New and Used Car Talk Reviews Hot Cars Comparison Automotive Community

The Largest Car Forum in the Philippines

Results 1 to 8 of 8
  1. Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    26,787
    #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

  2. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    2,075
    #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.

  3. Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    26,787
    #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.

  4. Join Date
    Oct 2002
    Posts
    2,716
    #4
    and i thought it was brilliant!

  5. Join Date
    Sep 2010
    Posts
    1,807
    #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.

  6. Join Date
    Jul 2013
    Posts
    2,450
    #6
    How often would you use ctrl alt del that you would complain it involves 3 keys?

    Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk 2

  7. Join Date
    Oct 2012
    Posts
    1,736
    #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.

  8. Join Date
    Oct 2011
    Posts
    26,787
    #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Lew_Alcindor View Post
    How often would you use ctrl alt del that you would complain it involves 3 keys?

    Sent from my GT-N5100 using Tapatalk 2

    In the early intel processor like Pentium 1. You could experience frequent hanging on your computer (probably low in ram). Thus, I use the 3 keys more than often.

Tags for this Thread

Bill Gates: Control-Alt-Delete 'was a mistake'