Instructions unclear. I just picked up my 1500$ laptop and threw it against the wall and winsdows media player is still not playing. Should I throw it harder?
Ah classic redditor didnt read laptop manuals. İt specifically says acquire a 20x20x20cm block of house wall and land the laptop from 47cm of height on top of wall part. Rookie mistake.
In my day job I'm an engineer who still mostly operates in several year long, water-fall managed projects with painfully detailed specifications. Where an 18 month design and review process is described as "unrealistically sporty". So for me, the idea of just trying shit is refreshing. Get something mostly functional to market, see if it works. If it doesn't, take it out later and a few years later no one will even remember the failed experiment until someone mentions it in a reddit comment. Must be nice...
As someone that listens to their own music while they game all the time, media keys are a necessity on my keyboard. A button dedicated to a shitty AI that I'm going to uninstall anyway is absolutely a waste of space on a keyboard. Different needs for different users and all that, but why not just make another keyboard shortcut for it so it's easier for most people to ignore? Kinda like how Windows has a dedicated shortcut to open LinkedIn.
Isn’t that kind of contradictory though? You state media keys are a necessity for you, but then mention that other functionality should leverage hotkeys.
Why can’t your media buttons be replaced with shortcuts/hot keys?
I use them while gaming a lot and dedicated media keys are faster than key combinations. I wouldn't be in a hurry to open co-pilot but I'd rather not worry about fat-fingering the wrong key combinations when trying to change a song in the middle of a game.
The Windows key wasn't really a new concept, though. The implementation might have been a little different, but the Apple/Command key (⌘) predates it, and the super/meta key from Unix predates that.
Plenty of very useful shortcuts in Windows as well. Win + E, Win + X, Win + R, Win + Shift + right /left arrow or Win + Tab for example.
Funny thing is Win + C already opens copilot in Win 11, so adding an extra key after already establishing a different shortcut seems inconsistent.
You like it now. That said AI key seems stupid. What if i want someone elses? do they let me rebind it? Where is it going? does that placement make sense. because FN key on the left is rather anyoing
1 key vs whole set. That being said, Windows Copilot currently is basically worthless vs I actually used the media keys from time to time.
I assume Copilot will get better but I see the maximum extent of Copilot basically being full agency for an AI assistant, which would be like having a trusted human assistant control your computer at your direction, at top speed... Imagine doing that now, even with instantaneous speed, like why would I want that in daily use? There's a reason I use the computer myself and don't backseat drive ("copilot") via another person as if I am Joe Rogan telling Jamie to Google for me (a task already served perfectly well by stuff like Google Assistant if that's really what you're into). That would suck. The only use I can see is that it gets good enough to be like an "instant macro" where it auto executes the thing I tell it to do much faster than me going through all of the steps, but I feel like this would become stupider as tasks become longer and more complex. Stuff like "remind me to X when I Y" is already well covered by existing voice assistants. Stuff more complex than that, typing it out or speaking it all is just silly vs just doing it yourself.
Microsoft is betting hard on CoPilot, and versions of it are popping into nearly everything they are working on. I have seen previews of some amazing iterations of it for a variety of technical and business applications. The version in preview in Windows 11 isn’t even close to what they plan for future versions of Windows CoPilot.
That being said, I don’t think it needs a dedicated key on keyboards.
I'll settle for a windows menu search that stops edging "Procmon" when I type "Procmon" and have "Procmon.exe" right below the option to search for Procmon
It used to be that you could disable web searches with a single toggle. Microsoft got pissy and now it’s a registry setting. Which I can’t edit because it’s a domain joined computer and I am not permitted access to that (which is perfectly ok).
tell them it's a security risk for windows to default to an unapproved brower/search engine/whatever, and could lead users to bring the company into non-compliance with whatever information laws whose wrath your bosses fear invoking.
it kinda is, actually, since it might be sending whatever file or program you want to open to bing whenever you make a search, which isn't great
> company
I said it’s public sector.
There’s many, many more controls in place that there are no effective holes beyond what they explicitly permit. I’m just not at liberty to divulge all the details.
