In an interview at a Harvard fundraising campaign, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates admitted that it was a mistake to force users to use hold down “Ctrl+Alt+Del” to log into their computers.
Gates replied the above comment, when David Rubenstein, Harvard Campaign co-chair asked “Why, when I want to turn on my software and computer, do I need to have three fingers on Control, Alt, Delete?”,“Whose idea was that?”
Gates also stated that “We could have had a single button, but the guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn’t wanna give us our single button.” Engineer David Bradley, who worked on the original IBM PC, invented the combination which was originally designed to reboot a PC blamed Gates for this, “I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous,” Bradley said in an interview earlier.
A decade later in an interview with CNET, Bradley said he didn’t really know, why Microsoft decided to make his invention their log-in command.
“Why they used it for the log-in also, I don’t know,” he said. “I guess it made sense for them.”
The famous Ctrl+Alt+Delete combination has been vastly used still in Windows XP, Windows 7 and even in Windows 8, which is equipped with new login screen, it allow users to lock a machine or access the task manager.
VIA– Geekwire
SOURCE– Harvard (Video)
“L” would have been a simpler choice
I don’t remember ever using ctrl-alt-del to login to windows. The login screen has always been available on every computer, without having to call it up with the three fingered salute. *shrugs* But I do like using it to call up the Task Manager.
is it seriously that big of a deal?