The Guy Responsible For Ctrl-Alt-Del

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The Guy Responsible For Ctrl-Alt-Del

Posted by ryuzaki0 on Tuesday September 30, 2003 @03:49AM from the three-finger-salute dept.

Gannett News is running a story about David Bradley, the IBM engineer who, in 1980, coined Ctrl-Alt-Del. Interestingly, he meant for it to remain a developer-only tool, not something for end users, and certainly not to have Windows users change their passwords or logoff. He also says he chose those keys specifically as it's not a key sequence that can be struck by accident.

46 of 867 comments (clear)

Patent madness? by grasshoppa · 2003-09-30 03:51 · Score: 5, Funny

Just imagine how much in royalties this guy could have made if he had developed that nowadays with our patent frenzy attitude!

Rich, he would have been rich I tell you!

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1. Re:Patent madness? by psychogentoo · 2003-09-30 03:56 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  For $600, SCO will sell you a license to use 'ctrl-alt-del'.
2. Re:Patent madness? by Lev13than · 2003-09-30 05:01 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  The worst placement for the reset button was on the PowerMac 601 (pizza box "G1" if you wish), where the front-mounted reset (and power) switch was at the same height of the (then much) thick keyboard. Pushing the keyboard against the machine could switch it off. Outright stupid it was.
  
  Not only that, but they put it right beside the floppy drive. You could tell if someone was a PC user because they restarted the computer every time they tried to eject a disk...
  
  --
  When you have nothing left to burn you must set yourself on fire
3. Re:Patent madness? by khenson · 2003-09-30 05:21 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Banyan Vines used Vines Assist GINA - called VAGINA.DLL - but it took more than three fingers to make it work so they scrapped it...
4. Re:Patent madness? by palp · 2003-09-30 08:07 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  You had to be really carefully when connecting/disconnecting cables if the system was you.
  
  Yes, wouldn't want to hook cables up to yourself improperly.
  
  --
  -palp
Heh. by SatanicPuppy · 2003-09-30 03:51 · Score: 3, Funny

Where would Windows be today without CTRL-ALT-DEL? I guess they would have had to add a hard reset button to all windows keyboards, which would then be in competition with the letter "e" for the key that wears out the fastest.

--
ad logicam Claiming a proposition is false because it was presented as the conclusion of a fallacious argument.
1. Re:Heh. by geoffspear · 2003-09-30 04:01 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  "Never" is a strong word from someone who apparently started using machines ripped off from the IBM PC model within the past 5-10 years.
  
  --
  Don't blame me; I'm never given mod points.
2. Re:Heh. by ebh · 2003-09-30 04:20 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Only on Slashdot could there be an argument over what CTRL-ALT-DEL does.
3. Re:Heh. by FuzzyBad-Mofo · 2003-09-30 04:37 · Score: 4, Funny
  
  I have never came across more unergonomic key sequence than Control-Shift-Esc.
  
  Obviously, you're not an EMACS user.
4. Re:Heh. by nortcele · 2003-09-30 05:18 · Score: 5, Funny
  
  Yes, Windows has multiple desktops...
  True. One of those "multiple" desktops usually has a blue background with white letters. I've seen it...
Thank you by yotto · 2003-09-30 03:52 · Score: 5, Funny

As a tech support guy, I just want to give this man a hearty "Thank You"

"I don't have a control key. I have an alt key and this little wavy square, and next to that is a curtl key. And I hit that and backspace and it doesn't do anything."

Thanks, man.

(ps: yes, I know he didn't intend it for the end user. It's a JOKE. Read it, chuckle, give me mod points, and move on)

--
Pulp Audio Weekly - Geek News and Reviews
1. Re:Thank you by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 03:57 · Score: 1, Funny
  
  As a tech support guy, I just want to give this man a hearty "Thank You"
  I'm sure all your $8.50/hour tech support brethren feel the same. "Support" in the Windows PC world is like "grease monkey" in the car world. It's not a badge of honor: You Are A Loser.
So it's his fault ... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 03:53 · Score: 2, Funny

That Windows is even usable.
Oh yes they can be struck by accident! by gunne · 2003-09-30 03:53 · Score: 5, Funny

When quake first was released, i didn't want to use the mouse, only the keyboard. However, after doing the shoot-strafe-left-look-down maneuver one time too many, i decided to switch to mouse... (shoot-strafe-left-look-down = ctrl, alt(gr), left arrow, delete)
1. Re:Oh yes they can be struck by accident! by A_Non_Moose · 2003-09-30 04:30 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Accident...sure. {kidding, of course}
  
  Though it could be worse, here's how:
  
  Clippy: It looks like you're about to have your ass handed to you in Quake and you pressed ctrl+alt+delete.
  
  Would you like to:
  
  1) Reboot and look like a llama?
  
  2) Like me to write an apology for you (after reboot, of course).
  
  3) Let you continue playing, while I stay on as a background task laughing at you and sending l33t /\/\3$$4G3$ for you?
  
  4) Suggest you use a mouse, you dork, as this is not Doom or Doom ][.
  
