
Bill Gates: Ctrl+Alt+Del was a mistake (2013) - github-cat
http://www.importstatic.com/article/1380256075-Bill-Gates-%3A-Ctrl%2BAlt%2BDel-was-a-mistake
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dalke
BTW, this is from 2013, and mentioned in the Wikipedia article on "Control-
Alt-Delete".

> Later in an interview, Bradley said he didn't understand why Gates and
> Microsoft decided to make it a login feature, adding that "I guess it made
> sense for them."

I thought it was because it's a secure attention sequence to prevent login
spoofing, since that cannot be emulated software in userland. Certainly the WP
page suggests that.

~~~
RexRollman
That was my understanding and I see no problem with it.

~~~
efaref
Indeed, it was an important security feature. I think Bill is just saying that
they should've got PC manfacturers to add a "Log On" key to the keyboard which
they could've caught in the OS in the same way as Ctrl+Alt+Del.

I think the only other key that has this low-level trap feature is SysRq
(usually Alt+PrintScreen), which, of course, Linux uses for [Magic
SysRq]([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magic_SysRq_key)).

Now that I think of it, "Press 'System Request' to log on" has a nice ring to
it. A shame it was it in the shifted position on IBM PC keyboards.

~~~
cnvogel
There's no special "low level feature" when your keyboard hangs off a serial
bus (as did pm keyboards from the start. XT, AT, PS/2, USB...) As far as I
know also C-A-Del was just the default in the original bios keyboard handler
to trigger a quick reboot.

Windows, for example, has a (by default disabled) feature to trigger a kernel
panic on Ctrl+Scroll lock. Also purely software based and just as arbitrary in
its choice of keys. And also very useful to recover from an otherwise stuck
system.

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bdavisx
I don't see a problem with using it for the reasons they used it.

In a related video, if you've never seen it, this one is great, with the
original Ctrl-Alt-Delete programmer (David Bradley) on stage with Bill
Gates...

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_lg7w8gAXQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K_lg7w8gAXQ)

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magoon
Gates provides an odd answer, and somewhat shifting blame.

He's essentially saying he would have preferred a single "Reboot" key on the
keyboard, then would have used that to begin the login sequence?

~~~
ajross
Yes, a single hardware SAK would have been much preferable. Given Microsoft's
predilection for adding buttons for all other sorts of things in the 90's, I
don't understand why this never happened.

~~~
JadeNB
What is a 'SAK'? (EDIT: Oh, michaelt
([https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9987050](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=9987050)
)'s link points out that it is a 'secure attention key'.)

> Given Microsoft's predilection for adding buttons for all other sorts of
> things in the 90's, I don't understand why this never happened.

Probably because those other buttons were 'just' meant to _add_ functionality,
so that users without them would just get a less-assisted-but-still-functional
environment; whereas requiring a special key on a keyboard just to log in
would have left legacy users unable to do so, a situation which (they and
therefore) Microsoft would surely find untenable.

