The Blue Screen of Death is perhaps the most ubiquitous symbol of computer failure thew world knows. But have you ever wondered who sat down to pen the charming text that appears when a PC poops itself?
In fact, according to Microsoft developer Raymond Chen, Steve Ballmer decided that he didn't like the original Blue Screen message in Windows 3.1 and so decided to change it himself. The exchange at Microsoft went, apparently, something like this:
During this time period, Steve Ballmer was head of the Systems Division, and he paid a visit to the Windows team to see what they were up to, as is the wont of many executives.¹ When they showed him the Ctrl+Alt+Del feature, he nodded thoughtfully and added, "This is nice, but I don't like the text of the message. It doesn't sound right to me." Read More
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