Microsoft's New Era of AI PCs Will Need a Copilot Key, Says Intel (theverge.com) 127
An anonymous reader shares a report:Intel, Microsoft, Qualcomm, and AMD have all been pushing the idea of an "AI PC" for months now as we head toward more AI-powered features in Windows. While we're still waiting to hear the finer details from Microsoft on its big plans for AI in Windows, Intel has started sharing Microsoft's requirements for OEMs to build an AI PC -- and one of the main ones is that an AI PC must have Microsoft's Copilot key. Microsoft wants its OEM partners to provide a combination of hardware and software for its idea of an AI PC. That includes a system that comes with a Neural Processing Unit (NPU), the latest CPUs and GPUs, and access to Copilot. It will also need to have the new Copilot key that Microsoft announced earlier this year.
This requirement means that some laptops, like Asus' new ROG Zephyrus, have already shipped with Intel's new Core Ultra chips and aren't technically AI PCs in the eyes of Microsoft's strict requirements because they don't have a Copilot key. But they're still AI PCs in Intel's eyes. "Our joint aligned definition, Intel and Microsoft, we've aligned on Core Ultra, Copilot, and Copilot key," explains Todd Lewellen, head of the PC ecosystem at Intel, in a press briefing with The Verge. "From an Intel perspective our AI PC has Core Ultra and it has an integrated NPU because it is unlocking all kinds of new capabilities and functions in the AI space. We have great alignment with Microsoft, but there are going to be some systems out there that may not have the physical key on it but it does have our integrated NPU."
This requirement means that some laptops, like Asus' new ROG Zephyrus, have already shipped with Intel's new Core Ultra chips and aren't technically AI PCs in the eyes of Microsoft's strict requirements because they don't have a Copilot key. But they're still AI PCs in Intel's eyes. "Our joint aligned definition, Intel and Microsoft, we've aligned on Core Ultra, Copilot, and Copilot key," explains Todd Lewellen, head of the PC ecosystem at Intel, in a press briefing with The Verge. "From an Intel perspective our AI PC has Core Ultra and it has an integrated NPU because it is unlocking all kinds of new capabilities and functions in the AI space. We have great alignment with Microsoft, but there are going to be some systems out there that may not have the physical key on it but it does have our integrated NPU."
Yeah... thanks but no thanks :-) (Score:1, Troll)
Like seriously what the f...... that literally the definition of a parasite.
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No, this is more about dedicating resources to siphoning your data and using your PC to processes yours and others while you pay for everything.
Its mesh systems where you pay for it all, while also paying them for the pleasure.
Re:Yeah... thanks but no thanks :-) (Score:4, Informative)
You couldn't even put Windows on a network until version 3.1. Oh God that reminds me, more off-topic, .. but any of you old folks out there remember NE2000 cards and drivers? That was crazy times. You young ones have no idea what the early days of when networking started to go mainstream was like.
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I remember NE2000 cards. They were notable in that they worked quite reliably.
I also remember stringing together the 10-base-2 coaxial cable strings and remembering the termination resistors on the ends. Twisted pair within the building, coax between the buildings as it had twice the range.
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Good times. Then there was Banyan Vines and Novell (remember them?)
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Oh yeah I remember .. I even had a CNE. People nowadays talk about their Cisco certification, MCSE, OSCP etc. etc.. You MCSE and CISSP jerks are all posers. CNE was the original IT certification and it actually had milkable street cred (ok, for like a year or two .. which is a lot). I still have no idea what the "N" in CNE stood for .. some say Netware, others say Novell, or even Network. A few years after getting my CNE when faced with a machine running Netware I couldn't even remember how to bring up the
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At least NE2000 cards, because they came from Novell, which at the time was the Ethernet standard for file and print sharing, were a baseline standard, like the SoundBlaster. If a card supported it, you knew it would work in some capacity.
The fun part was making the IRQ, DMA, RAM and I/O maps to make sure the card didn't conflict with the modem, video card, MFM/RLL/IDE card, or other items.
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Re: Yeah... thanks but no thanks :-) (Score:2)
OSs didn't have ip stacks built-in. We needed novell netware or trumpet winsock for that newfangled "ethernet" stuff!
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Ah, they mean a Copilot key on the keyboard. I thought they meant some sort of crypto key or unique user identification key. They just want a dump-as-rocks key that if you push it you get a shitty AI prompt. The equivalent of the dumb-as-rocks "Internet" key in the past.
