Microsoft is adding a new key to PC keyboards for the first time since 1994::Copilot key will eventually be required in new PC keyboards, though not yet.
copilotremapper.exe
I will not buy any computer with that. The windows icon is one thing but that is over the fucking line.
Add the f25 key for “fuck Microsoft” x25
Put some dang standard labels on the function keys.
F1 = Help
F2 = Rename
F3 = Search
F4 = Close
F5 = Refresh
F6-F10 = Decorative
F11 = Full screen
F12 = Goto definition
I’ve never intentionally used F1 key to open help before
Annoying when you accidentally hit it instead of ESC in certain Windows programs, loading Microsoft’s windows help website in your browser without your consent.
On Linux it usually does nothing, as it should.
Well, technically with your consent.
Even worse when it does it in Edge
Doesnt it in gnome gtk and KDE open the “about” page with a help button somewhere on it?
I actually have, in some older software F1 was basically an included digital copy of the manual and was great to have to find an obscure setting or feature.
That’s why I remapped it to toggle my notes app
F7 for spell check (shift F7 for thesaurus)
F8 is for “execute selected code”
Then again, F5 is for “run current script” or “compile and run program”…
I’m already not using 30% of my keyboard’s keys so it’d only be one more😅
Anyway, I don’t plan on using anything windows related for the rest of my life except in a VM.
It will replace the useless Menu key.
Of thats correct, will it take the key ID? Will the menu key just be repurposed
It will be just repurposed I think.
Thats probably the best option, mabe even just barely enough to call this a not so big deal.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
The exact positioning, and the key being replaced, may vary depending on the size and layout of the keyboard.
If nothing else, this new key is a sign of how much Microsoft wants people to use Copilot and its other generative AI products.
Plenty of past company initiatives—Bing, Edge, Cortana, and the Microsoft Store, to name a few—never managed to become baked into the hardware like this.
If Copilot fizzles or is deemphasized the way Cortana was, the Copilot key could become a way to quickly date a Windows PC from the mid-2020s, the way that changes to the Windows logo date keyboards from earlier eras.
Chipmakers like Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm are all building neural processing units (NPUs) into their latest silicon, and we’ll likely see more updates for Windows apps and features that can take advantage of this new on-device processing capability.
Microsoft says the Copilot key will debut in some PCs that will be announced at the Consumer Electronics Show this month.
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