There, in a nutshell, is one big trade-off Microsoft made by partnering with third-party hardware firms rather than building its own computers, as Apple did. The guy who did the IBM keyboard design didn't want to give us our single button. And so we had, we programmed at a low level that you had to – it was a mistake." "So 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": Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. "Basically, because when you turn your computer on, you're going to see some screens and eventually type your password in, you want to have something you do with the keyboard that is signalling to a very low level of the software – actually, hard-coded in the hardware – that it really is bringing in the operating system you expect," said Gates. His response began with some hemming and hawing, but he eventually wound his way to a straight answer. The crowd laughed as Gates shifted his weight and scratched his ear sheepishly. "Why, when I want to turn on my software and computer, do I need to have three fingers: control, alt, delete?" Rubenstein asked the living tech legend. ![]() In retrospect, that was probably unnecessary, Microsoft co-founded Bill Gates revealed in a talk at Harvard last week.Īs Geekwire points out, the surprising – and, let's face it, seriously belated – admission came in response to a wonderfully blunt question from David Rubenstein, co-chair of a Harvard fundraising campaign. Hundreds of millions of people around the world, including virtually everyone who has ever used a Windows device, have had to memorise the key command "control-alt-delete".
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