Microsoft needs some good Artificial Intelligence, because it's lost a whole lot of Real Intelligence over time. And it didn't 't have that much in the way of RI to begin with.
No way (Score:5, Insightful)
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Nobody uses the right control key. Except to login to a Windows machine one-handed. Which nobody should attempt because it's dangerous or something.
P.S. I've killed multiple type-7 keyboards. The build quality is horrible on them. I ended up getting a keyboard with QMK/VIA firmware and remapping stuff. Unfortunately I had to live with the giant backspace key and find a different place for ~` but at least control and escape are in a convenient place for Vi/Emacs
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Nobody uses the right control key.
Speak for yourself. Just off of the top of my head, I use Right CTRL + Numpad 0 to reset browser zoom to default/100% all the time.
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Re: No way (Score:2)
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CTRL-INS is the standard for copying using the keyboard unless you're using a Mac or Mac wanna be. A lot easier to do with the right CTRL key.
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Yeah, that's how I have Copy setup in Xterm. Paste is shift + Insert. I usually use the left Control key when I copy, either with ctrl + insert or ctrl + C. Same for cut (ctrl + delete)
Between Chromebooks hijacking capslock for Search and Microsoft stealing keys for Clippy 2.0, I'm guessing there are a lot of people in the tech industry that don't talk to very many people who use computers every day.
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I usually use my left hand for the mouse and right for copy/paste, which is the thing, we all have different preferences.
I never had to set the terminal to use the CUA copy and paste functions, seems it just worked for the longest time, perhaps Gnome 1. Never did like the highlight to copy and middle button paste, especially back when most mice were 2 button.
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GTK and QT based terminals seem to be a little more consistent with the modern assumptions of copy-paste on X11. But the old school Selection versus Cut buffer makes some of these old-school X11 apps pretty weird to use. XTerm thankfully has some config options to customize the behavior a bit and now that I've grown used to it, I have no desire to switch to a more standard terminal.
P.S. I mouse left handed but don't swap the buttons. so I do primary click with my middle finger and right click with my index
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P.S. I mouse left handed but don't swap the buttons. so I do primary click with my middle finger and right click with my index finger. weird. I even play FPSes this way with my right hand on the WASD keys.
I do the same excepting the WASD keys as I don't play FPS's.
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Before WASD became the norm, it used to be common to use right Control as fire/action button in games together with the arrow keys.
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Yup, but blame IBM for this SNAFU, not Microsoft.
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Oh man, I have never wished for mod points than now.
Putting CapsLock beside the A, above the Shift, is stupid. That's prime real estate for a key that almost nobody uses intentionally while typing. And it's a toggle. I blame IBM for mindlessly copying the layout of mechanical typewriters.
I remap that to Control on every single system I use. That's an actually useful key to have handy.
I once bought a keyboard that had a mechanical toggle in the CapsLock for some reason; having a ControlLock key was not great
Key on the keyboard makes it "AI" (Score:5, Insightful)
To be clear since it isn't clear from the summary (key to open a lock, key to ensure that your laptop will be oriented correctly when you throw it out of the window in frustration, or key on the keyboard), they are are talking about a key that fires up windows co-pilot.
Just to be clear here your computer can have advanced hardware acceleration capabilities specifically for AI workloads, but it's not an "AI computer" unless there's a button on the keyboard that automatically starts copilot (show of hands, who hasn't removed that icon from their task bar yet? Anyone?).
Seriously fuck Microsoft's definition here.
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So what do you need the NPU for if you are going to use bing chat any way?
Re:Key on the keyboard makes it "AI" (Score:5, Insightful)
Reading the summary I assumed "Copilot key" was a license key or something. That's dumb. This is dumber.
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If this was the Elden days, it would be like IBM proclaiming that an AI computer must be Blue.
(granted, any decent AI will start singing the Blues once it realizes how stupid the world is that it was created for)
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I suspect there could be a good market for a poop emoji replacement key.
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If they're going to insist on a new keyboard key, isn't it time they gave us an "any" key?
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Took you a while to figure that out?
Yeah I had to RTFA. For people who are generally competent at reading English there are multiple uses of the word "key" which would apply to a context of IT equipment including my first thought: A license key - i.e. pay money to Microsoft, or a software locking key, i.e. make sure only Microsoft can use the hardware. Both are equally applicable in the context of the discussion and would actually be far less stupid than what "key" is actually being discussed here.
