Wherever Windows goes... the Blues Screen of Death is bound to follow. And since Windows was an integral piece of the puzzle making up the IT infrastructure of the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the now equally ubiquitous BSOD was also on sight. Furthermore, XP "participated" in the 2008 Olympic's opening ceremony in the Bird's Nest. And out of all the moments to fail, Windows Vista's predecessor lived up to the worst expectations possible about the Windows operating system, and failed not to disappoint, but indeed failed.

The images delivered by PowerApple and RiverCoolCool provide the not too laudable proof of Windows XP's performance at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games. However, the Blue Screen of Death went virtually unnoticed as the Opening Ceremony of the Games, grabbed all the focus. But the BSOD details are there, illustrating the stability issues that have plagued Windows XP, even following the release of Service Pack 2.

Because planning for the Olympic games started even before Windows Vista had been released to manufacturing, the latest Windows operating system is not featured at the 2008 Olympics on par with Windows XP. Lenovo chairman, Yang Yuanqing, indicated that XP was chosen over Vista, in an attempt to avoid any instability issue inherent with a newer operating system.

Still, while Windows Vista indeed suffers in many aspects, from performance to compatibility, stability and reliability are not among the major problems of the platform. In this regard, the image at the top of this article, featuring veteran Chinese gymnast Li Ning suspended in the Bird's Nest and on his way to lighting the Olympic torch, is also sporting a superb Blue Screen of death courtesy of Windows XP.

But not only was the Windows XP client featured in the Games' Opening event. According to Weijuan Shi, program manager of the Embedded Windows Customer Strike Team, Windows XP Embedded also took part in the Olympics' debut festivities courtesy of the 120 HES Axon Media Servers. Accompanying Windows XP to the event was none other than former fulltime Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates joined by his wife Melinda.