Bill Gates calls the Control-Alt-Delete feature on Windows a mistake. This feature was meant to be used by the developers of Windows and the developers kept the feature a secret. Software publishers found out about the feature and learned that this three-key combination logged the user out of their current session on Windows. PC users need this feature when the operating system or any program becomes unresponsive. I do not understand the reason why Bill Gates considers the feature a mistake since it is a necessary feature when the system fails. The failure comes from the design and the experience of the feature. When first discovered, some software developers included Control-Alt-Delete in sets of instructions as a prank to users who didn't know about the feature. This certainly created a frustrating experience for PC users who didn't understand why their system kept restarting. If Microsoft informed the market of this feature, the outcome would have been different for Control-Alt-Delete.
http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/26/tech/innovation/bill-gates-control-alt-delete/?iref=obinsite
Instead of having it be ctrl+alt+del they could have added a single button to the keyboard for the same purpose. They added the "windows key" between the left ctrl and alt, so they must have had power to add another useful key to our now standardized keyboards.
ReplyDeleteJust cause something is useful doesn't mean it wasn't a mistake. Lots of great inventions were "mistakes" on what they person was trying to do
ReplyDelete