Blue Screen of Death n. [common] This term is closely related to the older Black Screen of Death but much more common (many non-hackers have picked it up).

Blue Screen of Death n.

[common] This term is closely
related to the older Black Screen of Death but much more
common (many non-hackers have picked it up). Due to the extreme
fragility and bugginess of Microsoft Windows (3.1/95/NT versions),
misbehaving applications can crash the OS. The Blue Screen of
Death, sometimes decorated with hex error codes, is what you get
when this happens. (Commonly abbreviated BSOD.) This event
is sufficiently common to have inspired the following haiku from
Alan Tuplin:

Your system which soared
So freely on gliding wings
now hangs, frozen and blue


The following entry from the
Salon Haiku Contest, seems to have predated popular
term (and may indeed have inspired it):

Windows NT crashed.
I am the Blue Screen of Death
No one hears your screams.