Inside Task Manager with the Original Author

You made THE task manager? Jesus Christ, that's something

Wish there could be like a hall of fame for programmers. People like Dave are the real super stars.

I worked at Bell Labs in the mid '80s as part of the Unix System V R4 C compiler team. One day when I was working on a port to the Intel i860 processor, I wrote a small assembler debugger because the symbolic debugger was not finished yet. I named my debugger "fred", just because. It soon spread throughout the department, and I would occasionally get a call or email question about it. No problem. Somehow, fred got included on the Unix source tape that ended up being shipped around the world. One day I got an email from someone in Italy asking a question about something that wasn't completely clear in the manual page I had written. I answered the question, then asked how they knew about fred. That's how I found out it had gone out with the source code.

Imagine having the creator of the Task Manager on your resume.

Task Manager is one of the single most important tools in the OS ever created. Well done!

I hope it says "Father of Task Manager" on your business card. My company once worked with the "Father of Uninstall" who wrote the uninstall sequence for Windows apps. Still to this day probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen on a business card

Task manager; the most reliable asset in Windows when all of your media programs crash and lock up👌🏽you’re a gift, sir. Thank you

No day has gone by without me opening Task Manager at least once. Setting startup programs, Fixing audiodg issues, Ending stubborn programs, Monitoring system components, etc. You are my hero.

Task Manager has saved me more times than I could possibly count. Great job. I'm grateful for your work!

You've saved me from many system lockups and a potential ass-whooping from my parents when they walked in on me viewing naughty materials that wouldn't close properly without Task Manager. You're the hero we needed, but the one we don't deserve!

My friends and I used to play a game on LAN partys which consisted of taking turns ending processes in Task Manager until your system crashes. Like a "Last Task Manager standing". Anyway thanks for your service, Dave! I am glad you came up with that sweet little program.

Don't belittle what you've done! There's been so many computer sessions that went to hell and the only save was the task manager. You help me monitor my computers basic health and strains it's under. That's magic. I still use the task manager regularly to monitor various aspects of my experience. Thank you man, so much.

A modern OS without a task manager is just unthinkable, and it's one of the few things in Windows 11 that still focuses on functionality over form. Quite a legacy you built there.

This might sound insane, but when you said you wrote the Task Manager, I had this feeling like you're the biggest celebrity in the world (to me). Your work has DEFINITELY stood the test of time, and you've saved millions of people hundreds of hours with it. Cheers!

Youtube algorithm brought me here, I watched this video from you, and then another, and then another, and another... My GOSH your videos are so interesting! I normally wouldn't be very interested in someone rambling in front of a camera for 20 minutes, but the things you talk about related to the early days of Windows development or even modern Windows systems, and THE WAY in which you explain everything, something about it all is just so captivating. Keep it up!

Thanks man. Your work has is amazing and Task Manager has always been there for me to save the day in my long IT career. Thank you!

The CREATOR OF IT condoned my use of Ctrl+Shift+Escape. I feel so validated. I love you.

For all the faults Windows has had over the years, the Task Manager was always a feature I was tremendously grateful for. Thank you sir!

As much as I've complained about Windows over the years, I have no idea how something so complex could ever work as well as it does. Very interesting to hear from someone directly involved in such development. Well done!

This is fascinating! As a long long time Windows user, it's very interesting to hear these stories from a creator.