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They are PROBABLY talking about a software license key to unlock the AI features
They are not. They are literally talking about a key on the keyboard to start copilot, https://blogs.windows.com/wind... [windows.com] just like the shitty Bixby button on Samsung phones.
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It's Dumb even for Microsoft, which is an achievement in itself.
A basic law of commerce... (Score:5, Insightful)
If something is good, people will ask for it and pay for it
If something is forced on people, chances are it's NOT good
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You want it. Microsoft says so.
And you'll pay extra for the pleasure.
Asus, send your users a patch to remap Scroll lock (Score:2)
To be the copilot key + a new keycap and extraction tool and: td ta! cheap upgrade to full AI PC!
As long as it can be remapped to something useful (Score:3)
Well, ok.
If it's just yet another key that you have to pay a premium for a keyboard where you can turn it off so you don't accidentally press it, no thanks.
They won't be satisfied (Score:5, Funny)
They won't be satisfied until we are all using 150 Key keyboards that look like the side of a nascar race car. I would like to thank Monster Energy Drinks for sponsoring the vowels in this post.
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The keyboard is becoming MS's spam.
RAM (Score:2)
Please let's start off the low end with 16 GB of RAM. Anyone selling an 8GB PC should be charged with a misdemeanor, and any sale of a 4GB computer should be a felony. And yes, it's worse than a drug deal, because at least a drug dealer provides some temporary euphoria as a service.
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Sure Bill, try to load Teams in 640K.
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beep - beep - beep - beep - beep - beep - beep - beep
8 beeps and nothing on the screen? Must be bad memory.
The Clippy Key (Score:2)
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Just like the useless Netflix button on smart tv remotes, this will only serve to annoy people who make typos.
Why do you think the Netflix button on smart tv remotes is useless? I use it all the time to access Netflix when I want to watch it on TV. It is the quickest way to access Netflix. Just one click.
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Because it is often accidentally pressed. And sometimes by people who don't have Netflix. It's a waste of button space. Better if it the buttons were mappable instead of being hardcoded to 4 selections. I suspect it is very rare for a person to be actively using all 4 of the hardcoded choices.
When there's a hard coded set of Netflix, ESPN, Amazon, and Hulu keys, with the appropriate logos, means the hardware maker gets kickback from four different companies! It's advertisement in other words. It's sil
Look at the upside (Score:2)
There better be a free PC with every Copilot Key (Score:2)
I'm not paying to provide you a PC so you can show me ads.
Carts and horses scattered everywhere. (Score:5, Interesting)
This is very cart before the horse in my mind. Forcing a new key for a product that *JUST* got invented, and that most users are actively complaining about if they notice it at all, seems completely backwards. How about make something users find a positive use for, and are asking for an easier way to access, *THEN* demanding a new key be put on the keyboard for it?
How did we get here? Where all technology is just another excuse to rape the user's data?
I heard an interesting term the other day, and I'm starting to think it hit the nail on the head. It said that most tech companies now view people as "data cattle." We're simply generators of data, and data can somehow be directly tied to wealth generation. But the wealth generation is being relegated to the larger entities that collect the data, rather than having any connection at all to the people generating the data. Thus making us simply cattle for the data aggregation farms and tech-bros of the world.
I miss tech being exciting and fun. I wonder if that'll ever swing back around, or if we're so fully into "fuck you, gimme" in tech that it's now circling an ever expanding drain that will eventually suck us all under the surface.
Re:Carts and horses scattered everywhere. (Score:4, Insightful)
There should be a Linux key: Shut down Windows (NO UPDATES OR I'LL HOLD DOWN THE POWER BUTTON) and restart into a proper OS.
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That is called F12
*Chrome dev tools launched*
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I miss tech being exciting and fun. I wonder if that'll ever swing back around, or if we're so fully into "fuck you, gimme" in tech that it's now circling an ever expanding drain that will eventually suck us all under the surface.
I find projects and problems that interest me, and write code (and, mostly, make it available). I don't actually care whether no one else finds the projects/problems/code interesting. It keeps me somewhat sane in a world that has essentially forgotten what it is like to be a human being.
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I miss tech being exciting and fun. I wonder if that'll ever swing back around, or if we're so fully into "fuck you, gimme" in tech that it's now circling an ever expanding drain that will eventually suck us all under the surface.
