- 5 -
Rather than a single entity, NT consists of scores of intertwined programs that
together comprise an operating system. This software turns a personal computer into a
precise tool of thought, helping a person or an organization control its most valuable asset:
information. NT exerts its power through a dizzying succession of ordinary actions.
Seemingly at once, it may open a computer file, move text or graphics from one place to
another on a screen, print a letter, calculate a row of numbers and keep several word
processors, spreadsheets and other applications from getting in each other's way. NT's
most profound benefits are hidden. Its invisible acts sustain a computer much as
unconscious acts-taking a breath, blinking an eye, hearing a sound-sustain a human life.
NT is alarmingly complex. Consisting of six million lines of code, the program is among
humanity's most intricate handiworks. "No one mind can comprehend it all," Cutler says.
A system as complicated as NT requires a rich patron. In William H. Gates, NT has one
of the richest. Gates is cofounder and chief executive of Microsoft Corp., the world's
largest software maker. With NT, Gates seeks to extend his software dominion from
desktop software, which he monopolizes, to the network. In the 1980s, Microsoft's DOS
and Windows system software defined the way most people worked with computers. In the
1990s, the company aims to define the software that electronically ties together workers
and businesses, consumers and homes. The making of NT, Gates hopes, will be the first
step toward realizing this grand dream.
Gates also intends to bring full circle the computer revolution of the past half century.
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