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The boss key was first used in the Apple II game "Bezare", published by
Southwestern Data Systems. The idea of it was proposed by Roger Wagner (founder of Southwestern Data Systems, and later Roger Wagner Publishing) on a hang-gliding trip in Mexico in March, 1981, in a conversation between Roger
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The nominal purpose of the boss key is to make it appear to superiors and coworkers that employees are doing their job when they are actually playing games or using the
Internet for non work-related tasks. It was a fairly common feature in early computer games for
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and sold with the original IBM AT and XT computers from 1982 to 1985. When activated (by pressing F10), an ASCII bar graph with generic "Productivity" and "Time" labels appeared. Pressing F10 again would return to the
Friendlyware application.
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Wagner and Doug
Carlston (of Broderbund Software). Steve Wozniak, Andy Hertzfeld and a number of other early personal computing pioneers were also part of that event. Wes Cherry, the author of the original
227:, one possibility is to maintain one "boss" workspace and to switch to it when the boss is coming. A 2014 newspaper article titled "How to watch the Olympics at work without getting caught" described a
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database view. Upon closer inspection, however, the screen was not exactly boss safe, being populated with order info on rather ridiculous adult items, including an "inflatable milkman".
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with the first game saying "Sorry, but you'll have to restore your game; when you panic, I forget everything!". The boss key for the computer submarine game
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74:, because at the time people often did not have home computers and playing at work was their only option. Most boss keys were used to show dummy
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or other programs to hide the program quickly, possibly displaying a special screen that appears to be a normal productivity program (such as a
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series included a boss key in the pulldown menus (shortcut usually Ctrl+B). However, when this is used, it results in an instantaneous
100:, had included a boss key to display a fake spreadsheet or random C code, but was asked by his superiors to remove this on release.
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key, positioned in the upper left corner of the keyboard, as contrasted to the use of two keys, the
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PC version) had a boss key which would hide the game and show a screen designed to look like a
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405:"Microsoft Solitaire turns 30 years old today and still has 35 million monthly players"
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have evolved. However, some programs still retain a boss key feature, such as
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to the background with a keyboard shortcut. Under desktop environments with
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key plus the letter "B" (for "boss"). Moreover, to demonstrate the power of
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website for March
Madness, which allowed viewers to watch every game.
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The boss button has appeared on every NCAA tournament since the
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On modern operating systems, applications may be minimized or
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feature that provides a keyboard shortcut named PanicButton.
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clients or their add-ons or comic book viewers like MComix.
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516:"How to watch the Olympics at work without getting caught"
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application). One of the earliest implementations was by
489:"'Boss Button' making it easier to watch NCAA at work"
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143:had a so-called boss key available from the game's
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183:introduced a five-pack collection of games whose
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103:Another early example of the boss key is in the
461:"A New Game Package is Introduced for Windows"
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16:Keyboard shortcut to quickly hide programs
81:. The use has faded somewhat, as modern
300:Hubert B. Herring (February 11, 1999).
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431:Van Gelder, Lindsay (December 1982).
209:2005 NCAA men's basketball tournament
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379:"B3TA : INTERVIEWS: Wes Cherry"
167:, which, when pressed, brought up a
25:. For the video game developer, see
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514:Bobby Burch (February 7, 2014).
137:'s comedy/sci-fi adventure game
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433:"Superplayers Run The Gauntlet"
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252:"While the Boss Is Away . . "
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403:Warren, Tom (May 22, 2020).
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120:Leather Goddesses of Phobos
10:
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280:"FriendlyWare P.C. Arcade"
175:Microsoft's implementation
21:For the Indian actor, see
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171:type spreadsheet screen.
555:Video game terminology
302:"A Site for Venting"
27:Boss Key Productions
560:History of software
495:on November 3, 2016
225:multiple workspaces
98:Microsoft Solitaire
565:Computer keyboards
550:Video game culture
523:.com (Kansas City)
203:In popular culture
150:Leisure Suit Larry
72:personal computers
90:instant messaging
86:operating systems
42:keyboard shortcut
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469:. July 7, 1993
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526:. Retrieved
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363:February 18,
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215:Alternatives
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83:multitasking
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54:Friendlyware
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521:BizJournals
445:January 18,
438:PC Magazine
185:boss button
169:Lotus 1-2-3
130:Cornerstone
107:version of
65:In PC games
50:spreadsheet
38:boss button
544:Categories
528:January 3,
473:January 3,
313:January 3,
285:October 9,
264:January 3,
238:References
123:(only the
499:March 21,
410:The Verge
181:Microsoft
155:game over
388:June 15,
221:switched
187:was the
179:In 1993
163:was the
46:PC games
44:used in
34:boss key
416:May 24,
232:Firefox
229:Mozilla
197:Windows
165:Esc key
115:Infocom
79:prompts
23:Bosskey
354:"Home"
329:"Home"
110:Asylum
105:IBM PC
58:BASIC
36:, or
530:2023
501:2014
475:2023
447:2015
418:2020
390:2020
383:B3TA
365:2017
340:2017
315:2022
287:2009
266:2023
193:CTRL
160:GATO
189:ESC
125:IBM
76:DOS
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