The Guy Responsible For Ctrl-Alt-Del

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

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.

28 of 867 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Er, that's a bit much.... by tcopeland · 2003-09-30 03:50 · Score: 4, Insightful

....from the article:

> He's much too modest. Would Alexander Fleming
> have said, "It wasn't a memorable event," when
> he discovered penicillin?

Crikey.

--
The Army reading list
1. Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by jason0000042 · 2003-09-30 04:05 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  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.
  
  But CTRL-ALT-DELETE wasn't discovered, as the article states. It was developed. Bradley made it up. Comparing it to the discovery of penicillin is like saying Tolkien discovered the lord of the rings.
  
  --
  i don't like my old sig.
2. Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 04:09 · Score: 1, Insightful
  
  IT'S A JOKE!
  
  you idiot.
  
  crikey.
3. Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by MadocGwyn · 2003-09-30 05:03 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Actually on most keyboards there are ctrl+alt keys on both sides of the keyboard, most of us are just used to left hand doing the ctrl alt, it can easily be done with the right hand on the right hand ctrl+alt keys.
  Go ahead, try it twice quickly
  
  --
  Jesus saves, everyone else takes full damage from the fireball.
4. Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by dillon_rinker · 2003-09-30 05:13 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  You don't need pi, a transcendental number that requires calculus-level mathematics to construct. All you need are the integers. Convert LOTR to an integer, then count until you reach it. Presto! You've rediscovered LOTR! Simple enough for a child to understand.
5. Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by ashitaka · 2003-09-30 05:16 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  You point out one of the blind spots that many of us have through training. As others have shown, there are in fact CTRL and ALT keys on the right side of the keyboard as well.
  
  At some point it may have been easy to hit both and then the DEL key in the group-of-six but with a Windows and Menu key in between the CTRL and ALT on my Dell keyboard it requires an uncomfortable stretching of thumb, curling of index finger and reach with my middle finger to hit the sequence.
  
  Much easier to use the good old left ring finger, left index finger, right index finger combination, espeiclaly when you can slam the right finger down with the appropriate disgust at your crappy OS dying again.
  
  --
  If you don't want to repeat the past, stop living in it.
6. Re:Er, that's a bit much.... by jazman_777 · 2003-09-30 06:24 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  Guys/Gals, One of my points is still valid: It is essentially a meaningless sequence of keystrokes What do you think?
  You are wrong. Ctl-Alt-Del is fraught with meaning. In fact, David Bradley first gave it meaning.
  
  --
  Slashdot: Failed Car Analogies. Amateur Lawyering. Anecdote Battles.
microsoft keyboard by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 03:53 · Score: 1, Insightful

is this an intellectual property breach then? microsoft keyboard
Too short by Foozy · 2003-09-30 03:53 · Score: 1, Insightful

I wanted to know much more about the guy, then *poof* the article was over.
Sheesh...
Re:Heh. by wo1verin3 · 2003-09-30 03:53 · Score: 2, Insightful

Ctrl-Alt-Delete brings up task manager on some systems and options to change password/launch task manager/lock screen on the other.

It never had anything to do with hard reset, CTRL-ALT-DEL is a soft reset.

If you want a hard reset, thats why the case/tower normally has a button for reset.
Wow, this is really bad article.... by malakai · 2003-09-30 03:54 · Score: 5, Insightful

It was not a memorable event," said Bradley, a longtime IBM employee, speaking of that day in 1980 or '81 when he discovered control-alt-delete.
...

He's much too modest. Would Alexander Fleming have said, "It wasn't a memorable event," when he discovered penicillin? Would Albert Einstein have said, "I really can't recall when I discovered E=MC squared?"

uh huh...

Bradley chose the control and alt keys because he needed two shift keys to make the operation work, and he chose the delete key because it was on the opposite side of the keyboard. He didn't want people to hit control-alt-delete by accident.

It's more complicated than that, of course, but most people don't have a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Purdue University, as Bradley does

oh please. He picked a key sequence that's difficult to accidentally set off. So what? It could have been shift-esc-break. If this is what a Ph.D. in electrical engineering is good for, I'm glad I don't have mine.

