Bill Gates admits the clumsy 'Ctrl Alt Delete' command used for troubleshooting ... - Daily Mail

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  • The hand-stretching command is now used by many as a last-resort when trying to stop programs from running
  • Microsoft's chairman made the admission in a speech for a Harvard University fundraising campaign
  • He said a single button could have been used but an IBM employee decided on the tricky combination of buttons instead
By Sarah Griffiths
PUBLISHED: 13:20 EST, 26 September 2013 | UPDATED: 13:33 EST, 26 September 2013
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Confirming what many computer users might have guessed at for a while, Bill Gates has admitted that the 'Ctrl, Alt, Delete' command was a mistake.
Microsoft's chairman, co-founder and former CEO admitted the tricky combination of keys used to reboot machines was not well thought out.
The hand-stretching command that is sometimes referred to by computer geeks as the 'three finger salute,' is used by many as a last-resort when trying to stop programs from running.
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Confirming what many computer users might have guessed at for a while, Bill Gates has admitted that the 'control, alt, delete' command was a mistake

The command was originally designed to reboot a PC and on older versions of Windows was used to log-in, but since Windows 8 launched, it has been used to access the task manager bar.
In the early 1990s it became a popular way of banishing the infamous 'blue screen of death'.

Speaking at a Harvard fundraising campaign, Mr Gates said: 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. It was a mistake.'
  Bill Gates admits control-alt-delete was a mistake, blames IBM
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He explained the original idea was to use a taxing key combination to ensure it was difficult for other software to fake a log-in screen and steal passwords.

A worker at IBM called David Bradley, who was partially responsible for the design of the first IBM PC created the command, The Huffington Post reported, which was originally intended to reset the computer.
While he has claimed he did invent the command Mr Bradley said it is Mr Gates who made it famous.
But the nostalgic computer command may never have come to be, as Mr Bradley prefered Ctrl, Alt, Esc, before he realised the combination of keys made it possible for a user to accidentally reboot their machine (which was not the command's original function), the BBC reported.

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A worker at IBM called David Bradley, who was partially responsible for the design of the first IBM PC created the command, which was originally intended to reset the computer. While he has claimed he did invent the command Mr Bradley said it is Mr Gates who made it famous

He came up with the final combination because it is impossible to press on a standard keyboard using just one hand.

Mr Gates seems to be on a roll with candid interviews of late and admitted in February that Microsoft's recent computer strategy was also a mistake.
Mirroring what critics have been saying for years, Mr Gates said Microsoft was slow to develop a smartphone and tablet, lagging behind Apple's lead.
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