It's been a hallmark of PC gaming (and, well, PC using) for years now: when Windows really does something wrong, users have been greeted by the dreaded "blue screen of death", crashing their system. No more!
Instead, it appears as though the next version of Microsoft's operating system, Windows 8, does something similar to the new Xbox 360 S console: give the same error, but change it just enough to make it seem different.
In this case, the blue screen of death has been replaced with a black screen of death, and obscure error reports swapped out with a simpler, larger "Your Computer Needs To Restart" message.
So you can still use the acronym "bsod", and it still means something's gone horribly wrong, but a colour change and cut-down on jargon makes it all seem just that little bit less critical.
Microsoft switches to Black Screen Of Death (BSoD) for Windows 8 [Winrumors]