And the reason MS used it for login in NT 3.1 was for security. It negated the possibility of a impersonation client that displayed an image which looked like the NT 3.1 login, but just stole Passwords instead. If such a client was written to DOS or Windows it would simple reboot. So it was a sanity check, at the time.

--
-Malakai
A Dragon Lives in my Garage
exactly by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 03:59 · Score: 5, Insightful

Bradley says the "strength of the country" is at stake because relatively few students go into science or technology

Why should they when engineers can't find jobs, salesmen are making 6 figures and MBAs are stealing all the money.
Rumour has it... by swordgeek · 2003-09-30 04:02 · Score: 3, Insightful

...that the real reason Microsoft used Ctrl-Alt-Del for the NT login was that everyone was already familiar with it.

(Yeah, it's a hardcoded interrupt, but in protected mode that's pretty much irrelevant)

--

"People who do stupid things with hazardous materials often die." -- Jim Davidson on alt.folklore.urban
Re:Patent madness? by Zeinfeld · 2003-09-30 04:02 · Score: 2, Insightful

Just imagine how much in royalties this guy could have made if he had developed that nowadays with our patent frenzy attitude!
Err Apple had the prior art. If you look at any Apple ][ of the original series you will almost always find that there has been an after market add on to cover up the reset key which was placed in a ludicrously easy to hit by mistake location.
The only thing novel about ctrl-alt-del was that it was in the original hardware rather than an after market kludge. There were similar hacks on the PET, only there you could switch the reset off as it was a maskable interupt.
The later use came about because it is the only sequence that cannot be hijacked.

--
Looking for an Information Security student project suggestion?
Try http://dotcrimeManifesto.com/
Re:Heh. by 1010011010 · 2003-09-30 04:10 · Score: 4, Insightful

It still needs reboots. It acts better once rebooted. In generalm Win2k and XP get alower the longer they run, and start experiencing problems like randomized icon images, windows that don't redraw, loss of fonts, etc. A reboot fixes all. When my Win2k laptop gets to where it's using >350MB of RAM, and I've closed all the apps, it's asking to be rebooted.

--
Napster-to-go says "Fill and refill your compatible MP3 player", which is a lie. It's not MP3. It's WMA with DRM.
One-armed users everywhere.. by AgentPhunk · 2003-09-30 04:10 · Score: 2, Insightful

Now one-armed users can give a one-finger salute to the man that created the three-finger-salute.
Re:Heh. by cptgrudge · 2003-09-30 04:19 · Score: 2, Insightful

My system has been up for over two weeks without any of those problems. It's using 350MB RAM, but that's because it's me running programs. How convenient to blame Windows instead of finding the real problem.

--
Qualitas edurus commercium, nullus penitus net rimor, nullus deus beneficium
Not enough technology students by antirename · 2003-09-30 04:25 · Score: 4, Insightful

So, this guy thinks that too few students are going for science or technology degrees? I wonder why... lets see, scientists dont make much. Manufacturing is moving to the third world, and taking a hell of a lot of engineering jobs with it. IT is moving to India. Yeah, I'd be sure to pick one of those fields if I were trying to decide on a major. You can't blame the students for the decline in "the strength of the country", they're just looking out for themselves and trying to pick a career that might actually have a future.
1. Re:Not enough technology students by Prof.Phreak · 2003-09-30 09:07 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  On a plus side, those who do enter the CS world, are much more dedicated (and are actually interested) in this subject than they were a few years ago.
  
  --
  "If anything can go wrong, it will." - Murphy
God, just die already. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 04:29 · Score: 0, Insightful

Is Slashdot lacking in comedic sense so badly this crap can still get modded up?

At the very LEAST we could move onto security hole jokes, nevermind Linux has Windows beat in that area (ignoring patch times).
Re:The only difference is... by micromoog · 2003-09-30 04:40 · Score: 4, Insightful

Windows automatically reboots itself now. Explorer crashes, then restarts itself.
If you're going to get to that level of detail, shall we discuss the (in)stability of Gnome/KDE? It seems all to convenient that when Slashdotters define "Windows crashing", it includes any operational glitch at all, but "Linux crashing" seems to be confined to kernel panic only.
Re:Windows' use of CTRL-ALT-DEL by malloc · 2003-09-30 04:51 · Score: 3, Insightful

Your reasoning does not apply to Windows NT4, as DirectX allows application to intercept any key combination, including the three-finger salute.
His reasoning was, "it actually made some sense at the time." I.e. *before* DirectX came out.
The same goes for remote desktop applications such as "PC anywhere" etc.

