The History of CTRL + ALT + DEL
In the spring of 1981, David Bradley was part of a select teamworking from a nondescript office building in Boca Raton, Fla. His task:to help build IBM’s new personal computer. Because Apple and RadioShackwere already selling small stand-alone computers, the project (codename: Acorn) was a rush job. Instead of the typical three- to five-yearturnaround, Acorn had to be completed in a single year.
One of the programmers’ pet peeves was that whenever the computerencountered a coding glitch, they had to manually restart the entiresystem. Turning the machine back on automatically initiated a series ofmemory tests, which stole valuable time. “Some days, you’d be rebootingevery five minutes as you searched for the problem,” Bradley says. Thetedious tests made the coders want to pull their hair out.
So Bradley created a keyboard shortcut that triggered a system resetwithout the memory tests. He never dreamed that the simple fix wouldmake him a programming hero, someone who’d someday be hounded toautograph keyboards at conferences. And he didn’t foresee the commandbecoming such an integral part of the user experience.
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