Former Microsoft engineer revamps Task Manager across Windows, macOS and Linux to test AI viability

Dave Plummer, the original author of the 1996 Windows Task Manager, has launched a refreshed, cross-platform rewrite for Windows, macOS and Linux. He chose the utility as a straightforward target to explore whether AI-driven "vibe coding" can produce a polished product, observing that outcomes depend heavily on the prompts and testing framework. The new manager provides richer insight into system performance, exposing more metrics than the classic process-killer, while its interface echoes 1990s-era media-player skins and can be themed with custom fonts, amber or green screens, or full-color palettes via a saturation slider.

Plummer’s team avoided Electron, opting for native UI stacks—Swift on macOS, Direct2D/DirectComposition on Windows, and Qt on Linux—resulting in an app roughly half the size and RAM usage of Microsoft’s version. The code is currently proprietary, with a paid Pro version under development but no price announced yet. A further beta release may follow as the software remains in pre-release status.