Windows Crashes During Olympic Ceremony

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Microsoft Windows never lets us down when it comes to BSOD amusement and at the 2008 Summer Olympic Opening Ceremonies it strikes again

With 70 million viewers watching, a record for non-U.S. Olympic Summer Games viewership, how many people do you think noticed the massive Blue Screen of Death during the Opening Ceremonies? It wasn’t easy to see it at first, all high up there, lost in the distraction of fireworks, light shows, and the thousands of performers, but it was there, taunting the world... taunting us all.

The infamous blue screen with white text was live for more than two hours, unseen by many, at least until the main torch lighting ceremony was at its climax. How could you not have seen it then? Li Ning, the man who finally just lit the main torch, began his descent down from the air and passed right in front of the Blue Terror. Check your DVRs – apparently it’s there if you missed it, if only for a second before some say a technician switched feeds.

There is a good chance you won’t be seeing this flaw of the Opening Ceremonies if it ever comes out to DVD though. It’s not like it won’t be the only part of the Opening Ceremonies to get photoshopped either, as some of the fireworks seen on TV are rumored to be have been digitally added. Lets be fair though, it was a spectacular show and whenever you are dealing with Windows, there seems to be a chance that the BSOD will hit. A good question though is, why was nothing done about it once it appeared? It was there for at least two hours, unchecked and unfixed. On a positive note, at least it wasn’t one of the performers who crashed.

The next question may be, was it a legit copy of Windows? Well, rumor has it, it was legit. Seems like it was all running off of 120 legit Axon Media Servers loaded with Windows XP Embedded. What caused the crash is yet to be discovered, but sometimes Windows just doesn’t like you. There is still some speculation that it’s all fake and the photos are photoshopped by Mac Fanboys, but you decide.

18 Comments Comment from the forums
  • ravenware
    "whenever you are dealing with Windows, there seems to be a chance that the BSOD will hit"

    What are people doing to their computers? What kinda of cheap-ass hardware are you trying to run Windows on?

    I have not had a BSOD since windows 9x. I am baffled that people will throw all kinds of spyware/adware (most of the time the download is not free geniuses) on their computers, shell out a raging 300 bucks to build or by a machine, not maintain the computer in anyway, throw performance hampering anti-virus software on their computers that will not remove the SPYWARE that they believe is a virus and still blame Windows for crashing. This is almost equivalent to overloading a garbage bag, slicing little holes all over the garbage bag and then blaming hefty when your garbage ends up on the floor.

    I would suspect the BSOD in this case is from faulty hardware (China should have plenty lying around) or an unreliable proprietary program.
    Reply
  • fazers_on_stun
    Hmm, seeing that it is China, presumably this is a pirated version of Windows anyway. Would have been funnier if the screen message was an MS 'genuine advantage' warning about counterfeit software..
    Reply
  • Here's the one with the torch bearer.

    http://gizmodo.com/5035456/blue-screen-of-death-strikes-birds-nest-during-opening-ceremonies-torch-lighting
    Reply
  • terror112
    Ha PRICELESS! Though I vote Windows > Mac any day... I would lol if they were paid by apple to do that...
    Reply
  • terror112
    Pirated version of windows XP... 0$, low end Chinese media server... $300, The whole system blue screening during the Olympic torch ceremony... priceless.
    Reply
  • nukemaster
    Its priceless, but there are so many things that can cause it.

    Bad ram is the number one cause of it on properly maintained systems.

    How is this different then a tv channel locking up/macro blocking? That would have been far worse. I would assume someone would have been watching and there would have been backup.
    Reply
  • falchard
    I've had a couple blue-screens when I was overclocking my CPU, but it is really hard to blu-screen or lock up a windows OS now. You have to do something outside its parameters and not just to a minor degree. Now a Mac on the other hand, I can do the same thing and I wouldn't be seeing that machine again.
    Reply
  • That's typical for Windows! Anytime you use a product that has always been unstable, you're bound to have problems. Foreign countries usually support open source software, so why didn't they use a Linux server for the Olympics? Perhaps another payoff from M$...? Probably!
    Reply
  • Pei-chen
    1. Why is there a projected image on the back of the big brim screen? Kinda a weird place to place a projector.
    2. Why is one crashed windows = one BSOD? Shouldn't this server be running multiple projectors?
    Reply
  • F A K E ! ! Find the picture of this BSOD... Now since its in China, shouldn't they speak Chinese? The BSOD is IN ENGLISH. Plus you can look at the edges and see its clearly photoshop.
    Reply