in since retiring, I'm a CW amateur radio operator and enjoy experimenting with software defined radio, it is very rewarding to build hardware and software that you can actually use in real time. You've certainly had a long and interesting career in what is a very rewarding industry, and I'm very happy to have had a slice of it too.
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. ❤️
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!
IIRC, win 3.11 was started with "win /3" to start it in enhanced mode .. ? otherwise you are just using windows in standard mode
Belongs in a Frasier 2024 episode.
You are an amazing man, and you tell wonderful stories (history) lessons. 😊
Thank you for sharing such a personal story. I'm really glad I found your channel.
As a young adult studying CS, hearing your fascinating stories is fantastic and really inspiring! Thanks for sharing your stories Dave!
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.
Fantastic storytelling. Maybe my favorite of Dave's videos to date.
Wow, thanks!
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 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.
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.
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 ❤
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!
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!
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!
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!
Glad you like them! I want to do more retro stuff if there's an appetite for it!
Great video Dave, I loved to hear your story!
Holy shit, that off the cuff line about being suicidal while working for 7-11, at least that's how I interpreted the shiny blade line. You dropped that so casually, but I feel like you probably spent hours deciding whether or not to include that in the script. Honestly, thank you for doing so. I'm currently aiming to become a security analyst while working 50 hours a week managing an extremely busy and understaffed cafe, and there's been more than one late night when I've had the thought cross my mind. You're inspirational.
Hmm. I thought he meant that someone tried to mug him.
That was the best 40 minutes I've spent watching a screen in a long time! As a fellow 1968 David, Thanks for sharing!
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.
That's high praise! Thanks!
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
I love how you mention your tendency to volunteer for something you have no experience with and just act like you know what you are doing. This is a concept i wish i knew when i was younger because i started doing this after joining the military and it has driven me into a more successful career than i could have imagined back in my home town
Incredibly interesting, thank you very much, I love your channel!
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 UA-cam 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.
Dave, this is one of your best videos yet! Thoroughly enjoyable from start to finish.
Dave--as the average UA-cam 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...😊
Dave, you are a fantastic story teller and your life story is so interesting. Thanks for sharing, very inspiring.
Thanks for listening!
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.
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.
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.
YET. ANOTHER. AMAZING. HISTORY!
Thank you for invest your time into telling it to us!
Glad you enjoyed it!
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 👊
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.
As a 25 years old guy and IT system engineer from Germany I just want to thank you for sharing your insights as an OS-engineer. Topics like the story behind the bluescreen, the development of Task-Manager or like the software activation system for Windows works, are gold for me and I could listen to them everytime.
you know its a good day when dave uploads
One of my favorite things is listening to things that happened in the past it's very interesting how things came about and what they are today.
Fascinating history intertwined with a personal journey. I'm old enough to have used MS Dos and marvelled at Windows 3.11....... I'm glad I discovered your channel - thanks from the UK.
Glad you enjoyed it!
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 :).
Bloody brilliant. Can't fault the video, and even though it is 40minutes long, the time just flew by. Thank you.
I enjoyed hearing your history. I grew up doing similar things as you but did not have access to a pc until much later in life. By then I was more steeped in hardware with only some programming experience. I as well have matching diagnosis's to yours and unfortunately by the time I started to re-enter the art of programming my mind refuses to take to it, which is abnormal enough for me to be somewhat ill about it. I do however keep trying despite my minds ability to wander away when it gets the slightest bit confused.
People like yourself give me and others hope that we can still make something of it if we keep at it, it is appreciated!
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 :)
You're welcome! And it doesn't matter where you start, it matters what you do!
What a story. Thanks for sharing with us. I wrote a menu system for DOS 3.1 that allowed me to go between Ventura Publisher, Wordstar 2000, Windows 3.0 and other programs to produce a 300+ page product catalog for a local company--all within that 640 k limitation. I was proud of that accomplishment. Thanks again.
I love LOVE hearing this, am in my 20s, and am already coding for a aircraft company, while building cars as a side project(s). And I just can relate to you very much.
Wow!! Loved this story! I just retired at 58. Started my software journey creating simple games on my Atari 400 in Basic and 6502 machine language. All for my own enjoyment. I am so jealous of your career. Mine was quite unremarkable.. some consulting and working for a big company for 35 years in Michigan. I wish I had moved when I graduated from college.
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.
Hi Dave, I love listening to your stories on coding for the Microsoft world. I became involved in the XT and 286 world writing an interface for a product my company Summa Four made for PBX vendors to collect and report on phone calls made through their PBX systems using an RS-232 interface based on a product of Basic that was compiled in the late 80s. It was a knock of of Visual Basic. It was so satisfying and fun. I considered my work coding assembly language subroutines that could be called from Basic to control the printer output, screen layout and user interface exciting.
Keep your videos coming as you have a great way of explaining things and you are very clear and concise.
The BASIC was TurboBasic and it could be compiled and could call assembly code from libraries you could included.
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.
You are a fantastic story teller! I love listening to your videos. Thank you!
Thank you so much! I never get to hear it from your perspective so appreciate the feedback!
as born in 73 for me its more running down memory line. still got few amigas, c64, ataris and testdrive2 was my only game i ever played on. tnx for bringing good memories back, and congratulations to your career, or better always choosing the right options in life. greetings from austria 🇦🇹
This was such a joy to listen to. I’m ten years older, and the course of my professional life was set when I discovered computers. But I like to think that had I been your age, I would have been a coder. The C64 and the Amiga were my first computers.
I am a builder of large mechanical musical instruments. I love my work. What strikes me is that the craft that I do is not much different from the thrill and fascination of what you do. I too am what they call neuro-diverse these days. That sense of peace you clearly feel in the flashing leds and mesmerizing computer displays, I feel when I tune a giant pipe organ or when I recreate large quantities of small parts out of wood leather and hide glue.
Mazel tov! What a wonderful video. Thank you.
Nice shirt! Nearly 40 years in Support, thanks for taking me back!