Lex Fridman Podcast
#479 – Dave Plummer: Programming, Autism, and Old-School Microsoft Stories
29 Aug 2025
Full Episode
The following is a conversation with Dave Plummer, programmer and an old school Microsoft software engineer who helped work on Windows 95, NT, and XP, building a lot of incredible tools, some of which have been continuously used by hundreds of millions of people. Like the famed Windows Task Manager. Yes, the Windows Task Manager. And the zip-on-zip compression support in Windows.
And he ported the code for Space Cadet Pinball, aka 3D Pinball, to Windows. Today, he's loved by many programmers and engineers for his amazing YouTube channel called Dave's Garage. You should definitely go check out.
Also, he wrote a book on autism and about his life story called Secrets of the Autistic Millionaire, where he gives really interesting insights about how to navigate relationships, career, and day-to-day life with autism. All this taken together.
This was a super fun conversation about the history and future of programming, computing, technology, and just building cool stuff in the proverbial garage. And now, a quick few second mention of each sponsor. Check them out in the description or at lexfriedman.com slash sponsors. It's the best way to support this podcast.
We got Uplift Desk, which is an incredible company that has been my go-to for a long time for all my office and podcast studio furniture. ZogDog, which is a platform that connects patients with top-rated healthcare providers. Finn for AI agent for customer service. Alio Capital for folks who understand the turmoil of global markets.
And finally, Shopify, a company that we've talked about for 20 hours with DHH. because they use Ruby on Rails, and they show that it can scale. Anyway, choose wisely, my friends. And now onto the full ad reads. I try to make them interesting, but if you skip, please still check out the sponsors. I enjoy their stuff. Maybe you will too.
To get in touch with me, for whatever reason, go to lexfriedman.com contact. All right, let's go. This episode is brought to you by a company that I cannot sing enough praises to. In fact, today, I got another desk from Uplift Desk. The number of desks I have, the amount, the quantity of joy they bring to my life is immeasurable.
Like I said, it's my go-to for all office and podcast studio furniture. I have a desk with a Linux box. I have a desk with a Windows box I do editing on. I have a quadruped sitting on top of another desk that I'm working on. There's a big quadruped, and it's a four-legged robot, and then there's a mini baby quadruped.
They're both sitting on the desk, and I'm working on them, and it's connecting to the Linux box, but there's a lot of, I have to take them apart, I have to bring them back together. And then, of course, the podcast desk that you see on the podcast, that sort of woody color, I have three of those desks
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