Okay, we know that a slew of Mac fans rabid enough to tune into AtAT on a semi-daily basis probably doesn't want to keep hearing about Windows errors. Or maybe you do. But regardless, we just had to do a follow-up on yesterday's item about the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). For the uninitiated (and you don't know just how lucky you are), when Windows crashes hard, you're left staring at a solid blue screen with cryptic white error messages all over it. It happens in Windows 3.1, it happens in Windows 95/98, and, despite what Microsoft's marketing department might otherwise tell you, it happen in Windows NT, as well. So when Bill Gates publicly stated that Apple's only leadership position is in the area of color, we passed on faithful viewer David Puett's suggestion that Bill's plan is to take the lead in color variety by allowing the customization of the Windows error screen starting with Windows 2000. Big joke, right? Ha ha, and all that.

Except that it's apparently not fiction. First of all, faithful viewer John Rubbo seems to recall hearing that in Windows NT 5 (now known as Windows 2000), users will be able to customize the BSOD-- "you can put your business logo in its place. Glad to see they're making worthwhile improvements." Absolutely. Because let's be honest: what business with an NT-based product doesn't want their company logo prominently displayed whenever the system takes a nose dive? If this "feature" turns out to be true, we can picture quite a few Mac people who are forced to use Windows at work adding all kinds of fun graphics to the BSOD-- a picture of a pie-covered Gates, the Justice Department seal, the smiling Mac OS logo and the legend "I Wish I Were A Mac," etc.

But for those of you stuck in Windowsville now, you don't have to wait for Windows 2000 to dress up your error screens a bit. Faithful viewer Gary Turnbull pointed out an NTKnow article which proves that Microsoft is the true innovator when it comes to color choice: it's already possible to change some hidden Registry settings to give yourself "a Cyan Screen of Death, a Bright Yellow On Gray Screen of Death: any colour you want, as long as it's broke." Better yet, rather than dealing with all that tedious mucking about in the Registry, you can download BSOD Properties-- an easy-to-use program that promises to "eliminate the dreaded Blue Screen of Death FOREVER!" (By making it green, or purple, or... well, you get the idea.) Sadly, it doesn't work under Windows NT, which is probably why Microsoft is reportedly adding BSOD customizability to Windows 2000. So there you have it-- proof that Microsoft is really all about choice. Now get back to work, you.