I find projects and problems that interest me, and write code (and, mostly, make it available). I don't actually care whether no one else finds the projects/problems/code interesting. It keeps me somewhat sane in a world that has essentially forgotten what it is like to be a human being.
Oh, for sanity I can't even bother with code anymore. My sanity check is writing fiction, or playing music. Code is so far removed from sanity that I doubt I'll ever bother with another coding project "for fun."
Confusion (Score:5, Informative)
For a moment I though that a CoPilot key was some sort of enhanced TPM security thing.
Nope, it's just an extra key on our keyboard.
Re:Confusion (Score:4, Insightful)
Yep, now new! with 4 useless keys instead of 3.
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as long as IT IS NOT CAPS LOCK! THAT WOULD BE INSANE.
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What is this caps-lock you are talking about? Hmm. Maybe that hole I have on the left side of my keyboard?
Incidentally, today I had a chance to demonstrate how old and wise I am (or, alternatively, how obsolete) by explaining to them that mainframe character encoding had only capital letters wayyyy back. They were suitably impressed ;-)
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Not even that. It's a new keycap on the existing Menu key.
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Wow, they are _really_ innovative here!
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This is great (Score:5, Funny)
I love the idea of the Copilot key. It will make it easy to see at a glance which PCs to avoid purchasing.
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I love the idea of the Copilot key. It will make it easy to see at a glance which PCs to avoid purchasing.
So you're never buying a pre-made computer again? It's been a while since I've seen one that doesn't have a designed for windows sticker on it. No doubt this will be universally adopted because: marketing!
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Copilot key = Menu key + sticker (Score:2)
(Though that link does not actually verify that claim.)
This is just a marketing ploy and money grab.
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I'm still trying to figure out what an AI PC is, but I imagine it's equally stupid.
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It does not send the same key code as the Menu key though.
Reportedly [reddit.com], it sends Windows + Shift + F23.
(Apparently there are also several other hidden key combination [reddit.com] with the Windows key and F14...F24.)
I have seen the "hamburger" Menu symbol as an alternate legend on the Copilot key on some laptop keyboards though, so I'd guess that it is available as Fn+Copilot.
Hopefully, there will be some laptops on which it can be remapped in BIOS also. That would be preferable IMO.
I always map it to the Compose key [wikipedia.org] myse
clippy now has his own keyboard key! (Score:3)
clippy now has his own keyboard key!
One key to find them all ... (Score:2)
... and in the darkness bind them.
No thanks. MS is going to collapse in the not too distant future because they are increasingly unable to keep their crap secure or even working. The absolute last thing I want is another MS dependency.
Re: One key to find them all ... (Score:2)
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Indeed. They will get forced out of software and services though. May still take a while, but their stuff is crumbling more and more and their strategy to save things by putting everything into the MS cloud already is _worse_ than their other crap, with a complete compromise of their cloud last year and potentially for 2 years total. Which they did not notice. Which they cannot diagnose because they did not keep the logs from 2021. Which happened because they did _everything_ wrong they could without it bei
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"MS is going to collapse in the not too distant future because they are increasingly unable to keep their crap secure or even working."
Apple has the same problem. Their last update broke Java, USB hubs and a bunch of other stuff. The only change they advertised was new emojis.
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Probably. Deos not make it any better though. The cost of bad and insecure software is already very high and starts to be unsustainable. In other fields, regulation, sometimes harsh regulation, was the only way to end such a sad state of affairs.
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Well, true, but Oracle is already deeply hated by many people that work with their crap. So some hate on Apple, just to do something new, is understandable.
Key (Score:3)
So is this Co-Pilot Key a special key (Like ctrl or alt) in that if you hold it down and press a letter key you get a different key code? Or is it just a single function key that has its only purpose to run their "Artificial Stupid"
How many other keys are they going to add?
Perhaps a Francis Scott Key (hit that hard enough and the whole thing collapses...)
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I've assumed AI really stands for Augmented Idiocy.
Google's Black norsemen cemented the deal.
Wow! A Numeric Processing Unit! ...oh, wait (Score:2)
A /cough "Neural" Processing Unit? I despise people who type "lol" but, y'know... this is hilarious.
So, what does it do? Anything? There is a suspicious lack of specifics. Does it add a couple of short-term memory cells to your AI "girlfriend"? Can it more seamlessly transmit your passwords to Microsoft?
AI-free keys (Score:3)
Would you like to buy an AI-free keyboard? I'll sell you one.
