海角大神

Anyone who learned about computers on a PC knows the finger-bending key to unlocking the home screen: Ctrl-Alt-Del.

Bill Gates, however, wishes it wasn鈥檛 so. In an interview at , Mr. Gates told his interviewer Ctrl-Alt-Del was a 鈥渕istake,鈥� as was dropping out of Harvard. This is a big revelation from a man well known for his computing innovation and rebellious interest in the tech world. But he is far from the only tech giant to realize hindsight is 20/20.

Gates says the three-finger button combination was IBM鈥檚 idea, after the keyboard engineer decided not to make a single start-up button. Originally, it was meant as a security precaution 鈥� letting the operating system know the hardware is on the same page. Microsoft programmed this three-button decision, and it stuck, even to today鈥檚 Windows 8.

Gates also says though he dropped out of Harvard early to start Microsoft, 鈥淎n extra year or two wouldn鈥檛 have made a difference." Considering several of his tech-giant followers also dropped out (Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook, Michael Dell of Dell), he may have also unconsciously started a trend that has stuck around until today.

However, when you鈥檙e dealing with a major technological advancement, often innovating as you wildly grow, it isn鈥檛 uncommon to make a mistake or two.

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook has admitted a few mistakes in Facebook鈥檚 first nine years. In 2007, the website rolled out 鈥淏eacon,鈥� a service that posted users' information from third-party websites, such as Blockbuster and Overstock, on their timeline, sometimes without the person's explicit condition. Privacy advocates denounced the program, and Facebook ended up settling a class-action lawsuit over Beacon.

Mr. Zuckerberg also that focusing Facebook鈥檚 mobile applications on HTML5, rather than applications distributed through an app store, was a mistake. With HTML5, Facebook users weren鈥檛 able to see as many timeline stories or feeds, which cut down on advertising opportunities which Facebook hoped to capitalize on in mobile apps. Not making money usually constitutes as a mistake.

Even mighty Apple doesn鈥檛 have a clean record. In 2012, Apple removed its products from the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) program, which measures electronics on environmental standards, like product life expectancy and toxic materials. Apple told EPEAT its design was 鈥渘o longer consistent with EPEAT standards鈥� and would like its 39 products to be removed from the list of green products.

This did not sit well with green-minded customers 鈥� or government organizations required to buy products that have met 95 percent of EPEAT standards. After public outcry, and major agencies such as the city of San Francisco it would no longer buy Apple products, Apple renounced its withdrawal from EPEAT. In , Bob Mansfield, senior vice president of hardware engineering, apologized for the removal, writing, 鈥淚 recognize that this was a mistake.鈥�

Sometimes the mistakes in the tech world have nothing to do with hardware. In 2001, AOL and Time Warner merged in a deal valued at $350 billion, the biggest merger in American business history. Nine years later, the company was worth only 80 percent of its original price. The dot-com bust and a massive switch to high-speed Internet over AOL鈥檚 dial-up connection led the company into dramatic decline, sending AOL careening from the poster child of the Internet to laughingstock of the tech world. In 2010, Time Warner chief Jeff Bewkes at a London press conference that the merger was the 鈥渂iggest mistake in corporate history.鈥�

At least Ctrl-Alt-Del didn鈥檛 cost Bill Gates billions of dollars.