Leave your feedback Share Copy URL https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/famous-keyboard-shortcut-was-a-mistake-says-bill-gates Email Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Tumblr Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Famous keyboard shortcut was a mistake, says Bill Gates Nation Sep 26, 2013 3:55 PM EDT Photo by Flickr user Johan Larsson So you’re browsing NewsHour’s Rundown Blog and all of a sudden everything freezes. Your computer doesn’t want to respond. Your fingers snap to reboot action, hitting Ctrl + Alt + Del, before your brain can even compute. That combination, however, was a mistake, says Microsoft founder Bill Gates. “We could’ve had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button,” said Gates during a discussion at Harvard University on Sept. 21. “It was a mistake.” It turns out the shortcut was created during the creation of the original IBM PC by designer David Bradley. When the architects were testing software, it often froze, requiring a quick reboot. Bradley programmed in the three-button shortcut as a quick fix and left it in as an easter egg. The rest is history. “It was like a five-minute job,” said Bradley, “I didn’t realize I was going to create a cultural icon when I did it.” H/T Justin Scuiletti A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now
Photo by Flickr user Johan Larsson So you’re browsing NewsHour’s Rundown Blog and all of a sudden everything freezes. Your computer doesn’t want to respond. Your fingers snap to reboot action, hitting Ctrl + Alt + Del, before your brain can even compute. That combination, however, was a mistake, says Microsoft founder Bill Gates. “We could’ve had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t want to give us our single button,” said Gates during a discussion at Harvard University on Sept. 21. “It was a mistake.” It turns out the shortcut was created during the creation of the original IBM PC by designer David Bradley. When the architects were testing software, it often froze, requiring a quick reboot. Bradley programmed in the three-button shortcut as a quick fix and left it in as an easter egg. The rest is history. “It was like a five-minute job,” said Bradley, “I didn’t realize I was going to create a cultural icon when I did it.” H/T Justin Scuiletti A free press is a cornerstone of a healthy democracy. Support trusted journalism and civil dialogue. Donate now