Windows: 20 years ago the ” blue screen ” became famous during the presentation of Windows 98
It passed without doubt to the story not so much because it was the first appearance, but because it happened during the official presentation of the new Windows 98 with Bill Gates present on the stage. Here is the video of that moment.
The presentation of the new Windows 98 took place at Comdex in April 1998. A media event where the young Bill Gates together with the head of development, Chris Capossela, illustrated to the public media the news of the new Microsoft operating system and especially the ease with which was able to manage the entire operating system as well as the broad support for Plug and Play or the immediate connection of peripherals.
Just one occasion took place a small hitch that went down in history for the appearance of the blue screen of death, so nicknamed, which meant a major error to the operating system.
The blue screen of death appeared for the first time not on that occasion but long before that is already inside Windows NT 3.1. It indicated a real sudden block of the Windows operating system which could depend on many factors. In this case, what is certain is that users knew even more the screen because of the debacle of the Comdex of 1998.
As mentioned when, on the stage, the development manager Chris Capossela connected a USB scanner to show the automatic installation of the device, here came the historical crash of the operating system and the appearance of the now-famous blue screen of death. Bill Gates after a few laughs and some cheers of encouragement took the floor and said, ” This is why we do not distribute Windows 98 “.
Many conspirators on the veracity of the crash. In fact, from the images one could suspect that what had seemed a blue screen to block the operating system, was actually a slide that entered by scrolling from the right of the video without taking up the whole screen (under the blue screen was visible part of the desktop), as if it were a planned staging to increase the media resonance or to justify in a striking way the delay of the exit of the operating system.
Despite the presentation to the public seemed an apparent fiasco, the popularity of the operating system was not compromised. Windows 98 enjoyed great success and was widely used. Without a doubt whether it had been planned or not, the error passed into history and after twenty years is still remembered.
