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Microsoft IT

Microsoft Adding New Key To PC Keyboards For First Time Since 1994 (arstechnica.com) 130

Posted by msmash from the big-moves dept.
Microsoft is adding a dedicated "Copilot" key to PC keyboards, adjusting the standard Windows layout for the first time since 1994. The key will open its AI assistant Copilot on Windows 10 and 11. On Copilot-enabled PCs, users can already invoke Copilot by pressing Windows+C. On other PCs, the key will open Search instead. ArsTechnica adds: A quick Microsoft demo video shows the Copilot key in between the cluster of arrow keys and the right Alt button, a place where many keyboards usually put a menu button, a right Ctrl key, another Windows key, or something similar. The exact positioning, and the key being replaced, may vary depending on the size and layout of the keyboard.

We asked Microsoft if a Copilot key would be required on OEM PCs going forward; the company told us that the key isn't mandatory now, but that it expects Copilot keys to be required on Windows 11 keyboards "over time." Microsoft often imposes some additional hardware requirements on major PC makers that sell Windows on their devices, beyond what is strictly necessary to run Windows itself.
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Microsoft Adding New Key To PC Keyboards For First Time Since 1994 More

Microsoft Adding New Key To PC Keyboards For First Time Since 1994

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  • If I were an OEM (Score:5, Insightful)

    by DarkOx ( 621550 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:01AM (#64130755) Journal

    My first question to Microsoft would be: Why will this be different than Cortana, why would I design hardware around your latest shitty marketing ploy?

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by Mr. Dollar Ton ( 5495648 )

      You know the answer you'll get: "You've build a nice business selling windows PCs, what a shame if you lose your partnership contract".

    • Re:If I were an OEM (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Junta ( 36770 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:19AM (#64130803)

      OEMs will be lining up to do it.

      All we have to do is a trivial keycap reassignment and it'll latch on to a Microsoft marketing push that if you don't have that key, you should buy a new laptop with that key? Sign us up for anything that induces a feeling of obsolescence to drive upgrades!

      • OEMs will be lining up to do it.

        I doubt it. OEMs will likely simply remap the search key they already have. This isn't new or unique. Keyboards have a variety of different layouts and additional buttons as it is.

    • Copilot, Cortana, Clippy; why do Microsoft assistants always start with C?

    • Yay, now Microsoft is finally adding the 'any' key we have been missing all these years! ...wait, it is not called 'any'-key by default? Well, we'll soon fix that :)

      • I do like the Dilbert cartoon where the sales drone says "it has only one button, and we push it before it leaves the factory."

    • "I am altering your partnership deal, pray that I do not alter it further". This would also be consistent with the early prototype of the key [etsy.com] that seems to have been leaked.

  • Looks to want to replace the right control key (Score:3)

    by Junta ( 36770 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:04AM (#64130757)

    Rather than add, this looks to be a replace.

    For a function that even mobile devices include without a special extra key.

    • That's going to be bad for ergonomics. I've learned the hard way not to do modifier and letter on the same hand or it'll give you strain...

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Calydor ( 739835 )

        I dunno, the usual trifecta of Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V, and Ctrl-Z (also X, but much rarer) work pretty well with just left hand, but as I was typing those out I was indeed using right hand for the shift key. Feeling around for it now I'd say that the right Ctrl key, at least on my keyboard, is a bit too far off to the side for a comfortable use if you keep your fingers on home row where they should be. The left Ctrl key is just a light turn of the wrist to get the pinky finger down to it, or pulling the hand back t

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Dadoo ( 899435 )

      Looks to want to replace the right control key

      Great. First they (IBM) put the control key in the wrong place, and now they want to replace one, entirely.

  • Is it All Fools Day already? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by mattaw2001 ( 9712110 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:04AM (#64130759)
    Is it All Fools Day already?
  • They seem (according to the video) place it to the right of the right Alt key. Why do they think that changing the layout is good to anyone?

    • If they take away our "Alt Gr" key they'll get into a war with German programmers, because that key is essential for typing {[][}~and |.