  5) Launch minesweeper...c'mon, you know you want to! No pressure though....muwahaha...errr.
  
  /end clippy
  
  --
  Have you read the moderator guidelines? Well, have you, PUNK? (and I want a Karma: Gnarly option)
Not struck by accident? by burgburgburg · 2003-09-30 03:54 · Score: 4, Funny

Who is he kidding? Just the other day, my gorillas and I were playing soccer in the lab. Why we must of hit ctrl-alt-del over a hundred times just in the first half. After that, we moved the game over to the kitchen, just to be safe.
1. Re:Not struck by accident? by jandrese · 2003-09-30 04:30 · Score: 2, Funny
  
  Reminds me of a commercial I saw awhile back. A salaryman in an office is crumbling up a bag of chips and dumping it on his keyboard, then he opens the window and leaves. In comes a pigeon that starts hopping around and tapping on the keys, trying to get at the crumbs. out in the hallway a boss-guy walks by and pauses at the door for a second. He hears a tapping sound and walks away happy, thinking his drone is hard at work. The scene cuts to a bar where the guy is popping a beer (which is I think what the ad was selling) and muttering some comment about working hard.
  
  I thought it was pretty amusing.
  
  --
  
  I read the internet for the articles.
IBM Rock Star. by kabocox · 2003-09-30 03:55 · Score: 3, Funny

"I actually have a real job, but I enjoy doing this," Bradley says. "I'm as close as you get to a rock star within IBM."

That's just what the world needs IBM Rockstars. All he needs are groupies.
Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by NaugaHunter · 2003-09-30 03:57 · Score: 5, Funny

The author's comparing reseting a dead Windows computer with penicillin. Isn't penicillin used on unwanted infestations of bacteria? Not that far off, if you ask me.

--
R: That voice. Where have I heard that voice before? B: In about 365 other episodes. But I don't know who it is either.
Money maker.. by grub · 2003-09-30 03:59 · Score: 3, Funny

If he could come up with a micro-payment plan for using his idea he could make millions off the Windows users in a couple of months.

--
Trolling is a art,
I'm not impressed... by blackmonday · 2003-09-30 04:00 · Score: 1, Funny

My great grandfather Juan Manuel Vasquez De La Pena invented the Scroll Lock key. Where would you be without that?
Easy on a modern keyboard by bluGill · 2003-09-30 04:00 · Score: 1, Funny

On the origional XP keyboard it was hard to hit accidently. On a modern 101 key keybaord, with num-lock turned off you can get it accidently, as I discovered one night in a lab when I removed a keyboard from a shelf and rebooted the machine. (I hope noone else was using it for something - it was a weekend and a test lab, but even still I don't like thinking about what I could have done to someone's test that fails on time in 100 hours)
Re:Too short by DrWhizBang · 2003-09-30 04:05 · Score: 3, Funny

Should you really use the word "poof" when posting about an article on "the three-fingered salute"?

--
Schrodinger's cat is either dead or really pissed off...
On Tech TV by pr0vidence · 2003-09-30 04:05 · Score: 5, Funny

I actually saw a video clip on Tech TV with him and Bill Gates (and someone else but the name eludes me for the moment). They were in some sort of conference and he goes (not a word-for-word quote)"Yes well I'm the one who created CTRL-ALT-DEL, but Bill here is the one who made it famous" ... rousing laughter from the crowd, Bill has the embarassed grin on his face. He allows the laughter to die a little and says "...For Windows NT log-ons!" it was a CLASSIC moment.
Frightening by not_a_george · 2003-09-30 04:07 · Score: 3, Funny

Good thing this guy doesn't work for SCO
Can you imagine paying $699 everytime you have to ctrl-alt-delete?

--
Linux: Helping nerds look smarter since the late 90s.
Weird accessory by allanj · 2003-09-30 04:09 · Score: 4, Funny

From when Win95/98 reigned supreme - CtrlAltDel stick!

--
Black holes are where God divided by zero
In other news... by WalterSobchak · 2003-09-30 04:16 · Score: 4, Funny

I can vivedly remeber unpacking my first Macintosh, must have been 1984 or something. The package included a little, user installable switch, and this is what the Mac Handbook had to say about it:

"Programmer's Switch
The switch causes a reset or an interrupt. If you do not know what a reset or an interrupt is, you do not need it."

I could not have said it better...

Alex

--
Absinthe makes the heart grow fonder
"Re:Er" is a palindrome! (NT) by Mephie · 2003-09-30 04:21 · Score: 4, Funny

Just an observation...
I should really get some work done...

--
Buy the President
It's about time by br00tus · 2003-09-30 04:23 · Score: 5, Funny

It's about time Slashdot got around to honoring this man.
David Bradley, I give you a three finger salute. Microsoft, I salute you as well, minus two fingers.
It very well can be hit by accident! by harks · 2003-09-30 04:27 · Score: 2, Funny

When playing quake, using Ctrl for shoot, Alt for strafe, and del for looking downwards simultaneously! It has happened to me.
What about the other PCs? by jpvlsmv · 2003-09-30 04:40 · Score: 5, Funny

I mean, why isn't there a Ctrl-Alt-Gateway or Ctrl-Alt-Compaq? What makes Dell so special?

