demo playbook

The demo playbook tag covers content related to live demonstration strategies, particularly in the context of Microsoft's response to the infamous COMDEX 1998 Blue Screen of Death. The incident, where an unvetted plug-and-play scanner caused a kernel crash during a Windows 98 demo, led to internal changes including dedicated staging rooms, stricter validation checklists, and device stress testing. This tag explores how Microsoft and the tech industry evolved their approach to presentation engineering and hardware compatibility to prevent similar failures. Discussions focus on the operational and cultural shifts that followed, emphasizing the importance of rigorous pre-demo validation and the lessons learned from high-profile public demonstrations.