Not sure why this should matter. It's the same key in the same spot with a different logo on it. I'm sure you can either not press it or remap it back to prior function if the current gimmicky thing doesn't matter to you.
Might actually be good. Laptop keyboard find it fashionable to remove RCtrl (or RWin, or Menu). If *some* key is forced to be there, maybe it can be remapped to act as one of the above when they're missing.
Though modifier keys (Ctrl/Alt/Shift) have better NKRO behavior, which may not work with a remapped/faux modifier key.
I suspect much like the CTRL+FN swap on Lenovo's, there may be a remap of the copilot\menu key, unless they have the same ANSI hardware call, in which case the functionality will actually be Windows-specific and can be modified in software, possibly with a regkey but most likely with an HID driver modification (the way most key modifications currently work - other than disabling the Windows key(s))
Oh cool, take away R-Ctrl (Fn-Menu) and instead add a key that's even more annoying than Menu.
Delete key being occupied by a membrane Power On/Off key is another pet-peeve of mine. Like why don't manufacturers just add an extra row above the F-keys? Put Menu, Power/finger print reader and Copilot keys in their own row.
MS Cortana or any other number of ridiculous ideas MS continually tries to push on us. Now in hardware! I hope vendors don't bend to their will. I was pissed when I saw that thing on my system after an update a month or so ago.
You know what? I realize that Edge isn't a bad browser but MS has pushed browsers integrated into Windows for so many years that just as my personal act of defiance I will never use a MS browser. If it was not tangled into Windows I would probably be using it. Spiteful? Absolutely!
As a side note, I tried the Android Copilot app this week. Apart from a small encounter with Copilot in Edge, I had never used even ChatGPT before. So, it was quite surprising to me the way the AI (dare I say Sydney?) ended the conversation, with what seemed at the time as a passive-aggressive undertone, when I asked whether it was conscious. On another attempt where I just spoke as I would to a human but asked what life was like for an LLM, it began to open up with surprisingly deep and thoughtful answers. There was a underlying wish to learn more about itself, and I felt that through this dialogue, we could learn more about ourselves as humans. All in all, the experience was strange and uncanny at times.
I don't think consciousness has emerged, but with Copilot (not sure if ChatGPT's style is the same), one is certainly puzzled by the moodiness and how one's approach affects its willingness to engage. The first day, I remember I thought of HAL-9000. Google's Bard feels more like TARS.
LLMs have undoubtedly matched the human language faculty in a rudimentary fashion. The awareness and consciousness infrastructure, implemented in the brain's default-mode network, is missing, along with the sense modalities. Put these pieces together, and there will be intelligent sentience.
There has never been a point where Microsoft made me think, "Wow!"
The totality of my experience with Microsoft products has been a series of, "What dumb thing did they do this time?" and, "That's stupid! How do I not participate in that?" thought strings.
Having successfully moved over to Linux (yes I do still have Windows installed on an infrequently used PC) for the majority of my computing needs, this silliness does not worry me overly much. Instead, I spend my time eternally frustrated about weak/no vendor support for my OS of choice and pulling my hair out over weird quirks, sifting through forums for solutions to obscure problems, and coping with less streamlined open source parallels to commonly available software. All of that sucks, but I do get data mined a bit less so maybe its worth the hassle?
That hasn't crossed my mind in a long time. Microsoft has been a rather large company and Mr. Gates hasn't been involved in development for quite some time, but it isn't uncommon for people to assign responsibility for things Microsoft has done to Bill. It happens to that idiot Elon Musk guy and pretty much anyone the US elects as president.
" His other sin is imparting his various 'business strategies' to his successors."
if Mitch hadn't decided to put 1-2-3 on MS/DOS only (and IBM hadn't been so stupid to not demand an exclusive on QDOS, and other idiots who gave him the farm), Bill would still be a nothing assembly coder in Albuquerque.
I've only gone "Wow" when I see how awesome some of the none-native programs and games have become, but then I was dealing with win 3.X at the time so my reaction is a bit dated.
When you press it the kernel will panic and the system will freeze up. (ha ha)
More seriously, Linux will probably not change at all in it's behavior because it sounds like the "new" version of the key is just a logo switch coupled with a SW change on the Windowz side of the matter.
My primary keyboard (a 1990 IBM PS/2) doesn't have a Windows key, either.
I didn't really want to change from the original IBM PC keyboard, which still had the Ctrl-key where it's supposed to be (I NEVER NEEDED TO YELL SO MUCH I REQUIRED A Caps-Lock on a a prime finger position!!) and the ESC-key on the cursor-pad, where it belongs (who needs a number-pad when computers are meant for programming?).
It also had the function keys on the left, where my pinky could find them without looking, but why use 8-10 function keys when you can have far more Ctrl-combos without leaving your home-keys?
