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Bill Gates Regrets Ctrl-Alt-Delete

SCOTT SIMON, HOST:

Bill Gates is ultra-rich, famous and more beloved these days for his philanthropy than he was when he was making that Microsoft fortune that makes his generosity possible. What could he possibly have to regret? But Mr. Gates told Bloomberg's Global Business Forum this week that he wished he didn't have to press control-alt-delete to log into your computer. I'm not sure you can go back and change small things in your life without putting the other things at risk, he said. Sure, if I could make one small edit, I'd make that a single-key operation. Bill Gates says that the IBM keyboard designers resisted the idea of a single click like the one Apple has. Everyone needs three fingers and two hands - unless you're LeBron James - to hit control-alt-delete. Why doesn't Mr. Gates just call the help desk? A technician will be with him shortly.

(SOUNDBITE OF JOHN METCALFE'S "GOLD, GREEN") Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.