It usually happens to your computer right in the middle of something important: The dreaded Microsoft Windows blue error screen. Now Microsoft is retiring the blue screen of death for a new color.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
All right. What’s blue, now black and means your computer is starting over?
AILSA CHANG, HOST:
Would that be the Windows blue screen of death?
SHAPIRO: Correct.
CHANG: This thing that pops up when your computer suddenly restarts? I hate that thing.
SHAPIRO: Yeah, well, RIP because Microsoft announced this week that the dreaded BSOD is no more.
CHANG: Yeah, the company shared in a blog post on Thursday that now, if your computer needs to reboot right in the middle of that very important thing that you’re doing, the screen will go black, which somehow seems more fitting.
SHAPIRO: The change is slated for this summer on Windows 11, version 24H2. Microsoft says the change will make systems recover from crashes faster and it better fits the overall layout of their operating system.
CHANG: Users may remember being bathed in a sea of blue light last year when the CrowdStrike software outage crashed millions of computers.
SHAPIRO: Sounds like next time, it’ll be a much darker affair.
(SOUNDBITE OF LOLA YOUNG SONG, “CONCEITED”)
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