  • What? They've Added Lots of Keys (Score:3, Interesting)

    by AnotherUserHere ( 8722771 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:23AM (#64130821)
    "Since 1994"??? MS added "office" and "emoji" keys in their last iteration of their flagship ergo keyboard. The crazy thing is that one of these is a hard-coded key combination, not a key code, so you can't even remap it. The other crazy thing is that that there are named keys (in unix) that PC keyboard still don't implement. Howsabout adding a real new key we can use?
    • "Instill Linux"?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dargaud ( 518470 )
      Like the fantastically usefull 'Compose' key. I always remap the useless CapsLock key to Compose nowadays. It can do everything easily: accents in foreign languages, rare characters, greek characters, emoji, etc...

      • Re: What? They've Added Lots of Keys (Score:5, Informative)

        by Ossifer ( 703813 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @11:46AM (#64131387)

        It's labelled "caps lock" but it's pronounced "control".

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by nazrhyn ( 906126 )
        I use right Alt for that. Easy to hit with my right thumb and never used for anything else. I've always used Caps Lock to capitalize more than 2 characters at a time and can't imagine disentangling it from my muscle memory at this point.

        The Compose key was pretty revolutionary for me, though. Supported out of the box on Linux, and on Windows there's an awesome program called WinCompose that does a great job.

    • You haven't yet been hit by the "change screen layout" special key on windows laptops, which is hardcoded to super+P ? Quite a few keys on laptop keyboards are mapped like this.

    • Their flagship Surface keyboard also has calculator, minimise all, notifications, and lock as dedicated keys (not shared function keys).

  • 2 years later... (Score:3)

    by devslash0 ( 4203435 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:24AM (#64130827)

    ...when the AI bubble backfires and Copilot is just an archived project in a Microsoft repository, everyone will be scratching the Copilot icon off this key.

  • Clippy Key (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Daina.0 ( 7328506 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:30AM (#64130859)

    I used to think the M$ engineers were idiots. Then I realized it was the marketing people at M$ that make the rest of the company look like idiots. Now I'm not so sure.

    • Re:Clippy Key (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Nrrqshrr ( 1879148 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @10:45AM (#64131149)

      Steve Jobs said it best.
      When a company first starts, it's the engineers who make all the decisions because their work is driving sales. But when everyone already has a phone/computer/laptop, it becomes the task of salespeople to drive up sales. They end up earning promotions, and the company ends up with people at the helm who have no idea what the words Design and Engineer mean unless they're used in a sales pitch.

      • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

        by thegarbz ( 1787294 )

        Ironically Apple is the epiphany of form over function for marketing purposes. They dedicated their lives to stylised minimalism, to the point where they were long being mocked for not including something as mind blowing as a second mouse button.

        Steve Jobs wasn't running a company of engineers, he was running a company of artists and I'm not sure that's better than a company of marketing people.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by nmb3000 ( 741169 )

        Coincidentally, I just finished reading Apple [amazon.com] (out of historical curiosity - I was about 15 when it was written in 1997) and the "the engineers who make all the decisions" was one of the real problems that Apple had after Jobs was ousted. It works for startups, but it absolutely does not work for a company with a larger product line who needs to make strategic decisions and investments, or who has unpleasant baggage to deal with. Engineers tend to like shiny new problems to solve and not every product i

    • 1. ob - paperclip symbol on the new key for religious reasons.
      2. "Microsoft marketing - were first against the wall when the revolution came." -- Encyclopedia Galactica

  • Why? (Score:2)

    by kackle ( 910159 )
    As awesome as the last keys they added? /s

  • of their old keyboards?

  • And how is Microsoft not an abusive monopoly? It has the power to tell all hardware vendors how to make their products or they will suffer the consequences dictated by Microsoft.

    Google, Apple, Facebook, et.al. are comical sideshows by comparison.

    • We've known this since the Windows 3.1 days, where VARs had to install the operating environment on a per-processor basis, if they wanted to get the licenses at a discounted price.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by HBI ( 10338492 )

      It is. You can blame that idiot Thomas Penfield Jackson for making sure Microsoft paid no penalty for this.

    • And how is Microsoft not an abusive monopoly?

      Because people are free to not give a shit what Microsoft wants to put on a keyboard.

  • My keyboard has a "control" key there (Score:3)

    by magzteel ( 5013587 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:46AM (#64130923)

    My keyboard has a "control" key there. I don't recall ever using it. Does anyone use the right control key?

    I doubt I would use the "copilot" key but in that spot I'm not losing anything

    • Does anyone use the right control key?

