Gates and control-alt-delete Video
Gates and control-alt-delete Video Transcript
^M00:00:14 [ Background Music ]
>> Actually, I did try to solve the development problem that we had. Brand new hardware, brand new software; you're testing the stuff out, it will hang up all the time. So the only solution you have is to turn the power off, wait a few seconds; turn the power back on, and you know, wait for it to go through the power on self tip. I'm writing all this code for the keyboard. I can, you know, we'll just use shortcut. I originally intended for it to be what we would now call an Easter egg, just something we're using in development and when it'd be available elsewhere but then the Pabs [phonetics] people found out about it and they're trying to figure out how to tell somebody how to start up one of the programs and they had the answer. Just put the diskette in, hit [unintelligible] and by magic your program starts. So it was a like a 5-minute job in doing it. I didn't realize that I was gonna create a cultural icon when I did it. [ Laughter ] > But...but, you know, I have to share the credit. I may have invented it but I think Bill made it famous. ^M00:01:07 [ Laughter ] ^M00:01:14
>> When you used it for MT log on. [Laughter] That's what I meant. ^M00:01:18 [ Laughter ] ^M00:01:24
>> Okay. [Laughter]
>> That will be setting the tone.
>> Oh boy. ^M00:01:30
At a 2001 event celebrating the PC's 20th anniversary, IBM engineer Dave Bradley talks about how the control-alt-delete keystroke came to be, quipping that, though he invented it, Bill Gates made it famous.
