Microsoft Humor

Despite its lofty corporate position and all the criticism directed at it from impatient techies and politicians looking to make a name for themselves, Microsoft still has just proved it has a sense of humor.

Remember the famous Blue Screen of Death that would frequently pop up in the middle of an important piece of work? You then had to shut down and restart your PC, which caused the loss of any unsaved portions of what you were working on. While I used to encounter this regularly, especially on my home computer when it was running Windows ME but also at work where I had Windows 98, I have not encountered it since both machines were upgraded to Windows XP.

With the advent of Windows XP, the Blue Screen of Death apparently is no more except for those who keep running Windows ME or 98 for nostalgic reasons. But now the programmers at Microsoft have, in their spare time, created a Blue Screen of Death screen saver which can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft TechNet site. This is not a static screen saver but a dynamic one that looks and acts like the real thing. It is so realistic that, when you call tech support they scratch their heads and actually try to fix it!

If you would like to show the kids how tough life was in the old days or want to freak out the guys and gals in tech support at work (this assumes you don't mind their blacklisting you and refusing to return your phone calls for help in the future) go to the link below and download the Blue Screen of Death screen saver from Microsoft.