( CNN ) -- If you pressed Control-Alt-Delete to log on before reading this , Bill Gates says he 's sorry . The Microsoft founder says the triple-key login should have been made easier , Ã la Apple 's Macs , but that a designer insisted on the more complicated step . `` We could have had a single button . But the guy who did the IBM keyboard design did n't want to give us our single button , '' Gates said Saturday during a question-and-answer session to launch a Harvard University fund-raising campaign . His comments have gained attention since a video of his Harvard Q & A was posted on YouTube on Tuesday . Smiling , Gates tried to follow through on the thought , noting it was a basic security feature . But he eventually surrendered to common sense . `` And so we had ... we programmed at a low level that you had to ... it was a mistake , '' he said , throwing up his hands to laughter and applause from the crowd . Gates defended innovation on the earliest Microsoft software though . `` We did some clever stuff , '' he said . `` We were able to experiment with a lot of stuff , but more on the software side than the hardware . '' Long the first interface step for PC users , Control-Alt-Delete still exists in Windows 8 as a way of either locking the computer or accessing the control panel . While the system defaults to a log-in screen , users may tweak their settings to return to the old way of logging on to Windows . Sometimes informally called the `` three-fingered salute , '' the login required users to use both hands and was intended to avoid accidental keystrokes from rebooting a computer . Engineer David Bradley , a designer on early IBM computers , said he invented the combination as a shortcut during development . `` I originally intended for it to be what we would now call an Easter egg -- just something we were using in development and it would n't be available elsewhere , '' Bradley said while appearing on a 2011 panel that included Gates . `` But then ( software publishers ) found out about it . They were trying to figure out how to tell somebody to start up one of their programs , and they had the answer . Just put the diskette in , hit Control-Alt-Delete , and by magic your program starts . '' He then tried to deflect what he perhaps wryly called `` credit '' for its continued use . `` It was like a five-minute job in doing it . I did n't realize that I was going to create a cultural icon when I did it , '' he said `` ... I may have invented it , but I think Bill made it famous . '' A tight-lipped Gates appears to force a smile in a video of the panel but does not respond . Gates attended Harvard until he left during his junior year to start Microsoft with Paul Allen in 1975 . While at Harvard , he lived down the hall from current Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer . Gates received an honorary degree in 2007 . Gates remains Microsoft 's chairman although he stopped full-time work at the company in 2008 . During Saturday 's session , Gates reflected on a variety of topics , from the philanthropy he 's made his life 's work since stepping back from an active role at Microsoft to his company 's relationship with Apple in the early days . That included helping keep what would become Microsoft 's fiercest rival afloat in the 1990s when it was foundering . `` In the Apple II era , we were kind of friendly competitors , '' he said . `` We actually put more people on the Mac than Apple had . '' When co-founder Steve Jobs returned to Apple in 1996 , `` he sort of says , ' I want this , this and this and I 'll give you this , this and this . ' ... We did the deal in three days , '' Gates said . That included buying a 6 % share of Apple , which lawyers convinced Gates that Microsoft should n't keep for antitrust reasons . `` It would have been nice if we had , '' he said .
Bill Gates : IBM designer insisted on triple - key ##ing on PCs for security reasons . But Gates said Alt - Alt - Alt was a ` ` . '' The designer credited with the shortcut has deflected responsibility . Gates made comment at a recent Stanford University event .