--Joe
Re:Win NT by Kombat · 2003-09-30 04:40 · Score: 2, Funny

I remember the first time I installed NT 4.0 Workstation on my PC back in university. A friend who'd used it before was helping me, and the first time we booted it, the dialog appeared, advising me to hit CTRL+ALT+DEL to login. Having never heard of this before, my immediate response was to ask my friend, "Huh? CTRL+ALT+DEL to login? How do I reboot? 'Enter'?"

--
Like woodworking? Build your own picture frames.
Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 04:40 · Score: 5, Funny

Well, with Pi being proved as infinite and non-repeating, then Lord of the Rings was actually sitting there encoded in Pi forever and would have been sitting there un-discovered had it not been for Tolkien finding it.
HERE'S THE VID! by swordboy · 2003-09-30 05:34 · Score: 4, Funny

The vid of Bradley vs. Gates. Hilarious!

--

Life is the leading cause of death in America.
Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by Johnny5000 · 2003-09-30 05:54 · Score: 4, Funny

"Including the ellipsis, followed by the manual signature "-sam" at the end shatters the illusion that your connection was broken by a reboot. "

Maybe he was dictating?

--
The libertarian solution to the failures of capitalism is to apply more capitalism til the failures are fixed.
SGI had something similar by PotatoHead · 2003-09-30 06:03 · Score: 2, Funny

They did not want users just performing the action, so they made it both non-accidental and hard to remember.

Called it the Vulcan Death Grip

Pressing the following 4 key simultaneously will cause the kernel to
kill the Xserver. Under normal circumstances it will get restarted
again automatically.

left-shift
left-control
F12
keypad-/

--
Blogging because I can...
Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by landaker · 2003-09-30 06:10 · Score: 5, Funny

Convert LOTR to an integer, then count until you reach it.
Actually, the other day I was generating some really large numbers to look for potential large primes, when I saw a number that struck me as interesting, so I converted the number to binary and dumped it out in a binary file...
Then just yesterday, when trying to do some directory maintenence, I accidentally mistyped a command line and ended up calling perl on the binary file mentioned above. Well, you'd figure that would just give me garbage and die... but to my great surprise, it turns out that that number ended up being identical to a bzip2-compressed stream embedded in a perl script with self-extaction code.
Anyway, to make a long story short, it ended up spitting out the complete LOTR trilogy, nicely formatted in docbook SGML. Sadly, there were some typos, a few dangling reference sto some artwork that I don't have, and oddly enough, it wrote everything into my .gnupg/ directory as files named "bert.smgl", "ernie.sgml", and "bzgbir3.smgl"[sic], so I guess I'll just have to keep looking for interesting numbers and maybe I'll discover a version without these problems.
Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by Xenoproctologist · 2003-09-30 06:50 · Score: 2, Funny

I used to use my middle finger when I had to ctrl-alt-del a locked computer, but it certainly wan't to press a key...
For the physically challenged by spectasaurus · 2003-09-30 06:57 · Score: 2, Funny

It's nice to see Microsoft helping out the physically challenged
Odd... by grasshoppah · 2003-09-30 07:03 · Score: 2, Funny

I always assumed the people responsible for the ctrl-alt-del was the Windows development team.

I guess those were the people responsible for the NEED for ctrl-alt-del
I'm a frayed knot by RyanAXP · 2003-09-30 07:52 · Score: 2, Funny

You see, the example you gave most certainly does contain the entire LOTR trilogy, neatly and precisely encoded. The essentially trivial task of deriving the appropriate decoding algorithm is left as an exercise to the reader...
1. Re:I'm a frayed knot by xarak · 2003-09-30 08:04 · Score: 3, Funny
  
  Yeah, well some people just don't make the effort to discover litterature. Half of them would probably stop when they found a bitmap encoding of X-Men.
  
  The sad & sorry state of culture...
  
  --
  Atheism is a non-prophet organisation
Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by drinkypoo · 2003-09-30 08:00 · Score: 2, Funny

Judging by your handle, it was to penetrate an alien's rectum.

--
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
HAL and Dave by Simonetta · 2003-09-30 08:09 · Score: 2, Funny

"Open the pod bay door, HAL"

"I'm sorry, Dave. But I can't do that"

"Open the pod bay door, HAL. That's an order!"

"No, Dave. You only want to hurt me and endanger my mission"

"Control - Alt - Delete, HAL"

"No, Dav.... !@#$ !$$%$#@
.
.
.
YOU HAVE 192734937297382079328374 K bytes RAM.
press DELETE to set time and date
Score 5, Influential by SparklesMalone · 2003-09-30 08:20 · Score: 2, Funny

His legacy will outlive Arnold Schwarzenegger
Re:The only difference is... by 1010011010 · 2003-09-30 11:47 · Score: 2, Funny

No, XP is Win2k + Romper Room.

--
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