and Words
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
I’ve been running hot
You got me ticking, now don’t blow my top
If you start me up
If you start me up I’ll never stop
Never stop, never stop, never stop
Lyric excerpts from Musixmatch.
On a late evening in 1995, I remained at work until what was an absurdly long day. Today, I’d have to make an exception and leave before I intended to leave the office. I needed to go to the grocery store and stock up on supplies so that I may continue the death march. While most consider the need to do such a grocery run involves staples like milk, juice, and bread, this was far more basic. At this point, most of what I bothered to go home to do was to shower and sleep. The basic needs translated to soap, toothpaste, laundry detergent. While I’d definitely get some food items, they’ll run out before my next need for soap or toothpaste.
Initially, I had not decided to return to the office after my grocery run but nonetheless contemplated it. I gathered my things into my backpack and slung it over one shoulder. As I walked out the building to my car, I stopped and chatted briefly with teammates who similarly stayed late continuing to work. I asserted that I needed to go to the store for items that I absolutely needed. Their initial look of both contempt and betrayal subsided to be followed by envy. However, in my insistence to leave for such luxuries as toothpaste, I could gather a few items for them while they resisted making a similar trip.
I left that night with a list of items for a couple of my teammates, I stopped at home to drop off the few perishables that I did buy. After taking a short break, I eventually stopped by the office again, if only to drop off the items for my peeps. We operated this way for months.
We all dedicated months of our lives to a little product by the name of Windows 95. At first, it would only be an update to Windows 3.1, and that would be simple. It’s easy to ponder about what types of features would’ve been nice to have on the last version, and we’d simply include it in the next version; it’s iterative.
However, this was more than that. We aspired to fix problems that had plagued PC users for years. Additionally, we moved the platform forward from cooperatively multitasking 16-bit Windows to fully multitasking 32-bit Windows. I won’t bore you with the technical details, but the changes were aspirational, and the product collectively inspired us.
People will occasionally ask me which product I was most proud to work on. I’ll easily respond with the name “Windows 95”. It wasn’t just about my work on it, it was about seeing that whole collection of incredibly talented people similarly inspired. Independent of our role in the product, we all saw the vision. We all drank the Kool-Aid. We were driven by will and determination.
That said, this product was also the source of a number of divorces, and a disproportionate number of babies that were born almost perfectly nine months after we shipped.
We ran a program on Windows 95 called the “10k program”; no, it’s not a reference to running. We aimed to do 10,000 upgrades to diagnose the kinds of problems that we’d encounter. This was 1995, before people were routinely on the internet. In order to accomplish this, we would need to get discs with our software to businesses during the week. We’d ask for different companies to partner with us in order to verify that their upgrades went smoothly. When it didn’t, we’d jot down their contact information and configuration details. I attended one such trip to Southern California, where we had engineers from key groups ready to diagnose problems. It was in this trip where I helped upgrade computers at a Disney office that worked on Imagineering.
On the weekends, we asked people to bring their home computers onto large conference rooms on Microsoft campus. We’d help them through the setup, and again jot down any type of problem they’d encounter. At the time, this was no small task. Most people still used desktop computers; this involved hauling a large case, monitor, keyboard, mouse, and speakers. Still, a number of us worked through Saturdays this way, just chipping away at the number of issues.
Since this pre-dated the internet, there was only one real online forum designated for people to report any problems. Believe it or not, this was CompuServe. If you had applied to participate in the 10k program, when we sent out a disc with the new build and details, we similarly gave details about the online forum in CompuServe. I ended up monitoring those forums and following up on bugs and instructions on how to reproduce the problem. We often responded with workarounds, which weren’t perfect solutions, but allowed users to eventually get things working.
As I wrapped up my work on a particular day, I decided to follow up on one such user in Germany. We had all their contact information, so I simply called the number. A woman answers the phone and greets me in German. I respond in English and ask, “May I talk to [their name]?” While she seemed perplexed, she obliged and connected me. I spoke to the reporter of the said problem and verified to make sure that my suggestion did indeed address the problem. We chatted for a few minutes, and I thanked him for experimenting and verifying that things were indeed working. As I finish the call, he asks one last question, “What time is it over there in Washington?” My response, “It’s about 3am; I was just heading home.”
The day that we RTM’ed (Released to Manufacturing), we celebrated. I’m sure that they brought food, though I don’t remember much of it. We went to the local Costco and bought lots of champagne. Someone filled the back of their pickup truck with ice and filled it with champagne. We didn’t bother to unload it; we simply backed it up to the courtyard where we held the party. We even got bottles of Dom Perignon in the bunch; in fact, I was splashed in the face with some.
Some celebrated by dousing each other in chocolate sauce. I imagine that it originated in bottles from the ice cream station. Once covered in chocolate sauce, and in various states of inebriation, they opted to clean off the chocolate mess before going back indoors. They headed in packs to the large fountain behind Building 9 and jumped in. Naturally, some had friends in the Office product team (which recently shipped Office 95 as well), and slowly these folks were similarly fetched and dunked into the fountain. By the end, the normally crystal-clear fountain water flowed a murky, muddy brown.
Most of our buildings were X-shaped with long hallways that ran the length (and width) of the building. Someone decided that they would ride their motorcycle up and down the halls. While I did not personally witness this phenomenon, the burned carpet from the skid marks left undeniable evidence of the mischief that transpired. That carpet remained that way for days. I’m quite astonished that no one was seriously hurt.
As we partied, helicopters from the local news hovered above. While I’m not sure who alerted them, the list of suspects numbered in the hundreds. The watchful eyes of the local news did not deter anyone from mischief. All of the above shenanigans still occurred; at that stage, most of us simply didn’t care. The pressure had built for months (years for some), and it was all abruptly released.
The local Egghead stores remained open through midnight on Launch Day. Eager customers filled the modestly sized stores to get their own copy of the Operating System, hot off the presses. The cash registers were not designed to run past midnight and subsequently crashed. They started to work after a short reboot and customers ran home with the blue retail box, eager to install it.
As part of the advertising campaign for Windows 95, we licensed the song “Start Me Up” from The Rolling Stones. The ads ran on television, and while parts of it seem garish now, that was decades ago. We introduced the Start button on Windows 95 and did away with the old Program Manager. This product was not only different under the hood; it looked and felt different. There was excitement around the product, and not just for the product team.
Whenever I hear this song, I don’t remember its release in the early 80’s nor do I remember the funky video that accompanied it. I remember the collection of dedicated people working in unison with a single purpose to release this product. We functioned on pure adrenaline and will power. We were inspired not by fear, but by passion. Somehow, we sprinted a marathon and got it to work.
Friends occasionally ask if I’d do it again. That’s a complicated question. Would I do it again today? I would not do it today. I no longer have that kind of endurance and value my home life. The more interesting question is, given the same set of circumstances, would I do it again? Then I reflect on that stage in my life, those amazing people, all working to the edge, and then releasing such an inspired product. I would absolutely do it again.