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Former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer recounts the story of his creation of VisualZIP and how it nearly cost him his job
While ZIP file support has long been a commonplace feature of Windows and other operating systems, this wasn't always the case. Once upon a time, a Microsoft engineer had to create a kernel extension called "VisualZIP" to enable standard ZIP features. This same kernel extension nearly got Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer fired due to workplace politics he was unaware of, but ultimately ended up being the basis for today's ZIP support in Windows.
While this factoid has been on the record for a while, Dave Plummer uploaded an 8-minute recounting of the life and death of VisualZIP to YouTube on April 17th, 2024, so we saw fit to take a look at both it and his prolific career in Microsoft today. The retrospective, including how it nearly got him fired— twice if one takes the worst interpretation of the latter half of the story
So, despite Dave Plummer's employment contract and verbal agreements allowing him to work on and sell software on the side while still working at Microsoft, VisualZIP's existence still caused two significant incidents. The first was when an employee in an entirely separate department, spurred by a jealous competing developer, reported Plummer's work on VisualZIP to Human Resources to get him fired.
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While ZIP file support has long been a commonplace feature of Windows and other operating systems, this wasn't always the case. Once upon a time, a Microsoft engineer had to create a kernel extension called "VisualZIP" to enable standard ZIP features. This same kernel extension nearly got Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer fired due to workplace politics he was unaware of, but ultimately ended up being the basis for today's ZIP support in Windows.
While this factoid has been on the record for a while, Dave Plummer uploaded an 8-minute recounting of the life and death of VisualZIP to YouTube on April 17th, 2024, so we saw fit to take a look at both it and his prolific career in Microsoft today. The retrospective, including how it nearly got him fired— twice if one takes the worst interpretation of the latter half of the story
So, despite Dave Plummer's employment contract and verbal agreements allowing him to work on and sell software on the side while still working at Microsoft, VisualZIP's existence still caused two significant incidents. The first was when an employee in an entirely separate department, spurred by a jealous competing developer, reported Plummer's work on VisualZIP to Human Resources to get him fired.
Adding ZIP file support to Windows 30 years ago almost got the creator of Task Manager fired
Former Microsoft engineer Dave Plummer recounts the story of his creation of VisualZIP and how it nearly cost him his job
