Another useless key? Use Scroll lock or SysRq for that. Or even better, reuse that stupid "menu" key. They'll cram one more key to the left of the spacebar and make ctrl, alt, and windows keys smaller. Or change their order.
this post was submitted on 04 Jan 2024
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Scroll lock is still super useful for me, maybe they could just use the right control key.
I'm sure more people use right control than scroll lock.
Specially if they're touch typists and they use the Ctrl opposed to the letter key as one usually does with Shift.
If that is a defining quality of touch typists, I guess I'm far from one. My hand position moves all over the place as I type, but I haven't had to look for a key (or where my hand should go for whatever task) in a decade or so (I do have to look for a couple odd keys occasionally, only symbols I don't use frequently).
Just easier to crtl + a lot of keys with the same hand, then the hand slides right back to where it was (similar to how some people hit crtl + alt + del with one hand while others use two).
My hand position moves all over the place as I type
Clearly not a touch typist, then. The hands goes over the F and J (that's why the bumps are there on the keys, after all) and the fingers extend or fold to reach out to the other keys, but never move. And to use Shift with a key you use the one that's on the other hand than the one pressing the key. However, that's the formal version for typewriters, where you don't have extended sequence pressed with a change key. For long sequences of Ctrl+key, I tend to do as you do and use always the same Ctrl to press them all. However, individual Ctrl+key presses may benefit of the Right Ctrl key.
Multiple layouts for my native creates the need to engage in "mental modes" where your muscle memory tries to adapt to the layout you remember. I tend to configure the keyboard for the layout I use more frequently, even if it differs from the one printed in the keyboard. That makes for some confusing times for the rarer keys, though :)
Oh cool, another useless gimmick just like the 'Office Key'
Actually, a dedicated key to open ChatGPT seems convenient. I don't hate it.
Can't you go in your desktop settings and bind whatever combination you like to do just that?
Yeah and I already do. But why make it a key combo when you could just have a single dedicated key instead?
It's not like anyone actually uses the menu key or the right Start key anyway. 'Bout damn time Microsoft remaps them to something more useful. Next they should do the Pause/Break key. That one hasn't been useful since the DOS days.
We should also get a chrome key
And a windows store key
And a Microsoft.com link key
A key to open minecraft
Why not a key for launching the "windows action menu" or whatever they call it
A key to open the control panel
How about a key to open the settings menu?
Why are we limiting ourselves? We should have 500 keys and at least 300 of them should be unique to windows.
Because none of those keys are useful. AI is useful and isn't Microsoft exclusive.
Once keyboards start adding the key, I'd be legitimately surprised if the major Distros didn't eventually follow suit and integrate AI into their platforms as well. Hell, it might get built right into your favorite desktop environment in a couple years.
And again, install Linux and get rid of this Microsoft bullshit
100%. When Windows drops support for Windows 10 I'm jumping ship to Linux Mint Cinnamon. I tried it out on my old laptop and liked it. I even liked that neat hot corners thing you could use.
Do I need to know Jack shit about programming to use it? Cause....I mean I really don't know Jack shit about but I'm down to jump ship!
I would say for Linux Mint Cinnamon you really only need to be able to follow directions. Just make sure you have an external backup of all your files in case it turns out you can't. You'll have to type some stuff into a command-line interface (I think) but the Mint Cinnamon website has links to step by step guides. Also, you know, make sure you're either committed to getting rid of Windows, or have the ability to re-install, in case you mess up.
But really, at this point, it's pretty dang easy.
I keep my OS on a separate partition from everything else, so all the files should be fine. Can MC read windows dism formats Luke NTFS? Or will I need to transfer my data to something more neutral?
No Mint pretty much just works.
Great thing about Mint (or most Linux distros) is that you can try it by booting from a usb stick - see if you like it that way.
Oh wow really? That's actually very helpful to know! Do I need to format the USB a certain way first or will the distro website go through it?
The only thing that I think is a little complicated these days is make sure that you're not reliant on a particular Windows-only app. For the vast majority of common apps, you're going to be fine, and it's sounding more and more like even gaming on Linux is not only fine, but getting to the point of being the best way to do it. If you do have a particular app you rely on, I'd look into the various ways that you can get Windows apps running on Linux (which can be a little tricky, but usually not too bad.) But even like 10 years ago, I built a machine for an elderly family member, put probably some flavor of ubuntu on it, and I never had to troubleshoot that machine.
Thanks! How are open office apps these days? Now that Word/Excel is dog shit and subscription based, that's the only windows only app I think I'd need. Even my recording and video editing apps supposedly run on Linux.
They're so desperate for AI to be a thing.
AI is absolutely "a thing", not sure there's really a debate about that. The desperation here is they want to be the first company to completely immerse itself in Generative AI, but they're moving so fast they're just shoving every experiment they can come up with down their customers' throats.
AI is going to be a huge part of the future, but Microsoft might not be a part of that future if they fuck up with over implementation of nascent tech.
My bad, I should be more specific. They're so desperate for a fancy chatbot to be a part of everybody's workflow that they're going to add a special key that is not needed, or wanted by the vast majority.
I hope this can be remapped to something useful.