Steve Ballmer did not write the text for the blue screen of death (opens in new tab)

(devblogs.microsoft.com)

16 pointskastden2y ago9 comments

9 comments

Chen is a marvelous writer. Punchy sentences replete with wisdom.

> What was new in Windows 3.1 was a special handler for Ctrl+Alt+Del which tried to identify the program that was not responding and give you the opportunity to terminate it.

This worked 1% of the time. Because of the cooperative multitasking in win 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98 and Me the usual way out of this was reset or power off. Sometimes pressing the Ctrl+Alt+DEL will reboot the computer.

guraf2y ago

> This worked 1% of the time. Because of the cooperative multitasking in win 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98 and Me the usual way out of this was reset or power off.

Only Win 3.1 used cooperative multitasking (and only when running on a 286). All others used preemptive multitasking.

s1gsegv2y ago

Windows 3.1 on a 386 used preemptive multitasking, yes, but only between Windows as a whole and other DOS programs you were running. Within Windows, win16 apps were cooperatively multitasked even on a 386.

hulitu2y ago

I stand corrected.

furyofantares2y ago

The comments at the end are marvelous.

zhte4152y ago

I get

> 0 comments

> Comments are closed. Login to edit/delete your existing comments

sparky_z2y ago

I presume they're referring, not to blog comments by visitors, but to Chen's own comments (or commentary, if you prefer) in the footnote at the end.

nadermx2y ago

That was a wonderful read

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

9 comments

DieBruderBauer2y ago

Chen is a marvelous writer. Punchy sentences replete with wisdom.

hulitu2y ago

> What was new in Windows 3.1 was a special handler for Ctrl+Alt+Del which tried to identify the program that was not responding and give you the opportunity to terminate it.

guraf2y ago

> This worked 1% of the time. Because of the cooperative multitasking in win 3.1, 3.11, 95, 98 and Me the usual way out of this was reset or power off.

Only Win 3.1 used cooperative multitasking (and only when running on a 286). All others used preemptive multitasking.

s1gsegv2y ago

hulitu2y ago

I stand corrected.

furyofantares2y ago

The comments at the end are marvelous.

zhte4152y ago

I get

> 0 comments

> Comments are closed. Login to edit/delete your existing comments

sparky_z2y ago

I presume they're referring, not to blog comments by visitors, but to Chen's own comments (or commentary, if you prefer) in the footnote at the end.

nadermx2y ago

That was a wonderful read

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse