Bill Gates' big mistake: CTRL + ALT + DEL

The businessman and philanthropist Bill Gates. KAMIL ZIHNIOGLU (AP) GETTY-QUALITY

There are habits that are already taken for granted, but that one really does not reconsider why they have been chosen that way. One of them is undoubtedly a sequence that will be very familiar to those who have accompanied computers since its inception: the well-known CTRL + ALT + SUPR; a magic sequence that takes us out of any predicament and strength - the word could never better explain the success - to the machine to stop a process ending its agony. Yes, CTRL + ALT-DEL has taken millions of users to trouble and returned the PC to life, but ... why such a strange combination?

To press these three keys - very distant from each other, by the way - the user had to use both hands and evidently three fingers; a somewhat forced and not always easy position. Doubt has flashed unexpectedly in a debate organized by Bloomberg four-way between stars of the business world that was the same Bill Gates. The multi-millionaire philanthropist, now representing his Gates Foundation, has been surprised by the question at first glance formulated by the moderator of the debate, also tycoon David Rubenstein. "Bill, I'm going to ask you a question that should have been asked a long time ago," he says, " why did you choose the CTRL-ALT-SUPR sequence? ", Alluding to the strange position of the hands.

Laughter among those present and Gates's face of amused surprise, who keeps silent as he rolls his eyes upward and turns - somewhat uncomfortable - into his seat. The tycoon regains his position and takes on the role of Bill, the founder of Microsoft, to explain that this was the only way to force IBM machines to stop a process. "The people involved in this task should have chosen a more obvious key to the effect," he laments. "Do you regret this choice?" Insists Rubenstein.

At this point, Gates is once again the shy boy who once revolutionized the world of computers forever with Microsoft and responds, fun: "Of course, if I could have changed it, I would have chosen a single key," he said, adding that he would do so as long as he could reverse time and not jeopardize "other decisions" of his life.
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