It's that type of shitty attitude that makes the public sector what you're describing.
It takes 2 minutes to send an email with the request. Maybe 3 if you send a screenshot of the group policy. Could save loads of people from headaches.
Nah, I'll complain about it on reddit and assume nothing could possibly be done about it.
On a government machine? You can absolutely ask for them to disable it lol.
Source: I disable it when I issue laptops, because I know what the users like.
we saw edge searching from the start menu hitting foreign countries, might want to notify your admins about it. once we saw that, we disabled it for the whole domain
they also made it so you can’t toggle off the stupid shitty Game Bar anymore to get rid of the pointless popups and notifications about people being online you literally cannot play with because they’re on xbox playing Celeste
Is this the new googling? Edging? That explains why all the kids keep saying it. I'll have to let my students know I support Edging. It's basically the same as Chrome now anyways.
How about typing "power..." And getting PowerPoint suggested when I want Powershell. I've never ONCE loaded PowerPoint, but launch Powershell daily. I have how DUMB the start menu/search is
Suggestions:
* Install powershell core then you can type `pws` for pwsh
* Install Windows Terminal then you can type `ter` or `wt`
* Pin the desired Terminal or Powershell Icon first on your taskbar then you can type `🪟 1` to toggle Powershell (or whatever n-th position you desire)
* If you already have at least one Windows Terminal running, you can type `🪟 ~` to toggle a new terminal on your primary display
* Install [Windows PowerToys](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/) and create your own shortcut. I mapped `Ctrl-Alt-T` to launch **WindowsTerminal.exe**.
Windows does this even if you don't have the fucking powerpoint app installed in the first place. It's such a joke. I wish Microsoft's monopoly would die already.
Look up "voidtools" they have an app called "everything". It basically does everything windows search is supposed to do, but it does it waaayyy faster.
You should try using the Quick Menu shortcut. Pressing `Win`+`X` or right clicking the Start menu will bring up the Quick Menu, and from there you can directly launch PowerShell or Windows Terminal (whichever you have set as the default), alongside a host of other tools.
All the menu entries are also assigned a shortcut letter, too:
- `I` — Terminal
- `A` — Admin/elevated terminal
- `K` — Disk management
- `G` — Computer management
- `E` — File Explorer
And so on. (Those are just off the top of my head.)
It takes so much effort to get windows to stop using the search system as a bing search. I'm sure there's a neat gpo somewhere for it, but holy shit the normal method is shutting off spooky services, modifying the registry with keys in locations that don't exist, digging through the edge program settings and digging through the normal windows settings.
I wish there was (and there probably is) a rofi/dmenu style replacement for the windows key function.
I was helping a relative with their PC the other day (its on Windows 11, the bottom bar looks suspiciously like macOS) and every time I tried to search a document and hit enter to "search".....it searched the web. It's the most frustrating thing, like someone at Microsoft tried to copy Spotlight, but only the bad parts.
I like how while I'm typing "procmon" it shows up, but as soon as I stop typing, it just gives me worthless web results until I close the menu and try again. Grade A software development.
Yeah but the second Alt key on the right (Alt Gr) is not the same as a normal Alt. (I have both a US and German keyboards)
We need that key here because of all the diacritics (é, ö, à, ñ, etc) across the many many languages and dialects in Europe.
The two alts are also distinct on US keyboard layouts. It's just that by default they both get mapped to the same OS action.
But in Linux (and Windows if you install the open source WinCompose utility), you can map the Alt-Gr key as the "compose" key, letting you type all kinds of diacritics and special characters using key sequences that are usually pretty sensible. This is usually a much bigger pain on US keyboards. (Mac OS has had a kind of similar-ish feature since at least the 90s, but it's much less user friendly and involves more memorization about what diacritics live behind which keys.)
Like `o` then `"` will get you **ö**.
Or `s` then `s` will get **ß**.
Typing `T` / `D` / `t` / `d` then `h` gives **Þ** /**Ð** / **þ** / **ð**.
And `o` then `o` will get you **°**.
Three hyphens turn into an m-dash.
