BSOD: It was April 20, 1998, when o Bill Gates and Chris Capossela took the stage at the COMDEX conference in Chicago to present one of the biggest innovations of Windows: plug-and-play support.
The then-innovative plug-and-play technology guaranteed that everything connected peripherally in one computer with Windows it will work without any special setup. 
So to demonstrate the revolutionary plug-and-play functionality in Windows 98, Capossela connected a scanner to a computer running functional the company's. 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 explained the process “the new device will load the appropriate drivers. You will notice that this detector generates… ”and stops suddenly. BSOD….
Bill Gates continues to smile, watching a blue screen appear as Capossela shouts "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' wrath after the BSOD was officially presented. He is still at Microsoft and works as Chief Marketing Officer.
Watch the video:
