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Ctrl-Alt-Del Inventor To Retire From IBM
wherley writes "AP reports that IBM'er David Bradley, who came up with the (in)famous Ctrl-Alt-Delete key combination, is retiring. The article mentions: 'At a 20-year celebration for the IBM PC, Bradley was on a panel with Microsoft founder Bill Gates and other tech icons. The discussion turned to the keys. 'I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous,' Bradley said. Gates didn't laugh. The key combination also is used when software, such as Microsoft's Windows operating system, fails'." We featured a story on Bradley a few months back.
I would be staring at blue screen all day at work.
Thanks . . . I think . . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Don't worry ... even if Bradley invented it, and Gates made it famous ... someone will be granted a patent for it a few years from now.
Creator of the Three-Finger-Salute, we salute thee!
(Anyone else get bit by the Linux will reboot with CRTL-ALT-DEL, but Win NT 4-XP will ask for Logon? I've rebooted machines on KVM switches by accident many a time, especially if I can't remap the salute like I usually do!)
Fellowship 9/11
This is the only guy on the planet who can pick up girls in an internet cafe. Just walk in, smooth tone, slow walk.
"You know I invented CTRL ALT DEL?"
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The last digit of pi is four.
I three finger salute you for your influence on my day to day computing.
And who is the inventor of Ctrl-Alt-Backspace?
Wait, when we push it, it puts me in Windows...so I'm still associating bad things here.
I RTFA and here is why he chose that...He chose those keys specifically as it's not a key sequence that can be struck by accident. This straight from the previous slashdot article.
Yeah... I lost my job cause we were trained to use CTRL-ALT-DELETE to get into some S$S+3M hacking tools for NT but tried it on Linux for a web server computer and not only lost the company a lot of money, but my job as well... :(
For one thing, it's damned near impossible to hit those three keys simultaneously on accident. Other than that, there's nothing special about the combination.
On the Mac, the sequence is Command-Option-Escape.
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the strongest word is still the word "free"
He should also be credited with solving thousands of Windows support calls...
"Well, I just don't know... Have you tried rebooting?"
crazy dynamite monkey
You know you rely on the ctrl alt del keys if you use windows. About time someone made a keyboard fit to your needs.
I don't remember where I got it from, but I have an ASF of the movie. Decided to throw it up on my CMU webspace so lets see if we can /. andrew =)
CtrlAltDel.asf
Oh, the movie doesn't start 15 seconds for some reason. Wasn't me.
'I may have invented it, but Bill made it famous,' Bradley said.
Note that Bradley claimed to be referring to the NT logon procedure. Full quote is from this video.
Well, then, it must be true.
Why not Alt-Ctrl-Delete or Delete-Alt-Control?
Not that we can change it now...
Miserable failure
The most I ever give to Windows is one finger.
"I never lived in this century." --Dan Quayle
And thus sums up the state of computing today.
Buy Steampunk Clothing Online!
I remember Dave Cutler (the man in charge of WindowsNT, also the main VMS developer for DEC), when asked on why did MS use the CTRL-ALT-DEL keyboard combination to log on an NT machine, he said something like: "this combination is sure to be never used by any application". This was taking advantage of the tradition of using it to reboot the computer as everything in the DOS era was running in real mode, so nobody would use it for an application and the NT architecture enabled for the system to intercept it and use it in a supposedly better way. It was thought to be a neat idea.
Still, I think it was not really clever to teach the end-users such an important keyboard combination. I also remember some users back then thinking it would work the same in 95 as in NT, since both systems' GUI looked so similar.
- Otaku no naka no otaku, otaking da!!!
On your typical XP install the salute just brigs up the task manager. Nothing more, nothing less. Doesn't even halt (or even take precedence over, as far as I can tell) other processes.
I take issue with that, really. I need something a bit more forceful when the program I write does NOT do what it's supposed to.
Command-Control-Power. Now that's a three-finger salute! The force reboot is where the manliness of the Mac really shines through -- all three keys signify dominance. Linux and windows users have to use the hippy-dippy "alt" key, as in alt.sex and alt.drugs, combined with the "delete" or "backspace" key to signify a total lack of confidence in their own decisions. You wussies don't even have a command key!!!
...that sequence was chosen for security. From http://www.xfocus.net/articles/200103/winnt.pdf :
"After the SAS [Security Attention Sequence] is triggered in Windows NT, all user-mode programs stop. No program can trap the SAS sequence; it is the sole property of the security subsystem. If a user presses Ctrl+Alt+Del, he can be assured that his information is secure."
I hate computers that don't have a reset button and pressing the power button doesn't always turn the computer off. So that when it's really stuck like that, and ctrl-alt-del doesn't work, you gotta pull the plug. I'd get really mad, it almost became personal, as if the computer was saying "You can't restart until I'm good and ready." Thank goodness for the reset button, for saving the effort of reaching behind the computer.
-Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow
From left to right, what order do you see the keys in?
PrtScn SysRQ
ScrLk
Pause Break
Anyone can tell me what these do???
... they just reboot.
CTRL+SHIFT+DEL I can easily put my finger between the CTRL and Shift Key, pressing down both at the same time. Now say I accidently do that when using CTRL-DEL to do a Cut operation. Ooops I just reset my computer.
(\(\
(^.^)
(")")
*This is the cute bunny virus, please copy this into your sig so it can spread
CAn'T CompreHend SARcaSm?
What's even better is a misbehaving laptop; pull the plug, then flip it over and yank the battery.
Then, I believe, users clamoured for more convenience, so keyboard manufacturers started duplicating the ctrl and alt keys (and/or moved the del key) so that the salute could be performed one-handed.
Actually some keyboards have gone a bit too far along that road. I have seen a keyboard, where you could do CTRL+ALT+DEL with just a single keypress. Yup, they really added an extra key to do just that. Some people must have used CTRL+ALT+DEL too much.
Do you care about the security of your wireless mouse?
I suppose "control-alt-delete" was chosen as "work-you-fucking-program!" took to long to type in.
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"Ours was a free culture. It is becoming much less so."-Lawrence Lessig
You would think it would be difficult to hit accientally, but my cat appears to be the exact length for just that on my keyboard... _and_ she likes to walk towards the numpad afterwards, hitting enter.
I think she has noticed how my head turns red and I leap around now. Stimuli->Response!
The OS where you press Ctrl-Alt-Del to log in, and use the "Start Menu" to shut down.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
It's possible for this to have been disabled in the BIOS, however the only PCs I've ever seen with no support for this at all are some old low spec Compaqs.
Shoot Pixels, Not People!
it can't be handled by any input APIs (Win32/DirectInput)... it gets handled directly by the keyboard driver.
This kind of keystroke is called SAK (Secure Attention Key), as it's not specific to Windows NT.
SAK is an keystroke (or other event, for example sending "break" on a Sun serial port) that the OS guarantees only the Operating System can ever handle.
THIS THING CAN TURN ON A DIME, MACROSSZERO STYLE ALSO FUCK BETA, ~NYORON
One of the first thing a "REAL" linux administrator does is to disable that functionality in the hint, "inittab" . Change the binding to something like echo "Simulating stupid MCSE computer repair"
Got Code?
Lisp machines were using a 5-key chord for reboot way before IBM PC. The chord LCtrl-LMeta-RCtrl-RMeta-Del was used on TI-Explorer. The meta key is the alt equivalence in lisp machines.
He's just rebooting.
---- "If we have to go on with these damned quantum jumps, then I'm sorry that I ever got involved" - Erwin Schrodinger
If he hadn't come up with this, just maybe, Bill Gates would have had to write software that was somewhat reliable.
hold on, have you used MacsBug? command-power drops you into assembly language level debugging, with symbolics, and audio cds carry on playing. then type 'Scream' to look at individual threads...
If opportunity came disguised as temptation, one knock would be enough.
3^2 * 67^1 * 977^1
Look at an original 84 key keyboard (which is what the original PC shipped with), Control and Alt weren't duplicated on the right side of the keyboard (for that matter, control was where we expect capslock now). It would have been really hard to hit it with a single hand.
Sometimes computers become so wedged that even pulling the power cable won't work. You have to open the case and pull the processor off the motherboard when that happens.
How can we convince the old men of IT history to commit themselves to Open Source projects? We should assume that they do not need to work any more and that they have all the time they want to spend on Free projects.
How would the world benefit from their insights and contacts?
What would motivate them?
Would a "mentor" scheme help to organise OS projects? Would it work?
if he had anticipated how many times I push that sequence in a day.
However, it is a cooler sign to flash to the MSCE gangsters that hang out at my company for some reason . . .
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
Maybe if you learned to laugh at Windows' mistakes, you could be happy all the time?
Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
If he got a patent on it, and microsoft was charged $.01 per use, Microsoft would be out of business from all the crashes.
Fight Spammers!
The processor might burn though. I pour water on it first, just to be safe.
-Look lively. LOOK LIVELY!!! --Mr. Shmallow
The guy who invents CTRL-ALT-DELETE retires, so why not retire the technology and let all of those machines just go back to the Earth where they came? Out of that matter will rise a new super computing structure that will take over the world!! Mwwhahaha MWWHAHAA!
Hey, $25 /hr in 1986? Don't knock it 'til you tried it...
db
Cig:
ôô
to pause a booting system so I can read/write down useful info like bios versions. Just hit enter when your done and away you go.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Umwhat? In what way is ctrl-alt-delete a hardware interrupt? It's branched out of the standard key handler earlier than other keys, and generates a (different) software interrupt, if that's what you meant... but it sure ain't what you said.
I've had this sig for three days.
I immerse the entire computer in liquid nitrogen as fast as I can in order to keep the processor from overheating. Then I pick up all the little pieces and put them back through the holes in the case they came out of and shake gently.
The full handler was: int 9, al = scan code -> calls kb translator: int 15, ah = 0x4f, al = scan code, on return al = modified scan code. The resulting scan code is looked up and dealt with as a special case or passed on up to higher level software.