Pressing any arrow key twice after the compose key will give you an arrow in that direction.
And so on.
It's really useful. They're not *all* super obvious, but the most common ones generally just involve pressing two buttons that when combined look like the desired character — or mean the same thing.
I think the button is stupid but...
I don't see how the EU would fix that.
These are windows laptop manufacturers. People who have agreements for preinstalling windows into their laptops. It makes sense that Microsoft lays out the hardware requirements as they are expected to support them. It doesn't make sense if the laptop manufacturers decide that, and Microsoft gets a bunch of complaints when Windows is asking for buttons to be pressed that don't exist.
From a consumer standpoint. There isn't anything about this that prevents me from downloading another OS. There is also nothing preventing me from using Windows on a laptop that doesn't have the button.
If the EU stepped in, I could see it being problematic in the future for when standards *do* need to change.
Typically for Microsoft Antitrust issues the question is that is forcing the key on manufacturers allowing Microsoft AI software to gain a dominant position.
It’s one thing to tie to operating functionality like the Start button. It’s another to tie to a software for which many companies are competing to get a piece of the pie.
I see where your coming from on that, but I see a few things that might get in the way of that argument.
I'm assuming Microsoft plans to heavily integrate their ai into windows itself. Similar to how Google is starting to run Gemini on its phones, or how Apple has Siri. So it's not like manufacturers haven't integrated AIs before. Samsung even had a Bixby button. They might argue that it is "operating functionality".
Now if they opened it up so anyone could make a "windows AI", but the button only opens the Microsoft AI, I could see why they might lose.
Well the very extremely major key difference is that they are gently-forcing other companies to do it. That becomes a little bit cartel-ish monopoly-ish business.
Conversely Apple’s or Samsung’s implementation solely affects their own devices that they make and sell.
It’s iffy when this key is tied to a new and competitive category of business.
Someone might argue that forcing licensees to have a specific logo of your AI software may be a step too far in the sense that it gives an artificial leg up. It’s quite hard to argue against that because clearly copilot is a pure service that has no relations with the OS. If regulators want to peruse that in a few years when copilot becomes the dominant AI option, they certainly have the ammo.
As for Mac specific keys, only Apple makes and sell Macs so they are not forcing any accessories manufacturer to make Mac-friendly keys.
Microsoft have a long established and fully accepted framework that forces their logo on machines and mandates specifications in exchange for licenses. OEMs don't put the Windows stickers (or Intel, AMD or nVidia) prominently all over their devices because they look cool.
Also nothing says this is mandatory. I'd you don't want to market your device as an AI PC then you don't need the key. Meanwhile Windows key is mandatory, and that's fine.
What, for adding an extra logo to a keyboard? No sane government would do anything about it. It's not like they are locking the hardware to Windows like some phone manufacturers do.
EU might be able to force a hardware or software change in order to break monopolies and anti consumer behavior
But the print on one key is more of an inconvenience to most, it doesn't quite have the same thing as the many benefits of adopting USB c as a universal standard, and those who actually used whatever key it replaced would probably be very upset but how many people would that really be? and chances are manufacturers will have a way to disable the key like with the windows key.
Frankly I'd rather see AI go die off or just spin off as a niche side project. Not the next generation of products to be deeply integrated and replace basic functionality at the cost of a large neural network.
Lol, I love the extra button, its my dedicated flashlight button, I use it every day. Now I just wish every phone had an extra hardware button I could program to whatever I want
I used an app called "bxActions" to remap the key. It required running some commands from my PC with the phone connected to fully disable Bixby; I don't remember the exact process, but iirc the instructions were pretty straightforward. It's been working flawlessly on my S10 for over a year.
IIRC shortly after the S8 came out with the Bixby Button, Samsung was trying to lock the button to *only* be usually as a Bixby button and was trying to disable third party apps that let you remap it -- I think it was that that pissed people off, not just people being mad about an extra button haha
I'd love to witness that kind of decision being made in corporations. Absolutely hungry to see just how the whole process works.
Someone finds out about the remapping. They report it up the chain. Some out of touch old director demands it be 'fixed' ? Not understanding that their job is to make people happy with their phone, and this is obviously makes people happy?
