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Author Topic: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake  (Read 2743 times)

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Offline SpAmRaY

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Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:04:33 »
What do you guys think?

http://www.slashgear.com/ctrlaltdel-was-a-mistake-says-bill-gates-26299248/

http://www.theverge.com/2013/9/26/4772680/bill-gates-admits-ctrl-alt-del-was-a-mistake


Quote
It's a shortcut all Windows users know. A frozen program? Slow performance? The first move is, of course, holding down those three keys -- Control-Alt-Delete. It's a three-finger move to get to the task manager or get to a log-in screen, and Microsoft founder Bill Gates now admits the rather clunky command was a mistake.

When asked who came up with the shortcut during an interview at Harvard University this week, Gates said "it was a mistake."

"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. "We programmed at a low level. ... It was a mistake." The part in the interview was first spotted by Geekwire.

That IBM PC engineer was David Bradley. Bradley, who designed the computer in 1980, said in an older interview that "it was originally intended to be what we would now call an Easter Egg, just something we were just using in development -- it wouldn't be available elsewhere."

That certainly wasn't the case. Introduced in 1981, the command still lives on in Windows, including Microsoft's current Windows 8 operating system.

According to a 2010 article in the Indianapolis Star, the original idea was to create a way to restart the computer. He chose those keys because he didn't want people to mistakenly hit the keys and on that original IBM keyboard the Delete key was on the other side and, thus, required two hands.

Bradley said he didn't think it would become a "cultural icon," and then taking a shot at Gates and Windows' all-too-well-known issues, he said, "I might have invented it, but I think Bill made it famous."
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Offline Latin00032

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #1 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:26:16 »
Interesting!

It is weird to have to press all three keys oddly spaced apart.

It makes sense for the way it is used to not accidentally reset the computer or close a program.
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Offline Tym

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #2 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:34:05 »
Spam you spelt "Store" wrong.
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Quote from: Yslen on Tue, 05 May 2015, 04:31:47
unless they have some unforeseeable downside (like they're actually made of cream cheese cunningly disguised as ABS)

Offline SpAmRaY

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #3 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:37:05 »
Quote from: Tym on Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:34:05
Spam you spelt "Store" wrong.

Dang it Tym.....I just spend like 2 minutes trying to figure that out hahaha
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Offline Tym

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #4 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:39:57 »
 :p
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Quote from: Yslen on Tue, 05 May 2015, 04:31:47
unless they have some unforeseeable downside (like they're actually made of cream cheese cunningly disguised as ABS)

Offline longweight

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #5 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:40:46 »
You don't need two hands :)
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Offline Computer-Lab in Basement

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #6 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:43:30 »
He might think it was a mistake, but I can't imagine using any version of Windows without having to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete. It just wouldn't be right...
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Quote from: Frenir on Mon, 23 March 2015, 15:16:48
Quote from: Computer-Lab in Basement on Mon, 23 March 2015, 15:14:18
tp thread is tp thread
Sometimes it's like he accidentally makes a thread instead of a google search.

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Offline rowdy

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #7 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 17:55:11 »
Modern computers don't have a reset button.

At least Ctrl-Alt-Del gives you an option of forcing a restart without just yanking the power cord.
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Offline keymaster

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #8 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 17:59:31 »
Quote from: Computer-Lab in Basement on Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:43:30
He might think it was a mistake, but I can't imagine using any version of Windows without having to use Ctrl+Alt+Delete. It just wouldn't be right...

I agree. Ctrl+Alt+Delete has many uses and it's only a key-combination away. Maybe he's just referring to filthy casuals.
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Offline davkol

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #9 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 18:15:45 »
I can press Ctrl+Alt+Delete with one finger (without using macros!) on my ErgoDox...
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Offline demik

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #10 on: Thu, 26 September 2013, 19:22:57 »
so was vista
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Offline iri

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #11 on: Fri, 27 September 2013, 01:27:20 »
so was windows
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Offline Lu_e

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #12 on: Fri, 27 September 2013, 16:33:22 »
Quote from: rowdy on Thu, 26 September 2013, 17:55:11
Modern computers don't have a reset button.

At least Ctrl-Alt-Del gives you an option of forcing a restart without just yanking the power cord.

Holding the (physical) power button forces shutdown. Good enough?

However, in win95 I believe you could double tap and HOLD ctr alt del to force a restart though. I remember doing that a lot.... I used to try it on modern windows OSs but soon realized it doesn't have the same effect.

Cute article, funny it was supposed to be a dev tool.
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Offline dorkvader

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #13 on: Fri, 27 September 2013, 17:18:59 »
Quote from: Latin00032 on Thu, 26 September 2013, 15:26:16
Interesting!

It is weird to have to press all three keys oddly spaced apart.

It makes sense for the way it is used to not accidentally reset the computer or close a program.

They are all on the same row of the keyboard, not that odd. I like how ctrl+shift+escape is the transpose.
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Offline rowdy

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Re: Bill Gates: "Ctrl+Alt+Del" Was a Mistake
« Reply #14 on: Sat, 28 September 2013, 03:20:38 »
Quote from: Lu_e on Fri, 27 September 2013, 16:33:22
Quote from: rowdy on Thu, 26 September 2013, 17:55:11
Modern computers don't have a reset button.

At least Ctrl-Alt-Del gives you an option of forcing a restart without just yanking the power cord.

Holding the (physical) power button forces shutdown. Good enough?

Not quite, holding the power button still means physically powering the machine down.  The old reset button didn't do that (I think) - just forced an immediate reboot.
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"Because keyboards are accessories to PC makers, they focus on minimizing the manufacturing costs. But that’s incorrect. It’s in HHKB’s slogan, but when America’s cowboys were in the middle of a trip and their horse died, they would leave the horse there. But even if they were in the middle of a desert, they would take their saddle with them. The horse was a consumable good, but the saddle was an interface that their bodies had gotten used to. In the same vein, PCs are consumable goods, while keyboards are important interfaces." - Eiiti Wada

NEC APC-H4100E | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED red | Ducky DK9008 Shine MX blue LED green | Link 900243-08 | CM QFR MX black | KeyCool 87 white MX reds | HHKB 2 Pro | Model M 02-Mar-1993 | Model M 29-Nov-1995 | CM Trigger (broken) | CM QFS MX green | Ducky DK9087 Shine 3 TKL Yellow Edition MX black | Lexmark SSK 21-Apr-1994 | IBM SSK 13-Oct-1987 | CODE TKL MX clear | Model M 122 01-Jun-1988

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