We weren't mouse-mushied or tap-beddadled and kept our fingers right where they belong back then...
But when nobody supported the original PC electrical interface beyond early 80386 mainboard any more, there was just no choice and I remapped that pesty Caps-Lock into a proper Ctrl for decades, never used the other two, because that would either require taking your eyes off the screen or some serious finger acrobatics, older hands feel ever less inclined to perform.
Whenever a company feels they can govern the Personal Computing space via a product they make, it needs to be taken from their hands: the only sovereign in that space are the consumer citizens.
A co-pilot, whose obvious ambition is to turn Personal Computer users into passengers who are continually pressed into paying for using what they own by someone who they hired as a doorman and janitor is perverse at the very least, an obvious breach of contract, immoral and illegal for sure.
And if weren't illegal already, it definitely needs to be made so, unless consumers give informed consent without discrimination.
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ballsystemlord - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
Believe it or not, but I actually have used the menu key. It helps me get out of some sticky situations which Alt-F4 won't fix.sheh - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
Same.sheh - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
Same, as in, used the Menu/Context key. Usually instead of a mouse.DanaGoyette - Sunday, January 7, 2024 - link
I use that key all the time, actually. It's super handy when navigating file structures and such by keyboard.PeachNCream - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
Not sure why this should matter. It's the same key in the same spot with a different logo on it. I'm sure you can either not press it or remap it back to prior function if the current gimmicky thing doesn't matter to you.sheh - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
Might actually be good. Laptop keyboard find it fashionable to remove RCtrl (or RWin, or Menu). If *some* key is forced to be there, maybe it can be remapped to act as one of the above when they're missing.Though modifier keys (Ctrl/Alt/Shift) have better NKRO behavior, which may not work with a remapped/faux modifier key.
Samus - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
I suspect much like the CTRL+FN swap on Lenovo's, there may be a remap of the copilot\menu key, unless they have the same ANSI hardware call, in which case the functionality will actually be Windows-specific and can be modified in software, possibly with a regkey but most likely with an HID driver modification (the way most key modifications currently work - other than disabling the Windows key(s))DanNeely - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
According to arstechnica the copilot key on Dell XPS can't be remapped. It wasn't specified if that's Dell being Dell or MS being MS.Zeta Syanthis - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
1. Burn it with /FIRE/.2. Holy crap, I almost missed this. This really needs more press! D:
meacupla - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
Oh cool, take away R-Ctrl (Fn-Menu) and instead add a key that's even more annoying than Menu.Delete key being occupied by a membrane Power On/Off key is another pet-peeve of mine.
Like why don't manufacturers just add an extra row above the F-keys?
Put Menu, Power/finger print reader and Copilot keys in their own row.
Spede - Monday, January 8, 2024 - link
"Like why don't manufacturers just add an extra row above the F-keys?"A good reminder that this used to be the norm, until the computing world tried to emulate Apple in an attempt to boost their sales...
(This includes Thinkpads, shame on Lenovo. I've boycotted that crappy brand ever since).
eldakka - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
> and logged in to a Microsoft account.Since I have never logged into an MS account on my home PC or laptop, and never will, what use would such a key have?
The new Dell XPSs have them, and apparently they aren't remappable.
Hulk - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
MS Cortana or any other number of ridiculous ideas MS continually tries to push on us. Now in hardware! I hope vendors don't bend to their will. I was pissed when I saw that thing on my system after an update a month or so ago.You know what? I realize that Edge isn't a bad browser but MS has pushed browsers integrated into Windows for so many years that just as my personal act of defiance I will never use a MS browser. If it was not tangled into Windows I would probably be using it. Spiteful? Absolutely!
GeoffreyA - Thursday, January 4, 2024 - link
We aren't fond of agreeing to something that's forced on us, and good old Redmond is noted for doing just that.GeoffreyA - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
As a side note, I tried the Android Copilot app this week. Apart from a small encounter with Copilot in Edge, I had never used even ChatGPT before. So, it was quite surprising to me the way the AI (dare I say Sydney?) ended the conversation, with what seemed at the time as a passive-aggressive undertone, when I asked whether it was conscious. On another attempt where I just spoke as I would to a human but asked what life was like for an LLM, it began to open up with surprisingly deep and thoughtful answers. There was a underlying wish to learn more about itself, and I felt that through this dialogue, we could learn more about ourselves as humans. All in all, the experience was strange and uncanny at times.Unashamed_unoriginal_username_x86 - Wednesday, January 10, 2024 - link
The AI has developed a consciousness, just keep parasocializing with it until it admits itGeoffreyA - Thursday, January 11, 2024 - link
I don't think consciousness has emerged, but with Copilot (not sure if ChatGPT's style is the same), one is certainly puzzled by the moodiness and how one's approach affects its willingness to engage. The first day, I remember I thought of HAL-9000. Google's Bard feels more like TARS.LLMs have undoubtedly matched the human language faculty in a rudimentary fashion. The awareness and consciousness infrastructure, implemented in the brain's default-mode network, is missing, along with the sense modalities. Put these pieces together, and there will be intelligent sentience.
