Work on the revamped Windows 8 user interface had begun long before its public announcement in June 2011. The team doing the work needed to keep their efforts under wraps to avoid any leaks or other premature disclosures.

Humphrey: Can you keep a secret?

Bernard: (expectantly) Of course.

Humphrey: So can I.

— Yes, Minister, Season 1, Episode 1, “Open Government”.

The mechanism for hiding the Windows 8 features from anyone not authorized to know about them was known as Redpill (one word, accent on the red).

The name was, as you might suspect, a reference to the scene from the movie The Matrix in which the main character is offered a choice between taking a red pill or a blue pill. The blue pill returns him to his previous state of ignorance, and the red pill takes him forward into knowledge of the true state of reality.

Okay, so it was kind of obvious. Sometimes the obvious answer is the right one.

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