In a nutshell: David W. Plummer is the original developer of Task Manager, one of Windows' most popular built-in tools for monitoring and managing system resources. Now, the programmer wants to "reimagine" his original project, adapting the same concept for computer platforms beyond Windows.
David Plummer is working on a new Task Manager tool and is bringing it to macOS first. Simply named Task Manager OG (TMOG), the program is designed to offer a "serious" system console to people working on GUI-based operating systems. Furthermore, TMOG focuses specifically on code efficiency, depth of information, and the kind of performance that only native applications can offer.
Plummer created Windows Task Manager during his tenure at Microsoft, coding the tool in his spare time before Windows NT lead developer Dave Cutler decided to integrate it into the platform. The new TMOG project appears to provide a similar experience to the original program, although it could represent a massive upgrade for macOS users compared with the platform's bare-bones Activity Monitor tool.
Plummer highlights how his tool is both powerful and easy to read, providing a quick view of how the operating system is using the CPU, GPU, and other hardware components. Beyond processor frequency, thermal values, and resource allocation, TMOG can also provide a deeper look at what each logical CPU core is doing, how a process branches out, and more.
– Dave W Plummer (@davepl1968) July 31, 2026
The former Microsoft programmer claims to be obsessed with speed and code efficiency, so much so that he recently "rebuilt" Windows Notepad as an extremely small, bare-bones clone called TinyRetroPad.
Unlike Microsoft's approach to Windows 11, Plummer chose native APIs to create TMOG. The macOS version is built with Swift and AppKit, while the Windows release will be a pure Win32 application targeting the x86-64 architecture.
The TMOG beta is already available for macOS users, and the first Windows beta should arrive soon. Plummer says the tool will be free, although he could eventually create a "Pro" version with additional features that have yet to be announced for paying customers.
Projects such as TMOG highlight the continued interest in high-quality, power-user software, especially for monitoring the state and behavior of a PC's operating system. Most Windows users generally rely on Task Manager to get a closer look at the OS.
Plummer is a controversial figure within the Windows software ecosystem. The programmer worked at Microsoft from 1993 to 2003 before eventually starting his own company, SoftwareOnline. The Washington State Attorney General later sued SoftwareOnline over products it alleged were scamware, including "Registry Cleaner" and "InternetShield." The lawsuit was eventually closed after Plummer's company agreed to pay $150,000 in civil penalties and $40,000 in legal fees.