Since software developers and technical writers would need to restart a computer many times, this key combination was a big time-saver. Bradley chose this key combination because it is practically impossible to accidentally press this combination of keys on a standard keyboard.David Bradely, the inventor of CTRL-ALT-DEL was talking about why he created it during a panel celebrating the 20th anniversary of the IBM PC which included Bill Gates.Mr. Bradely said, 'I may have invented CTRL-ALT-DEL, but Bill Gates made it famous,' which just about brought the house down. The funniest part is the expression, or lack thereof, on the face of Bill. He wasn't too pleased, not even when Bradely said, 'I was talking about the Windows NT login..'
Every time a software program locks up and you want to start over, every time you need to change your password or log on or off your computer, you can thank David J. Bradley.
That's the same David Bradley who was the "answer" to Final Jeopardy on an episode of that show's special college edition last fall.
It's the same David Bradley who saved Bill Gates' derriere before the Windows operating system became the monster it is today.
Bradley is the man who gave the world "control-alt-delete."
"It was not a memorable event," said Bradley, a longtime IBM employee, speaking of that day in 1980 or '81 when he discovered control-alt-delete.
"It wasn't intended as something we were going to tell the customers about," he says. "Then it turned out that this reset was a problem-solver for people who were writing the programs and writing the instruction manuals."
He's much too modest. Would Alexander Fleming have said, "It wasn't a memorable event," when he discovered penicillin?
Would Albert Einstein have said, "I really can't recall when I discovered E=MC squared?"
The original idea was simply to reset early PCs without turning them off. Microsoft adopted control-alt-delete to help ensure people powered down correctly, then to handle "administrative functions" such as the vital "end task" feature for computer software that crashes or otherwise gets stuck.
Bradley chose the control and alt keys because he needed two shift keys to make the operation work, and he chose the delete key because it was on the opposite side of the keyboard. He didn't want people to hit control-alt-delete by accident.
It's more complicated than that, of course, but most people don't have a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from Purdue University, as Bradley does.
Bradley, who speaks at universities on IBM's behalf, is on a mission — to encourage more students to go into science and technology. He's aware that much of the growth in college attendance in recent decades is in the humanities.
"I actually have a real job, but I enjoy doing this," Bradley says. "I'm as close as you get to a rock star within IBM."
Bradley says the "strength of the country" is at stake because relatively few students go into science or technology. Further, he says, ordinary citizens need to understand science and technology better to make informed choices in the voting booth.
EXPERIENCE IS NOT WHAT HAPPENS TO A MAN BUT IT IS WHAT A MAN DOES WITH WHAT HAPPENS TO HIM