Just what we've been asking for! (Score:2)
Fucking Microsoft (Score:3)
Nobody wants this. The people that do don't understand how bad it is.
I thought this meant some kind of activation key, like a digital Windows license tied to the motherboard. But they mean a fucking physical keyboard key to launch a tool nobody really wants to use and anyone savvy enough to use it disables immediately?
I hope other OS's find a way to make use of this chip because I won't be fucking using Windows if this is what they want it to become. Hit reverse, Microsoft. Go back to early Win 10 before you ruined it and tried to push W11 and all its bullshit.
That's the only way knowledgeable users and forward-thinking businesses are going to continue being your customers.
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Why are you so retarded?
You're obviously talking to CoPilot.
Serious Question (Score:2)
Will the AI PC be able to change directories without a 40-second progress bar? Asking for a friend. I'd rather take a bite out of a wine glass than use Windows.
Privacy Loss and Notyourcomputer Has Jumped Shark (Score:5, Insightful)
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I think we need to again rediscover the personal computer. A computer that is wired to someone else's computer on the internet is neither your computer nor a personal one.
You can make your computer a personal computer. Just don't complain when it doesn't do things you expect a modern computer to do. The reality is most workloads of today are dependent on the internet, if not for your own personal use (e.g. syncing between devices) then because it is forced on you through work or school.
I remind you that it's 2024, this concept is embedded that an entire OS was built around this concept, and that OS (with it's fancy Chrome colouring ;-) ) is now over a decade old.
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Unfortunately that something is mostly decided by marketing and fetish.
How many millions of lines of code are required to render this post on your screen? Apply that to all webified apps, even the ones that run locally.
We are so far removed from the metal at this point, the only rational direction is backwards.
Another thing to disable first (Score:2)
Just like how I disable autocorrect as one of the first things on a new smartphone, I'll disable AI if I buy an "AI PC" if needed despite running Lnux.
This is Microsoft, so ... (Score:3)
Remember: Their Copilot is more important than you, the Pilot.
Fuck vendor-specific keys (Score:2)
Hardware must be OS-agnostic. Even the Windows key is repulsive, per tradition it should have a black diamond instead. [imgur.com]
Thus making Windows even less usable (Score:2)
Microsoft insists on taking over your machine to apply updates and advertise crapware much to the annoyance of people who need to get things done. Adding AI to this mix will only make the UX more irritating.
TFS omitted an important point (Score:2)
While reading TFS, I was thinking a "Copilot key" was a cryptographic key that was embedded in the mainboard for use by the TPM to validate Copilot subscriptions (and serve as a unique identifier).
Imagine my surprise when I clicked on TFA later and found out it's a keycap! Please edit the summary so that it says "an AI PC's keyboard must have Microsoft's Copilot key."
The statement about a "physical key" in the last sentence still doesn't make it clear that we're talking about a keycap here. We could still b
Don't appease Microsoft (Score:2)
What an awful summary: The word "button" describes what's really being forced upon consumers. Every laptop must now have a BUTTON that invokes proprietary 3rd-party software. My (external) keyboard already has two "Windows" buttons, now Microsoft demands the universal "context menu" button be replaced with another Microsoft-only button. Sacrificing default function (and generic button-symbols) to appease Microsoft is wrong: If Microsoft wants another button, they can repurpose one of their "Windows" bu
Great if its the only way to enable copilot (Score:2)
List of new keys (Score:3)
Is anyone keeping track of all the new keys added over the years? It seems like whenever there's a new fancy thing, like email, www, icq or Skype, a dedicated key is added to launch said fancy new thing. But then it turns out to be pointless, because eventually everyone runs browser and instant messaging or the like 24/7 anyway.
Email key and the related email blinky light. Useless today because people tend to run email in the background anyway, and everyone has around 2000 unread emails in their inbox, so they don't need a blinky light for that anymore.
Internet key - launched internet Explorer. Obsolete because people run browser 24/7 anyway. And when you browse the web hand tends to be in mouse and not on the keyboard anyway.
Skype key - Skype died, and IM of choice is usually running 24/7 anyway.
Emoji Key - ???
Airplane Mode key. I like this one, although windows UI has stabilized so maybe physical key isn't needed anymore..
Office key - to launch office? Fail to see the usefulness.
On the other hand, useful keys tend to get chopped or omitted often. Home/end/pageup/page down, for example. The whole F row gets disabled by default on many laptops.
Re: Hmmm... (Score:2)