      Yes, in Telnet, for Ctrl ]

      Every time

      Also for Ctrl +, Ctrl - and Ctrl 0 in browsers, to zoom in and out and back to normal size.

      (and to go to the last browser tab with Ctrl 9)

    • Yes, I play two games that use that key.

    • Ctrl-O and Ctrl-L for loading, Ctrl+P pops up in a lot of various applications, and a lot of older software likes to use Ctrl+ -/+ and [/] for various functions since those key combinations weren't generally pre-claimed by Windows.

      Plus of course shift-ctrl+arrow keys and home/end/etc navigation for text editing, and Ctrl+Scroll Lock for KVM schenanigans. Right control is pretty critical to anyone who uses a computer for anything other than typing letters to grandma or typing in an IDE.

      • Ctrl-O and Ctrl-L for loading, Ctrl+P pops up in a lot of various applications, and a lot of older software likes to use Ctrl+ -/+ and [/] for various functions since those key combinations weren't generally pre-claimed by Windows.

        Plus of course shift-ctrl+arrow keys and home/end/etc navigation for text editing, and Ctrl+Scroll Lock for KVM schenanigans. Right control is pretty critical to anyone who uses a computer for anything other than typing letters to grandma or typing in an IDE.

        That's not true. I coded using emacs for many years. I just always use my left hand for all the modifiers (control, shift, alt).

        • It's entirely true, because functionally you're still just typing letters to grandma in a single program of choice. It's just that your letters to grandma are formatted in a very specific way. Try using a wider variety of programs and you'll quickly find how vital right-Ctrl is.

          • It's entirely true, because functionally you're still just typing letters to grandma in a single program of choice. It's just that your letters to grandma are formatted in a very specific way. Try using a wider variety of programs and you'll quickly find how vital right-Ctrl is.

            Or it's the other way around. The vast majority of programs treat the left and right control, alt, shift as identical, and some niche programs treat them differently.

    • Does anyone use the right control key?

      Yes. Most people have two hands, and whenever they're entering a control combo with a key on the left side of the keyboard, they'd prefer not to contort their left hand into an awkward chord. They take advantage of their free right hand to press Ctl.

      This is the same reason that there are two shift keys and two Alt keys.

    • Every person who ever used a VT3270 emulation knows EXACTLY what the right ctrl key is for.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by jowifi ( 1320309 )

      I frequently use it with pgup/pgdn to cycle through tabs and also with the arrow keys, so I would defininetly miss the right Control key. I could do without the Windows or Menu key however.

      • I frequently use it with pgup/pgdn to cycle through tabs and also with the arrow keys, so I would defininetly miss the right Control key. I could do without the Windows or Menu key however.

        I use the windows key a lot now, but only the left one
        windows - L for lock
        control-windows-(arrow left or right) to switch virtual desktops

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by cpurdy ( 4838085 )

      I don't recall ever using it. Does anyone use the right control key?

      Obligatory question: Does anyone still use Windows?

  • NOPE (Score:4, Insightful)

    by paul_engr ( 6280294 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @09:47AM (#64130931)
    Might as well have a clippy or cortana button

  • less is more (Score:3)

    by bugs2squash ( 1132591 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @10:10AM (#64131027)
    They should be finding ways to reduce the number of keys, this is going in the whole wrong direction.
    • I don't think they should. The standard layout has been around for so long, and so much hardware and software has been built around it, removing established keys is always going to backfire somewhere. Like when Logitech removed the Scroll Lock key because supposedly nobody uses it anymore, and a lot of KVM switches started working, some software became unusable, and the Excel wizards shouted in anguish.

      • I have two KVM switches that use the scroll lock key: pressing scroll lock twice gets an audible beep then you can press either 1 or 2 to switch between the KVM inputs.

    • Why don't we just remove the 'z' character and get Americans to adopt UK English.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by cpurdy ( 4838085 )
        The UK needs to get its own language and stop trying to corrupt English, the native language of America. I know that most of them can speak some English now, but their spelling and pronunciation is horrible.

