Something that should have died long ago
The caps lock key. Google’s new netbook doesn’t have one. Good.
25 Responses to “Something that should have died long ago”
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December 17th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
Uh, screw you? ๐
When you work with the military, the caps lock key is used quite heavily. Acronyms get old, but it beats typing out those names every time.
TRFKB SUBASEINST beats the hell out of Trident Refit Facility Sub Base Instruction, especially when it comes up a lot.
December 17th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
B-B-B-BUT THE CAPS LOCK KEY IS CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL!
December 17th, 2010 at 3:33 pm
Ya might wanna rethink this one, Unc.
Having been stationed at FCTCP-CSTCPAC, I concur with laughingdog.
Also, users with only one hand appreciate it.
Lastly, Sticky Keys (software control of the keyboard, not keys that stick) is wonderful! Try doing control-alt-delete with just your non-dominant/remaining hand…
December 17th, 2010 at 3:34 pm
@laughingdog
You can still use the shift key for acronyms
December 17th, 2010 at 3:35 pm
Count me in the group of people who would rather have a Caps Lock key than an “open a new browser window with Google.com open” key. This is just a hardware version of the many quasi-spamware programs Google has offered for those who want to Google something.
December 17th, 2010 at 3:36 pm
HOW THE HELL AM I SUPPOSED TO BE RIGHT IN AN ARGUMENT ON THE INTERNET IF I CAN’T YELL IN ALL CAPS!!1!
I would imagine that the FUNCTION of all caps would still be there. Still toggle-able via some function key.
Sometimes entering data requires all caps.
December 17th, 2010 at 3:37 pm
I’m happy there is a work around to turn an ersatz CL key back on. If your work makes you have anything to do with logging into main frames you need the darn key. If they left it off totally they might as well publish the glide ratio of the thing because I’d need to know it.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:23 pm
bwahahahahahahahahhaahhaha
Because an accidental Google.com is SOOO much better.
Fucking idiots.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:35 pm
I popped off the Caps Lock and Insert nuisance keys a long time ago – don’t even know where they are anymore.
At first, I replaced them with a mechanical pencil eraser for a much smaller button of a key, but even those were a nuisance when they accidentally got bumped, so they’re gone now too.
On those rare (so far nonexistent)occasions when I might need the function, I can just poke it on/off with a pen. My keyboard serves me much better now.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
Yeah, I have to side with Laughingdog and Robert on this one. Typing “Pt Hx of HTN, CHF, CAD, CABGx3, COPD, MIx3, and IDDM,” is a whole lot easier than “Pt Hx of hypertension, congestive heart failure, coronary artery disease, coronary arterial bypass graft x3, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, myocardial infarction x3, and insulin dependent diabetes mellitus.”
Plus, sometimes shouting on the internet is appropriate.
At least they give you the ability to turn it back into a caps lock key, although I wonder how long it will be before they quietly disable that option.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:40 pm
Shift/Caps Lock does have a place. OTOH, is its place everywhere? If the function is useful, it will not be long before there is aa software hot-key software to do it. Just as there are several to do away with the functioning of the existing key. I long ago installed a package which moves the functionality from the “Caps Lock” key to another key or combination of keys (eg F1 or Alt-F1): I don/t even know what key-stroke[s] I assigned, which shows how seldom those who do not use acronyms constantly have need of it.
December 17th, 2010 at 4:44 pm
I DISAGREE! ๐
December 17th, 2010 at 5:13 pm
Note that this netbook is a demo model, and not one that will ever be sold.
The people who make ones that will actually, well, be sold to people may well put in a caps-lock.
If anyone really cares. Which, realistically, most people don’t care.
(I don’t really like the “search” button primarily because it’s too easy to hit accidentally. I don’t mind programmable buttons or even a “search” button.
If you don’t like what it does, you can always re-map it, at least in every other OS than Chrome. I suspect its behavior there will be controllable as well.)
December 17th, 2010 at 5:34 pm
there needs to be a key immediately to the left of “a” on a qwerty keyboard, but it doesn’t need to be caps lock. i remap the thing to be a spare control key, which i use much more often than caps lock.
i imagine if you really, truly need some key to lock you into uppercase, you can figure out a way to map some less useful one to that function. how often do you really use the one labeled “pause”, anyway?
December 17th, 2010 at 6:24 pm
How bout “pause” or “prtsc” or “sys req”? Use those much? There’s a couple of them on this laptop, I don’t even know what they are. Caps lock, I don’t use that much, but I do occasionally. The thing is, I understand it. That comforts me. I know what it’s for and how to use it. Don’t take that away from us.
December 17th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
From the link: ‘
.
RELAX everyone.
.
December 17th, 2010 at 10:25 pm
Paste this into notepad:
save as anything.reg, double click. No more caps lock on next reboot.
December 18th, 2010 at 12:33 am
So, just because some people misuse the capslock key, no one should have one?
You can have my capslock key when you pry it from my cold, dead hands.
๐
December 18th, 2010 at 3:22 am
Thus why I remap the keyboards on all my computers to make the caps lock into a shift key.
December 18th, 2010 at 8:20 am
@JP
Fine, you try typing DORFSFD AND TRFKB SUBASEINST ten times each with the caps lock, and then again without. Add in a few OPNAVINST here and there for good measure. Now picture how annoying typing those hundreds of times a day without the caps lock would be.
It’s frustrating enough trying to work on these NMCI machines as it is. When it’s an accomplishment to actually succeed at logging into the “legacy software” we need here that some schlub at NMCI, who has never seen a shipyard, doesn’t think makes the grade for full support, I don’t think it’s necessary to further raise my blood pressure with artificial constraints like removing my caps lock.
BESIDEZ, CAPS LOKS R FUNZ!!11!!
December 18th, 2010 at 11:16 am
If it weren’t for tradition and backwards compatibility, we wouldn’t use the old keyboard mapping at all. It’d probably be something like Dvorak. I would NOT approve! I spent long enough learning QWERTY.
Modern word processors are full of functions I don’t use. They’re probably full of functions you don’t use also — but are yours the same as mine? I could do without the numeric entry pad, but could accountants?
Stare decis.
December 18th, 2010 at 2:39 pm
You can disable capslock by remapping it into a third shift key in the registry.
Here is one for Vista.
December 18th, 2010 at 4:39 pm
After having written a positively absurd number of CASREPs in my time in the Navy (which, like all message traffic, ARE WRITTEN IN ALL CAPS), I object to this trend in computing.
Of course, I also object to Google Chrome not obeying “target=”_blank”” properly, so I am probably not the target demographic for this machine.
December 20th, 2010 at 1:39 am
For years, ever since I found out about it, I’ve been using “toggle keys” under the Accessibility Options so I hear a tone whenever I hit the Cap Lock, so I don’t do it accidentally. You know what I absolutely hate is “INSERT”. I NEVER, EVER, can even begin to FATHOM a time when I would actually want to TYPE OVER my previously typed text. It’s STUPID. But, you can see how often I use Caps, but honestly, I only use Caps Lock for acronyms. I won’t miss it, but I sure as hell don’t want a search button there.
Also, Texting lingo will replace the properly written word just as soon as Ebonics replaces proper English as the spoken word.
December 20th, 2010 at 4:36 pm
I don’t want the Caps Lock key to go away, I just want it put somewhere else on the keyboard so it’s not accidentally turned on all the time. For example, why can’t it be put up near the Print Screen key or the function keys.
-A