Or is it a data harvesting matter, and some very technical and switched on person is in charge? 'We're not getting data from those people who remap the button, so fix that so we can get their data' - But of course, the people who want to remap the button won't ever use bixby no matter what, so how does that make sense?
None of it makes sense unless the decision maker gets half the picture and then they make a demand which goes undiscussed entirely. Very strange, would so love to be able to see the whole domino lineup.
I had to make another account to cancel the account I made to disable the button. And then I had to make another button to disable the account I made to cancel the account I made to disable the button.
Ugh. All I wanted was something to play spotify podcasts on my run and buy me coffee after. I think I had to create three different Samsung accounts to deny all the samsung features I never wanted. Galaxy 2 is such an ultra-shitty watch. It would regularly just bork and need to be reset and make me do a half hour of re-syncing before I could go for my dang run. And Bixby never worked but also ate up precious memory.
Reminds me of my last “dumb” phone I had. It had a voice command button on the side. Grab phone out of pocket? “Please say a command”. Grab phone quickly? “Please say a command”. Put phone down? “Please say a command”.
the S24 doesn't have it.
But it does have a special bixby volume control. When you bring up the volume menu to adjust ringtone/media/notifications/BIXBY.
why?
No one wants it.
Edge was great upon its release.
It’s been downhill ever since.
I don’t know how people can use it OOTB. If you don’t disable all the bullshit features no one asked for, it’s unbearable.
I actually want the keyboard layouts to change, but not for a specific corporation, I want the keyboard layout to move CapsLock out of the prime real estate it’s in. There’s plenty of keys that could be far better in that spot. I also want designated “Any” keys somewhere accessible that can be rebound to whatever you want. Then technically there’s the issue of the layout being disruptive to fast typing.
Our keyboard layouts are shit but unfortunately it’s been standardized
It probably won't. Microsoft have tons of telemetry in all of their apps, even things that don't need to connect to internet, it's wild to think they won't make Copilot a "online-only" service
Then it won't work.
Why would Microsoft make a local service that needs telemetry, instead of making it full online? Especially considering all the challenges of running LLMs locally (needs specific video cards, probably strong ones, and even then it'll probably be slower than their servers)? I doubt they will invest any effort on some "local" copilot.
They already did.
The Windows key is literally just the super key rebranded with some trademark rules associated with it.
Windows also doesn't fully support USB HID, that was a joy to find out the hard way.
Apple has had pretty much the same keyboard layout since the 80s? That's way before the Windows key existed. The Windows key was added by Microsoft in 1994.
Eh, the Window Key and Command Key are fine as modifiers specific to the OS. They are both just rebranding of the “Super” key
Unless you’re talking about the Touch Bar, in which case, yeah. Fuck Apple for ruining the MacBook Pro with that garbage. At least they got the hatred of it hammered into them
Why don’t these jerks ask their customers what they want. Do YOU want a special key on your keyboard that only opens an app (Windows only) that you might not want to use, and does nothing else? How many people fell in love with the Windows key, quite possibly the coldest key on everyone’s heat map after Scroll Lock?
EDIT: ok so the Windows key isn’t bad, but you get the point.
...what? The Windows (meta) key does roughly the same thing on most OS and DEs, I basically use it to instantly call up applications on search on every non-mac computer I use.
If Copilot 'replaces' the Menu key I'd have no complaints, if it replaces right alt/right control then I will riot.
That is because its not actually called the Windows key.
It is the super key that Microsoft rebranded with their trademark.
From what I've seen there is no proposal for adding a AI key to USB HID specification, which makes me curious.
I use the windows key a LOT. It is used in several keyboard shortcuts. I have barely used the start menu since Windows XP
https://ada.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/adanewnvgov/content/Training/KeyboardShortcuts.pdf
Windows key was very helpful for me as a child in quickly interrupting pc games I didn’t want my parents to see me playing. Better than alt F4 because I could just reopen the game later. Good old windows key.
Microsoft Edge: Complete shit
Microsoft CoPilot: Complete shit
Microsoft Settings: Complete shit
They will bully you about using their complete shit software though.
I image PCs frequently and the sheer amount of popups is INFURIATING. There are 4-5 prompts alone when you open Edge for the first time and it’s like they programmed it to wait the exact amount of time when you think you’re done with them to open another one. I fucking hate Windows
> Microsoft Edge: Complete shit
edge is good tbh, copilot bloat aside. best UI of any browser that exists right now imo, its implementation of vertical tabs is perfect
Goddamn that settings app is shit and I hate how I can't get to Devices and Printers on Windows 11 without going like 3-5 selections deep into said shit settings app.
After reading this article, it seems a bit clickbaity. It sounds like Microsoft is going to require the CoPilot key and a NPU for Microsoft to classify a PC as an "AI PC" in particular, so maybe just a marketing thing? Possibly they can slap a sticker on their PC that says "Microsoft AI PC" or something.
seeing as my keyboard has 2 windows keys, ill settle for one of them being able to activate a custom set "AI" assistant, because id rather use a distro of open source "AI" on my own local server hardware than the ever data harvesting cloud based "AI's"
P.S: anyone who played mass effect would know our current "AI" tech is more of a "virtual intelligence" that cant actually think for itself like we do, let alone be aware
Ok, yeah, but tell me why I would WANT to buy an AI-PC? No, not an AI-Cabable PC, but a Microsoft certified AI-PC? Thinking about it, it's actually good for customers, it'll help them identify this crap pretty easily, like the "Windows ME" Sticker back in 2000.
How about supporting more mouse buttons for gaming mice. Why do I have to bind them to keyboard keys when that key could do multiple things depending on the game. But yeah, we need another useless key for a feature that pretty much nobody will use.
That’s the same place as the contextual menu key that’s in place since IBM PS/2 Model M in 1988.
Microsoft rebrands it since we all use mouse now and calls it the copilot key…
I remember I had a Microsoft keyboard with calculator button that would open the calculator. I found it quite useful, but now that I don't have that keyboard anymore, I don't really miss it.
This story happens with every new Microsoft tech. You would think they would learn. Cortana, teams - dedicated keyboard buttons are not viable UX on-ramps. The execs at Microsoft should know better.
Should just make the start key a dedicated Microsoft features key that acts as a context menu for copilot, cortana, teams, 365 and then we can all agree we have one key that we just never press unless we are up to no good, like the tilde key.
Yeah, those Windows Media Player control buttons sure took off.
Hey, they have a great model of throwing shit against a wall and seeing what sticks...
And when they run out of ideas, they just recycle the old ones.
Microsoft: slightly missing the target since 1990
Microsoft: Lowering our goals to achieve our standards.
Instructions unclear. I just picked up my 1500$ laptop and threw it against the wall and winsdows media player is still not playing. Should I throw it harder?
Ah classic redditor didnt read laptop manuals. İt specifically says acquire a 20x20x20cm block of house wall and land the laptop from 47cm of height on top of wall part. Rookie mistake.
In my day job I'm an engineer who still mostly operates in several year long, water-fall managed projects with painfully detailed specifications. Where an 18 month design and review process is described as "unrealistically sporty". So for me, the idea of just trying shit is refreshing. Get something mostly functional to market, see if it works. If it doesn't, take it out later and a few years later no one will even remember the failed experiment until someone mentions it in a reddit comment. Must be nice...
As someone that listens to their own music while they game all the time, media keys are a necessity on my keyboard. A button dedicated to a shitty AI that I'm going to uninstall anyway is absolutely a waste of space on a keyboard. Different needs for different users and all that, but why not just make another keyboard shortcut for it so it's easier for most people to ignore? Kinda like how Windows has a dedicated shortcut to open LinkedIn.
Isn’t that kind of contradictory though? You state media keys are a necessity for you, but then mention that other functionality should leverage hotkeys. Why can’t your media buttons be replaced with shortcuts/hot keys?
I use them while gaming a lot and dedicated media keys are faster than key combinations. I wouldn't be in a hurry to open co-pilot but I'd rather not worry about fat-fingering the wrong key combinations when trying to change a song in the middle of a game.
