J
john
04/13/07 - Blue Screen of Death gets a facelift
REDMOND, WA -- In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft President Steve
Ballmer revealed that the Redmond based company will allow computer
resellers and end-users to customise the appearance of the Blue Screen of
Death (BSOD), the screen that displays when the Windows operating system
crashes.
The move comes as a result of numerous focus groups and customer surveys.
Thousands of Microsoft customers were asked: "What do you spend the most
time doing at your computer?"
A surprising number of respondents said: "Staring at a Blue Screen of
Death". At 54%, it was the top answer, beating the second-place answer -
"Downloading porn" - by an easy 12 points.
"We immediately recognised this as a great opportunity for ourselves, our
channel partners, and especially our customers." Explained the excited
Ballmer to a room full of reporters. Immense video displays were used to
show images of the new customisable BSOD, which appeared side-by-side with
the older, boring and static version.
Users can select from a collection of "BSOD Themes", allowing them instead
to have a Mauve Screen of Death, or even a Paisley Screen of Death. Graphics
and multimedia content can now be incorporated into the screen, making the
BSOD the perfect conduit for delivering product information and
entertainment to Windows users.
The BSOD is by far the most recognised feature of the Windows operating
system, and as a result, Microsoft has historically insisted on total
control of its look-and-feel. This recent departure from that policy
reflects Microsoft's recognition of the Windows desktop itself as "the
ultimate information portal". By default, the new BSOD will be configured to
show a random selection of Microsoft product information whenever the system
crashes. Channel partners can negotiate with Microsoft for the right to
customise the BSOD on systems they ship, for a fee of course.
Major computer resellers such as Compaq, Gateway, SEC & Dell are already
lining up for premier placement on the new and improved BSOD. Ballmer
concluded by getting a dig into Apple Mac and the Open Source community:
"This just goes to show that Microsoft continues to innovate at a much
faster pace than Open Source. I have yet to see any evidence that Linux even
has a BSOD, let alone a customisable one."
--
=======================================
"- At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they
all come from the top - I'm afraid that's not quite right."
- Bill Gates
=======================================
REDMOND, WA -- In a surprise announcement today, Microsoft President Steve
Ballmer revealed that the Redmond based company will allow computer
resellers and end-users to customise the appearance of the Blue Screen of
Death (BSOD), the screen that displays when the Windows operating system
crashes.
The move comes as a result of numerous focus groups and customer surveys.
Thousands of Microsoft customers were asked: "What do you spend the most
time doing at your computer?"
A surprising number of respondents said: "Staring at a Blue Screen of
Death". At 54%, it was the top answer, beating the second-place answer -
"Downloading porn" - by an easy 12 points.
"We immediately recognised this as a great opportunity for ourselves, our
channel partners, and especially our customers." Explained the excited
Ballmer to a room full of reporters. Immense video displays were used to
show images of the new customisable BSOD, which appeared side-by-side with
the older, boring and static version.
Users can select from a collection of "BSOD Themes", allowing them instead
to have a Mauve Screen of Death, or even a Paisley Screen of Death. Graphics
and multimedia content can now be incorporated into the screen, making the
BSOD the perfect conduit for delivering product information and
entertainment to Windows users.
The BSOD is by far the most recognised feature of the Windows operating
system, and as a result, Microsoft has historically insisted on total
control of its look-and-feel. This recent departure from that policy
reflects Microsoft's recognition of the Windows desktop itself as "the
ultimate information portal". By default, the new BSOD will be configured to
show a random selection of Microsoft product information whenever the system
crashes. Channel partners can negotiate with Microsoft for the right to
customise the BSOD on systems they ship, for a fee of course.
Major computer resellers such as Compaq, Gateway, SEC & Dell are already
lining up for premier placement on the new and improved BSOD. Ballmer
concluded by getting a dig into Apple Mac and the Open Source community:
"This just goes to show that Microsoft continues to innovate at a much
faster pace than Open Source. I have yet to see any evidence that Linux even
has a BSOD, let alone a customisable one."
--
=======================================
"- At Microsoft there are lots of brilliant ideas but the image is that they
all come from the top - I'm afraid that's not quite right."
- Bill Gates
=======================================