  • Another modal key... (Score:4, Interesting)

    by mrfaithful ( 1212510 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @10:13AM (#64131045)

    One of the constant irritations I have with windows is that certain keys switch keyboard focus in annoying ways. Ctrl and Shift are (mostly) fine, you hold it and press another key to do a shortcut and if you change your mind or hit it by accident, pressing and releasing the modifier key on its own does nothing. This is good. But Alt and Windows are IMHO *wrong*. Go for Win+r for run, change your mind, too bad now you're in the start menu and everything you type is in the search box. Alt? Menus.

    Now, don't get me wrong, I like keyboard navigation for menus, but the shortcut key shouldn't be tapping Alt. On macs it's Ctrl-F2. Can't hit that by accident.

    So this copilot key seems like even more annoyance and a return to the glory days of '95 where an accidental hit of the windows key crashes whatever full screen program you're using. Sure, I don't expect it to crash anything, but it'll certainly get in the way.

    And just for completeness, even though I said Ctrl+Shift are "fine", I think we've all been stuck trying to get "sticky keys" to disable after we've tapped a modifier a few times...

    I don't really consider myself a windows hater, but the more I think about it I think I might hate windows...

    • I use a registry hack to disable the windows key. There will be one for the Clippy key too.

    • ... change your mind, too bad ...

      The Alt key is a function key: How much software still uses F1 - F12 keys? Windows and Microsoft software and almost everything that started 20 years ago. New software uses Alt as a chord-key [eg. Ctrl, Shift]. Before the "Alt", the "/" was used to activate the menu. Adding the Alt key did not change the software, since menus already existed. So adding "Alt", was good since it returned "/" to a data-only behaviour.

  • There are other changes that would make sense.

    How about replacing print screen, scroll lock, and pause/break with cut, copy, and paste? What about keys to minimize or maximize windows?

    • I use the print screen key (well alt-print screen) on a daily basis to take software screen shots for documentation. The print screen key is very much in use and handy. Pressing scroll lock twice activates my KVM to switch between sources. I have not used the pause/break key however since the DOS days when I would use it to stop a running GWBASIC program.

  • replacement laptop keyboards then, for every make and model that can run windows 11. or they can by me a new laptop when the start enforcing this key requirement.
  • If your product has that new key, I will not but that product at all.

  • I have 3 still working fine, with stacked adapters for original 5-pin DIN-to-PS2, PS2-to-USB. Plus two "clones" from the same era, but their actions are not as crisp. A modern clone, with very good action, failed within months (think it was a USB connector problem).

  • I could see Dell and Lenovo already partnering with someone else when it comes to AI. I could see the EU telling MS you can't hard code this to your AI. It has to be user configurable.

  • As long as it's not hardwired... (Score:3)

    by Opportunist ( 166417 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @12:18PM (#64131509)

    That Windows-Key could be really useful, if it wasn't hardwired to do something harebrained. The Arma-player in me would really welcome yet another key to use to bind some function to, but the last thing I need is yet another useless key that takes up valuable real estate on the keyboard.

  • Yet another reason to stick with a normal keyboard [pckeyboard.com]

  • I don't recall Microsoft 1994 keyboard having a notifications button, or a minimise all button, or a calculator button, or a lock button, all of which are present on their Surface Keyboards.

    And yes they are dedicated buttons, they don't share a fn key or require holding down anything extra.

  • That would have been my first guess , an "Any key" for the people who struggle with "Hit any key to continue"

  • Microsoft are all in (Score:3)

    by trawg ( 308495 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @04:40PM (#64132615) Homepage

    Microsoft are all in on the LLM AI push. Stunning amounts of money being spent and a huge commitment across their entire product base.

    I get it, the upsides look shiny and impressive. But the downsides are still so real - the failures modes of this AI are so catastrophic and so subtle that it doesn't feel like it will take too many high profile disasters for this bubble to pop massively. I would be a nervous investor.

  • Why? (Score:3)

    by Murdoch5 ( 1563847 ) on Thursday January 04, 2024 @05:24PM (#64132741) Homepage
    No one needs more specialized keys to launch specialized crap from their keyboards. Copilot, just like Cortana, is a gimmicky pile of crap that doesn't work well, is buggy, and is more of a stumbling block than anything else. Microsoft is rushing to add a key, for a feature that doesn't even work!

    People who are serious about using macro keys, buy macro decks, or, remap their keyboards, all Microsoft is doing, it's trying to force more broken garbage, from their broken OS, on to users, by force.

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