The guy who invented and coded the Ctrl-Alt-Del sequence is retiring from IBM.
David Bradley joined the company in June 1975 as an engineer in Boca Raton, Fla. By 1980, he was one of 12 working to create the IBM PC. He now works at IBM’s facility in Research Triangle Park.
The engineers knew they had to design a simple way to restart the computer should it fail. Bradley wrote the code to make it work.
“I didn’t know it was going to be a cultural icon,” Bradley said. “I did a lot of other things than CtrlAltDelete, but I’m famous for that one.”
But he’s not bitter about it.
“After having been the answer on final ‘Jeopardy,’ if I can be a clue in ‘The New York Times’ Sunday crossword puzzle, I will have met all my life’s goals,” Bradley said.
There are worse ambitions.
(via Volokh)