BSOD: It was 20 April 1998 when Bill Gates and Chris Capossela climbed to the stage of the COMDEX conference in Chicago to showcase one of their greatest innovations Windows: plug-and-play support.
The innovative plug-and-play technology guaranteed that everything that is peripherally connected to a Windows computer will work without any particular regulation. 
So to demonstrate the revolutionary mode plug-and-play in Windows 98, Capossela connected a scanner to a computer running the company's operating system. Bill Gates was next and smiling, showing off the operating system that will change the world. He had no idea what was coming next…
Capossela was explaining her procedure “the new device will load the appropriate drivers. You will notice that this detector generates …” and suddenly stops. BSOD….
Bill Gates continues to smile, observing a blue screen that appeared while Capossela yells "WHOA!"
No doubt it is the most famous WHOA! in the history of information technology. Gates does not stop smiling, but he realizes what has happened. He knows he has to correct the situation in some way, especially because the whole audience is starving at laughs. Capossela does not know what to say for a few seconds.
"That is why we are not releasing Windows 98 yet," he says, observing the moment of silence and how shocked Capossela was.
But in the end, it all worked out well for Microsoft, and Windows 98 was one of the best versions of Windows ever released, with about 25 million sold in just the first year.
And as The Register reports, Chris Capossela survived Gates' post-official wrath presentation of BSOD. He is still at Microsoft and works as Chief Marketing Officer.
Watch the video:
