How Blue Screen Of Death Crashed Bill Gates' CES Keynote

Short Bytes: A compilation video shows that the BSOD won’t spare you even if you’re introducing the Windows Media Center during Microsoft’s CES Keynote demonstration. Gates was left with a smiling face after his mighty remote didn’t work.

How does it feel when a product of your own company doesn’t live up to your expectations failing to perform during a demonstration? Ask Bill Gates. He might’ve suppressed his anger behind a cheeky smile but the blue death did project its shadow upon him during a keynote for Windows Media Center in 2005.

I am always curious about reading such stories. Recently, I came to know about this video which is a compilation of on-stage tech fails during Microsoft’s 2005 CES Keynote. So, what exactly happened is that Bill Gates was delivering a demonstration of the Windows Media Center on Xbox. An air of embarrassment was ambient as the software froze a few times and Bill was only left with a smile on his face.

Microsoft customers are used to having buggy experiences on their machine with Blue Screen of Death (BSOD) and screen freeze situations. But this one is a little bit difficult to digest as the co-founder was left speechless. “And now nine people are being fired …. digitally fired” – Conan O’Brien used his humor skills to light up the situation when Gates was busy pressing the Ok button to start the slide show and it didn’t work.

Few seconds later, Gates gave it another try and guess what, it still didn’t work. “Is there anyone who’s gonna do anything or should we just move on,” said Conan. “Did I mention there’s gambling in this town, Las Vegas? Feel free to hit the tables. You can come back when we get this thing working.”

Later in the video, a presenter blames the internet connection for acting as a hurdle while talking about the recording feature of Windows Media Center. And finally, another presenter gets blown off the track due to the Blue Screen of Death or ‘blue death’ as I like to call it. All he can do now is to make you imagine that he is customizing his car using some tool. He says that there is no need to explain this thing as he received feedback, “that was kinda slow part of the demo”.

You’ll find these interesting: