If you think retailers, PC makers and customers are glad that Microsoft. finished development of its new Windows XP operating system today and began the process of manufacturing and distributing the software, consider Jack Mayo. He had to eat mealworms to get to this point. Mayo, project manager for Windows XP, doesn't make a habit of eating bugs. But two months ago, Mayo and other top managers on the Windows XP development team knew they needed to keep morale high if they were going to meet today’s "release to manufacturing" (RTM) date -- the final milestone in ensuring that millions of retail packages and pre-loaded PCs would be ready as promised for the product’s official debut, set for October 25.
"These last weeks had been pretty rough on our development staff," recalls Mayo. "People were coming in at all hours, test teams were working in shifts around the clock. We were bringing massive amounts of coffee and soda into the offices. People would sack out on sofas for a bit and then get back to work. One guy just stayed here and slept on the floor, pulling an old event banner over his head."
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