Hooking this interrupt was a first dos asm program for lots of us in the old days - I haven't poked around at that level in a while so I don't know if NT had some sort of scheme to prevent those sorts of hijinks, and if so why any other key sequence would not have worked just as well.
I remember back in 1980 when I had my swanky new Commodore Pet 2001-8 that to reboot it (because I'd crashed it running hand-assembled machine code routines) I used a specially bent paper clip on the edge connecter ("Expansion port") that stuck out the right hand side of the machine. I'd always intended to fit a switch, even bought it.. just never got round to drilling the hole!
*--BigMan--- Time flies like an arrow.. but personally I prefer a nice glass of wine!
Right. Back before the IBM PC, a big bitch about the apple was that there was a single reset button too close to the keyboard and it was easy to hit it accidently. Cats on keyboards can't do Ctrl-Alt-Del -- which is a good thing.
When Windows NT came out, touting that it supported MIPS and Alpha processors, the system boards for those chips did not have even a hint of this original hardware design. I thought that it was reasonable to drop support for that keyboard combination entirely on the software side, and special case trap it for any of the remaining hardware under x86. Drop it as a historic oddity and move on.
Instead, it was retained as a "security" feature in the NT line for logging in to a machine and locking the machine as if there were something special about pressing CTRL-ALT-DEL on all hardware -- if the keyboard even had those keys or they mapped to anything resembling the hardware on Windows NT came out, touting that it supported MIPS and Alpha processors, the system boards for those chips did not have even a hint of this original hardware design. I thought that it was reasonable to drop support for that entirely on the software side, and special case trap it for any of the remaining hardware under x86.an x86!
This alone was a big red flag to me that Microsoft didn't get it. Add to it the heavy x86 virtualization used on the other hardware and it was clear MS wasn't entirely serious about portability let alone real security.
With that, can anyone give a good reason to keep CTRL-ALT-DEL around for any function except as an old-time legacy habit for DOS/Windows users? Is there a technical reason why that combo is more valuable? I can't think of one...
A firewall can not protect you from yourself. Turn off what you do not need. Do not use the firewall to do your work.
So what is he going to do now? Travel the college lecture circuit? "Tonight at 8PM in Simpsons Hall: The Man Who Invented CTRL-ALT-DEL"
Or his last performance review at IBM: "I know you invented CTRL-ALT-DEL, but what have you done for us lately?"
At least now he has time to spend in the garage on his latest invention, SHIFT-ESC-HOME.
try { do() || do_not(); } catch (JediException err) { yoda(err); }
Many HP calculators have their own version of ctrl-alt-del, which can be used to reset the calculator to a known state, as it was when shipped from the factory. Try pressing and holding the key in the lower-left corner, and then simultaneously press the key in the top-left corner and the key in the top-right corner.
Mea navis aericumbens anguillis abundat
Down at the bottom of TFA is a quote from Bradley about what exactly led to the PC hardware revolution, i.e. cheap, interoperable, expandable hardware. First was IBM's decision to outsource development of the OS (Microsoft) and CPU (Intel) [giving them expertise which they later used to markey directly to clone vendors].
... if IBM senior management had fully understood what it was unleashing in 1981, I don't think it would have done this.""
Bradley: "Second, we made it an open system. We published a user manual that made it easy for other people to develop software."
The parallels with the prospects for a PC software revolution are obvious.
Another quote (by Grove): "It's hard 20 years later to realize how drastic a departure this was from the computer industry's standard practices. Computer companies at that time tended to base everything on differentiation. My software will run only on my platform. The thinking was, 'If I don't differentiate, I'm just in a commodity business.'
I think Microsoft realizes exactly what happened with IBM... they lost control of the PC hardware business, but the open platform they originated blossomed in a hundred creative directions. MS has no intention of losing control of the PC OS business.
The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them. - Mark Twain
A lot of time, if the thing's completely locked, that's not responsive either, as that switch connects only to the MOBO. I prefer an actual *switch* that goes only to the power supply.
I've seen computers that could only be reset by unplugging the damned things. Newer ones, too.
"Bill did not laugh." Oh, come on. You make it sound like he was pissed. If you've seen the video, he smiles light-heartedly at him and takes the joke.
He's not some evil guy--he's human like everyone and can take criticism in good fun from colleagues.
Bill getting slammed about the three-fingered salute
Bill at the Windows 98 premiere watching the demo blue screen
I'd almost feel sorry for the guy, but he's worth more than most countries and can do whatever the hell he wants.
Back in the '96-'97 timeframe I used to love playing Deadlock on Windows 95/98. Deadlock is a turn-based strategy game where you control one of up to 7 alien races vying for control of a planet. During the game, your opponents would taunt you (via movie clip with audio). One of the opponent races was the Tarth, consisting of large, brutish creatures who weren't very bright. One day I was playing and my Tarth opponent comes on the screen and blurts out:
"You're losing! Hit Control-Alt-Delete!"
It was a good 10 minutes before I could stop laughing long enough to resume playing the game.
Don't underestimate the power of The Source