I've used PC/Anywhere (v8-10) a fair amount and have seen no such thing. In fact I've observed exactly opposite your point. PC/Anywhere has a special button to generate a CTRL-ALT-DEL on the remote host specifically because it can't hook your local CTRL-ALT-DEL.

Now, is it useful anymore, no, but I don't see why people are complaining so much. You get used to hitting three keys once in a while instead of clicking 'Login' or what have you.
-Malloc

--
___________________ I want to be free()!
Re:Patent madness? by li99sh79 · 2003-09-30 05:09 · Score: 3, Insightful

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.
You got that right, i taped over the reset and debugger buttons on my 7100 after reaching for something, hitting the reset button, and loosing a paper. I was so glad when I ditched that 7100 for an 8600, which I still own to this day.
-sam

--
I was just here, where did I go?
Why Ctl-Alt-Del (by Dave Bradley) by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 06:17 · Score: 4, Insightful

On the original PC keyboard there were only 83 keys. There was a single CTL key, a single ALT key (above and below the left hand shift key respectively) and a single DEL key (on the far right of the keyboard, just to the left of the big + key). I'd post a picture if I knew how. So it was definitely two handed.
There were 8192 bytes available for the IBM PC ROM BIOS. We used about 8180 of them. Two of the keys needed to be shift keys (for code conservation) and I picked the "newest" shift keys. The third key was picked to be as far away as possible, and "DEL" was a better mnemonic than "+".
Re:Windows' use of CTRL-ALT-DEL by Keeper · 2003-09-30 07:04 · Score: 3, Insightful

DirectX allows application to intercept any key combination, including the three-finger salute.

Please show me how you can intercept ctrl-alt-del using DirectX. All of the documentation I've seen indicates that it can't be done. The lack of login-screen spoofing apps would tend to back the documented side of things.

It is possible to capture ctrl-alt-del on Win9x, however I haven't seen a way to do it using DirectX on Win9x.
More than you know by stewby18 · 2003-09-30 07:06 · Score: 2, Insightful

Would Alexander Fleming have said, "It wasn't a memorable event," when he discovered penicillin?

If you'd asked him not too long after, then yes, he probably would have. Most of the Fleming story is a myth; yes he discovered it by accident, but after relatively little lab work he gave up and stopped researching it. He didn't think it had a future as a useful drug, because it retained almost no effectiveness in its raw form. There's lots of evidence that he couldn't have cared less about penicillin for many years.

Until, of course, some more dedicated researches succeeded in making a good drug out of it, at which point he would have been glad to tell you that he'd know from day one that it would change the world.

So in addition to having a flair for the over-dramatic, the author of the article could use a better grounding in history before making really bad comparisons.
Re:Patent madness? by mamba-mamba · 2003-09-30 07:07 · Score: 2, Insightful

I believe ctrl-alt-del raises a hardware signal, so I don't think messing with the keyboard drivers would allow you to intercept it.

I don't think there is any way to keep the hardware signal from being asserted, although you could certainly install a handler for the signal. To do this under nt/2k/xp-pro you would need to have priveledge.

I guess what they mean when they say it can't be hijacked is that it can't be hijacked by normal software running on your computer. Any attacker who could install a new interrupt handler already basically owns the box anyway.

MM
--

--
By including this sig, the copyright holders of this work or collection unreservedly place it in the public domain.
Re:Heh. by Anonymous Coward · 2003-09-30 12:26 · Score: 1, Insightful

Scheduling your reboots is a foriegn concept.

Funny you should mention that... My company has a Win NT4 server that has been running without problems for 2 years now. When I set it up, I setup the APC UPS software to schedule a power off at 3:00 AM every Sunday morning just to force a reboot. Wish I could claim credit for it: I got the tip from a guy that managed a server farm (more than 20 NT servers) for a larger company and he claims that was the only way he could keep them running well.