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September 28th, 2013 07:16 PM #1
Bill Gates: Control-Alt-Delete 'was a mistake'
Bill Gates at Harvard Sept 2013
Give us a single button, Gates said. But it wasn't to be.
(Credit: Harvard/Screenshot by CNET)
Speaking in a broad interview at Harvard over the weekend, Gates said that the control-alt-delete function, which allows users to log in to Windows and access the task manager (you may be most familiar with it as the first step in rebooting), was conceived after an IBM keyboard designer wouldn't give him a single button to perform the same chore. (That part of the conversation starts at about 16:45 in the video embedded below.)
"So we could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't want to give us our single button," Gates said. "So we had, we programmed at a low level -- it was a mistake."
As big a mistake as it might have been, the function lived on through generation after generation of Windows. This marks the first time that Gates has so forcefully acknowledged that the feature wasn't necessarily the best idea.
The function was created by IBM PC designer David Bradley as a way for computer users to reboot their machines. In an interview with CNET recently, Bradley said he didn't understand why Gates and Microsoft decided to make it a log-in feature, adding that "I guess it made sense for them."
Source: Bill Gates: Control-Alt-Delete 'was a mistake' | Microsoft - CNET News
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September 28th, 2013 11:04 PM #2
At the time, the equivalent button in the Apple II button was the Reset. Lot of people complained about this because tons of work can be erased by pressing the Reset button inadvertently, me being a victim of that a number of times. Eventually Apple made it Control-Reset, an added key for safety. When the IBM PC came out, we were happy it was 3 keys, but as time went by, you would just get fed up with it.
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September 28th, 2013 11:33 PM #3
^
good point sir. could have use 2 keys as well like "ctrl+del" but then again there are a lot of commands using 2 keys. 3 keys might be just the way to go.
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Tsikot Member Rank 4
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September 29th, 2013 07:19 AM #5
and in linux, CTRL+ALT+DEL reboots the system. so ung mga new users coming from windows tends to reset their systems by mistake.
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Tsikoteer
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September 29th, 2013 11:34 AM #6How often would you use ctrl alt del that you would complain it involves 3 keys?
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September 29th, 2013 01:23 PM #7
I think it was serendipitous. I can imagine a lot of people would have mistakenly pressed it if it were a single button. By having 3, it prevents accidents and also ensures that people really want to do that particular function.
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September 29th, 2013 01:49 PM #8
Buhay na buhay ang BGC this evening. Bukas halos lahat ng restaurants. Sabi pa nung isang cashier...
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