Gone is the familiar cobalt backdrop, that glum little frowning face, and the QR code no one ever scanned. In its place is a minimalist black screen that resembles a stalled update more than a complete system meltdown.

The good part of having a black screen of death is that we don't have to change the acronym. Vole claims the move is part of a push for “streamlined UI” that aligns with Windows 11’s pastel-soaked design principles.

“We’ve simplified your experience while preserving the technical information on the screen,” the company said, trying to put lipstick on a pig that had been rebooted.

Insiders testing the new BSOD will still see green for now—a Volish testing quirk—but the final version is expected to display a black screen. This overhaul is slated to arrive with Windows 11 version 24H2, marking the first significant design shift since Microsoft introduced the sad emoji to indicate crashes during the Windows 8 era.

The new version still shows the error and driver info but strips away any pretence of guidance or explanation. Just a flat: “Your device has encountered an issue and needs to restart.”

Whether the black BSOD persists or Vole chickens out again, as it did in 2021 when it briefly tested a similar design before retreating to blue, remains to be seen -- or hopefully never seen.