Microsoft is adding a new key to PC keyboards for the first time since 1994

jordanlund@lemmy.world to Technology@lemmy.world – 503 points – Microsoft is adding a new key to PC keyboards for the first time since 1994
arstechnica.com

Copilot key will eventually be required in new PC keyboards, though not yet.

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So now Windows bloat is extending to the physical keyboard itself.

Looking at the Microsoft blog post they haven't said exactly how they want keyboard layouts to change. So on a full size keyboard this could be either new key entirely, or replace an existing (and arguably more useful) key.

They should put it adjacent to the up arrow key so that when I hit it accidentally, copilot can ask "did you mean to press the up arrow key?", which will cause me to smash the keyboard with my fists and then I'll need to buy another one. Sales will skyrocket.

Not particularly relevant, but my friend randomly told me to press Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Windows key+L one day. I’m still horrified.

I just tried this. Why does this exist? Why does this need to be a shortcut? Who uses LinkedIn so much that they need to use a 5 key shortcut to get there faster?

For anybody who doesn't want to try it, this key combo opens LinkedIn in your default browser.

It's not a setting you can change, the only way to disable it is to edit the registry.

WTF.

Lol Windows is so bad these days. What were they thinking?!

It’s not a setting you can change, the only way to disable it is to edit the registry.

So you are saying the setting can be changed. You can even do it over terminal if you like.

They have an "Office Key" on some official keyboards. Pressing Office+L opens LinkedIn. The Office key is actually mapped to that long modifier shortcut.

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I mean, they did it before with the windows/super button. Before that you just had ctrl and alt there.

I use mainly keyboard-controlled WM configurations, so a Super key or a Meta key is useful for me, to separate it from Alt and Ctrl.

Which reminds us of the fact that PC keyboards didn't have those or a Windows key obviously, but Sun keyboards, from googling, did have a Super key.

So it's not them.

(And it's not bad in my opinion)

I always assumed the windows key was a late attempt at copying the “Apple” keys on Macs. then Macs stopped using that, and switched to the clover (called command), then to actual Command text.

I don't remember the last time I pressed the "right click" contextual menu key, so honestly it's not like it'll be too annoying. Unless they do replace an actually useful key, at which point I guess the people making "make Windows actually work good" apps will get to live another year.

I pressed it like, 20 minutes ago? It's a pretty normal part of a lot of coding workflow, not to mention browsing, accessing context menu keyboard shortcuts without having to move your hand to the mouse for one buttonpress.

Fair enough. Alt used to be that before we decided to have a button to annoyingly pop up the menu strip. And there's still Alt Gr for that in full sized keyboards if we want to go back that way.

Alt Gr is something else. Non-english keyboards use it all day every day for typing their charactersets.

It could probably replace the right OS key, though.

Yeah and even on many english keyboards it is used to show special characters

Been coding in vim for decades without that key

I’ve never even heard of this key that you are talking about, yet it’s mentioned several times in this thread.

the key

thanks for the picture. I don't think I've ever seen that before. Just to check, I went over and looked at my wife's work laptop and it's not on that keyboard, but it is on her external keyboard, but not as a separate key, it's part of the print screen button!

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So long Caps Lock/Scroll Lock

I remap Caps Lock to Escape.

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How did you know I am a Vim user?

Same. TouchBar Macs inadvertently forced me to move to a more comfy layout.

Then you had all those "for the web" Windows 95 PCs that had all the extra buttons like the Calculator and Web Browser and Sleep buttons scattered around above the keyboard that I don't think people tended to use because Windows wasn't built with them in mind. It seems they're in the keyboard standard now as if they were any other key.

My keyboard has mail/browser/home/suspend keys in the corner. I use suspend and home (to get to the set main page in the browser) every day.

Swap it with the windows key and put the windows key as the function modified keypress. As long as I can still disable that key, it would be fine.

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