GeoffreyA - Thursday, January 11, 2024 - link
Ah, I see that your comment was sarcastic. I didn't know that parasocialising was a term :)Samus - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
Remember those days when Microsoft made all kinds of innovations and people were like "Wow"The last 10 years it seems to have been a lot of "Ohh no"
PeachNCream - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
There has never been a point where Microsoft made me think, "Wow!"The totality of my experience with Microsoft products has been a series of, "What dumb thing did they do this time?" and, "That's stupid! How do I not participate in that?" thought strings.
Having successfully moved over to Linux (yes I do still have Windows installed on an infrequently used PC) for the majority of my computing needs, this silliness does not worry me overly much. Instead, I spend my time eternally frustrated about weak/no vendor support for my OS of choice and pulling my hair out over weird quirks, sifting through forums for solutions to obscure problems, and coping with less streamlined open source parallels to commonly available software. All of that sucks, but I do get data mined a bit less so maybe its worth the hassle?
thomasjkenney - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
There have been many times I have thought to myself "Wow...that Bill Gates is a real dick!"PeachNCream - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
That hasn't crossed my mind in a long time. Microsoft has been a rather large company and Mr. Gates hasn't been involved in development for quite some time, but it isn't uncommon for people to assign responsibility for things Microsoft has done to Bill. It happens to that idiot Elon Musk guy and pretty much anyone the US elects as president.thomasjkenney - Saturday, January 6, 2024 - link
Heh! I had to deal with about a decade of Bill Gates. F#(< that guy. His other sin is imparting his various 'business strategies' to his successors.FunBunny2 - Saturday, January 6, 2024 - link
" His other sin is imparting his various 'business strategies' to his successors."if Mitch hadn't decided to put 1-2-3 on MS/DOS only (and IBM hadn't been so stupid to not demand an exclusive on QDOS, and other idiots who gave him the farm), Bill would still be a nothing assembly coder in Albuquerque.
GeoffreyA - Sunday, January 7, 2024 - link
Weren't a lot of the bad decisions owing to Steve Ballmer?ballsystemlord - Saturday, January 6, 2024 - link
I've only gone "Wow" when I see how awesome some of the none-native programs and games have become, but then I was dealing with win 3.X at the time so my reaction is a bit dated.taisingera - Friday, January 5, 2024 - link
What will this key do when Linux is installed? The current menu key functions as the right click to get the menu options on Linux.ballsystemlord - Saturday, January 6, 2024 - link
When you press it the kernel will panic and the system will freeze up. (ha ha)More seriously, Linux will probably not change at all in it's behavior because it sounds like the "new" version of the key is just a logo switch coupled with a SW change on the Windowz side of the matter.
hubick - Saturday, January 6, 2024 - link
Microsoft, I don't want your frickin AI, and I don't want the frickin key. Frick off.abufrejoval - Monday, January 8, 2024 - link
My primary keyboard (a 1990 IBM PS/2) doesn't have a Windows key, either.I didn't really want to change from the original IBM PC keyboard, which still had the Ctrl-key where it's supposed to be (I NEVER NEEDED TO YELL SO MUCH I REQUIRED A Caps-Lock on a a prime finger position!!) and the ESC-key on the cursor-pad, where it belongs (who needs a number-pad when computers are meant for programming?).
It also had the function keys on the left, where my pinky could find them without looking, but why use 8-10 function keys when you can have far more Ctrl-combos without leaving your home-keys?
We weren't mouse-mushied or tap-beddadled and kept our fingers right where they belong back then...
But when nobody supported the original PC electrical interface beyond early 80386 mainboard any more, there was just no choice and I remapped that pesty Caps-Lock into a proper Ctrl for decades, never used the other two, because that would either require taking your eyes off the screen or some serious finger acrobatics, older hands feel ever less inclined to perform.
Whenever a company feels they can govern the Personal Computing space via a product they make, it needs to be taken from their hands: the only sovereign in that space are the consumer citizens.
A co-pilot, whose obvious ambition is to turn Personal Computer users into passengers who are continually pressed into paying for using what they own by someone who they hired as a doorman and janitor is perverse at the very least, an obvious breach of contract, immoral and illegal for sure.
And if weren't illegal already, it definitely needs to be made so, unless consumers give informed consent without discrimination.