Windows 98 is Plug and … Whoa?

April 20, 1998

During the COMDEX Spring ’98 and Windows World shows in Chicago, a public demonstration of the soon-to-be released Windows 98 goes awry when Bill Gates’ assistant causes the operating system to crash after plugging in a scanner. Instead of showing the plug-and-play capabilities they were trying to demonstrate, a “Blue Screen of Death” is visible by the entire audience which immediately erupts in laughter. After several seconds, Bill Gates famously responded, “That must be why we’re not shipping Windows 98 yet.”

Ironically, the assistant, Chris Capossela, has moved up the executive ranks at Microsoft, all the way to Executive VP and Chief Marketing Officer. For Microsoft’s sake, hopefully he’ll present a much better marketing image then he did that fateful day!