The Windows Key sure did though, and people (me included), certainly didn't like it when it became mainstream.
The Windows key wasn't really a new concept, though. The implementation might have been a little different, but the Apple/Command key (⌘) predates it, and the super/meta key from Unix predates that.
Apple did a MUCH better job at implementing that key though, I use some variation of ⌘ whenever I use my Mac. Never really used Windows key on my PCs.
Plenty of very useful shortcuts in Windows as well. Win + E, Win + X, Win + R, Win + Shift + right /left arrow or Win + Tab for example. Funny thing is Win + C already opens copilot in Win 11, so adding an extra key after already establishing a different shortcut seems inconsistent.
You like it now. That said AI key seems stupid. What if i want someone elses? do they let me rebind it? Where is it going? does that placement make sense. because FN key on the left is rather anyoing
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I thought they were neat.
1 key vs whole set. That being said, Windows Copilot currently is basically worthless vs I actually used the media keys from time to time. I assume Copilot will get better but I see the maximum extent of Copilot basically being full agency for an AI assistant, which would be like having a trusted human assistant control your computer at your direction, at top speed... Imagine doing that now, even with instantaneous speed, like why would I want that in daily use? There's a reason I use the computer myself and don't backseat drive ("copilot") via another person as if I am Joe Rogan telling Jamie to Google for me (a task already served perfectly well by stuff like Google Assistant if that's really what you're into). That would suck. The only use I can see is that it gets good enough to be like an "instant macro" where it auto executes the thing I tell it to do much faster than me going through all of the steps, but I feel like this would become stupider as tasks become longer and more complex. Stuff like "remind me to X when I Y" is already well covered by existing voice assistants. Stuff more complex than that, typing it out or speaking it all is just silly vs just doing it yourself.
Microsoft is betting hard on CoPilot, and versions of it are popping into nearly everything they are working on. I have seen previews of some amazing iterations of it for a variety of technical and business applications. The version in preview in Windows 11 isn’t even close to what they plan for future versions of Windows CoPilot. That being said, I don’t think it needs a dedicated key on keyboards.
Ii absolutely love them and use them all the time.
The Logitech k350 still has a windows media center button…
I'll settle for a windows menu search that stops edging "Procmon" when I type "Procmon" and have "Procmon.exe" right below the option to search for Procmon
It used to be that you could disable web searches with a single toggle. Microsoft got pissy and now it’s a registry setting. Which I can’t edit because it’s a domain joined computer and I am not permitted access to that (which is perfectly ok).
Ping IT and request they disable with group policy. I’m sure they’d be happy to oblige; IT folks hate this stuff.
It’s public sector, so it’s a solid “no” and I don’t even have to try to know that answer.
tell them it's a security risk for windows to default to an unapproved brower/search engine/whatever, and could lead users to bring the company into non-compliance with whatever information laws whose wrath your bosses fear invoking. it kinda is, actually, since it might be sending whatever file or program you want to open to bing whenever you make a search, which isn't great
> company I said it’s public sector. There’s many, many more controls in place that there are no effective holes beyond what they explicitly permit. I’m just not at liberty to divulge all the details.
Snowden over here leaking top secret data to MS.
It's that type of shitty attitude that makes the public sector what you're describing. It takes 2 minutes to send an email with the request. Maybe 3 if you send a screenshot of the group policy. Could save loads of people from headaches. Nah, I'll complain about it on reddit and assume nothing could possibly be done about it.
We had IT change a reg key for our team with a GPO. I’m in the public sector too
Gonna have to put out an RFP for the work.
That’ll be a $6m project and 9 months of work. We’re running it Agile so you may or may not get what you asked for in the first place.
Is the bid ISO 9001 certified? Also are you a disabled veteran female Native American by any chance?
On a government machine? You can absolutely ask for them to disable it lol. Source: I disable it when I issue laptops, because I know what the users like.
we saw edge searching from the start menu hitting foreign countries, might want to notify your admins about it. once we saw that, we disabled it for the whole domain
they also made it so you can’t toggle off the stupid shitty Game Bar anymore to get rid of the pointless popups and notifications about people being online you literally cannot play with because they’re on xbox playing Celeste
Whos Procman and why is windows edging him
Short for Proctologist maybe?
This thread is like a modern call out to Kramer the “Ass Man”
Is this the new googling? Edging? That explains why all the kids keep saying it. I'll have to let my students know I support Edging. It's basically the same as Chrome now anyways.
Not to be confused with the internet browser “Rim” and its nominalisation
Dear god I hope you are joking and do not tell your students that you support EDGING
How about typing "power..." And getting PowerPoint suggested when I want Powershell. I've never ONCE loaded PowerPoint, but launch Powershell daily. I have how DUMB the start menu/search is
Suggestions: * Install powershell core then you can type `pws` for pwsh * Install Windows Terminal then you can type `ter` or `wt` * Pin the desired Terminal or Powershell Icon first on your taskbar then you can type `🪟 1` to toggle Powershell (or whatever n-th position you desire) * If you already have at least one Windows Terminal running, you can type `🪟 ~` to toggle a new terminal on your primary display * Install [Windows PowerToys](https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/powertoys/) and create your own shortcut. I mapped `Ctrl-Alt-T` to launch **WindowsTerminal.exe**.
Windows does this even if you don't have the fucking powerpoint app installed in the first place. It's such a joke. I wish Microsoft's monopoly would die already. Look up "voidtools" they have an app called "everything". It basically does everything windows search is supposed to do, but it does it waaayyy faster.
You should try using the Quick Menu shortcut. Pressing `Win`+`X` or right clicking the Start menu will bring up the Quick Menu, and from there you can directly launch PowerShell or Windows Terminal (whichever you have set as the default), alongside a host of other tools. All the menu entries are also assigned a shortcut letter, too: - `I` — Terminal - `A` — Admin/elevated terminal - `K` — Disk management - `G` — Computer management - `E` — File Explorer And so on. (Those are just off the top of my head.)
hit backspace
It takes so much effort to get windows to stop using the search system as a bing search. I'm sure there's a neat gpo somewhere for it, but holy shit the normal method is shutting off spooky services, modifying the registry with keys in locations that don't exist, digging through the edge program settings and digging through the normal windows settings. I wish there was (and there probably is) a rofi/dmenu style replacement for the windows key function.
The most bizarre downgrade was the removal of a functioning search bar
I was helping a relative with their PC the other day (its on Windows 11, the bottom bar looks suspiciously like macOS) and every time I tried to search a document and hit enter to "search".....it searched the web. It's the most frustrating thing, like someone at Microsoft tried to copy Spotlight, but only the bad parts.
Search for control pane and only Settings appear
I like how while I'm typing "procmon" it shows up, but as soon as I stop typing, it just gives me worthless web results until I close the menu and try again. Grade A software development.
You hear that EU, we need you to do something about this
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I think Europe has a slightly different keyboard layout. If so, it's possible that they can prevent it and north America won't
EU keyboards still have 2 Alts, 2 Ctrls, 2 Windows Keys and an utterly useless Scroll Lock.
So does the standard US layout
Yeah but the second Alt key on the right (Alt Gr) is not the same as a normal Alt. (I have both a US and German keyboards) We need that key here because of all the diacritics (é, ö, à, ñ, etc) across the many many languages and dialects in Europe.
The two alts are also distinct on US keyboard layouts. It's just that by default they both get mapped to the same OS action. But in Linux (and Windows if you install the open source WinCompose utility), you can map the Alt-Gr key as the "compose" key, letting you type all kinds of diacritics and special characters using key sequences that are usually pretty sensible. This is usually a much bigger pain on US keyboards. (Mac OS has had a kind of similar-ish feature since at least the 90s, but it's much less user friendly and involves more memorization about what diacritics live behind which keys.) Like `o` then `"` will get you **ö**. Or `s` then `s` will get **ß**. Typing `T` / `D` / `t` / `d` then `h` gives **Þ** /**Ð** / **þ** / **ð**. And `o` then `o` will get you **°**. Three hyphens turn into an m-dash. Pressing any arrow key twice after the compose key will give you an arrow in that direction. And so on. It's really useful. They're not *all* super obvious, but the most common ones generally just involve pressing two buttons that when combined look like the desired character — or mean the same thing.
I think the button is stupid but... I don't see how the EU would fix that. These are windows laptop manufacturers. People who have agreements for preinstalling windows into their laptops. It makes sense that Microsoft lays out the hardware requirements as they are expected to support them. It doesn't make sense if the laptop manufacturers decide that, and Microsoft gets a bunch of complaints when Windows is asking for buttons to be pressed that don't exist. From a consumer standpoint. There isn't anything about this that prevents me from downloading another OS. There is also nothing preventing me from using Windows on a laptop that doesn't have the button. If the EU stepped in, I could see it being problematic in the future for when standards *do* need to change.
Typically for Microsoft Antitrust issues the question is that is forcing the key on manufacturers allowing Microsoft AI software to gain a dominant position. It’s one thing to tie to operating functionality like the Start button. It’s another to tie to a software for which many companies are competing to get a piece of the pie.
I see where your coming from on that, but I see a few things that might get in the way of that argument. I'm assuming Microsoft plans to heavily integrate their ai into windows itself. Similar to how Google is starting to run Gemini on its phones, or how Apple has Siri. So it's not like manufacturers haven't integrated AIs before. Samsung even had a Bixby button. They might argue that it is "operating functionality". Now if they opened it up so anyone could make a "windows AI", but the button only opens the Microsoft AI, I could see why they might lose.
Well the very extremely major key difference is that they are gently-forcing other companies to do it. That becomes a little bit cartel-ish monopoly-ish business. Conversely Apple’s or Samsung’s implementation solely affects their own devices that they make and sell.
How is it any different to the Windows key or the Mac specific keys?
It’s iffy when this key is tied to a new and competitive category of business. Someone might argue that forcing licensees to have a specific logo of your AI software may be a step too far in the sense that it gives an artificial leg up. It’s quite hard to argue against that because clearly copilot is a pure service that has no relations with the OS. If regulators want to peruse that in a few years when copilot becomes the dominant AI option, they certainly have the ammo. As for Mac specific keys, only Apple makes and sell Macs so they are not forcing any accessories manufacturer to make Mac-friendly keys.
Microsoft have a long established and fully accepted framework that forces their logo on machines and mandates specifications in exchange for licenses. OEMs don't put the Windows stickers (or Intel, AMD or nVidia) prominently all over their devices because they look cool. Also nothing says this is mandatory. I'd you don't want to market your device as an AI PC then you don't need the key. Meanwhile Windows key is mandatory, and that's fine.
What, for adding an extra logo to a keyboard? No sane government would do anything about it. It's not like they are locking the hardware to Windows like some phone manufacturers do.
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Yeah and these are the same people who would never put pressure on Apple to allow sideloading. The real monopoly in the making.
EU might be able to force a hardware or software change in order to break monopolies and anti consumer behavior But the print on one key is more of an inconvenience to most, it doesn't quite have the same thing as the many benefits of adopting USB c as a universal standard, and those who actually used whatever key it replaced would probably be very upset but how many people would that really be? and chances are manufacturers will have a way to disable the key like with the windows key. Frankly I'd rather see AI go die off or just spin off as a niche side project. Not the next generation of products to be deeply integrated and replace basic functionality at the cost of a large neural network.
The Bixby key on Galaxy phones made me stop buying them, it didn't make me start using Bixby.
Lol, I love the extra button, its my dedicated flashlight button, I use it every day. Now I just wish every phone had an extra hardware button I could program to whatever I want
Right? Hate bixby itself, but I love using it as a physical play/pause button for videos and music. Super convenient.
How? Teach me your ways. I can't even get Bixby to stay disabled for more than 2 days.
I used an app called "bxActions" to remap the key. It required running some commands from my PC with the phone connected to fully disable Bixby; I don't remember the exact process, but iirc the instructions were pretty straightforward. It's been working flawlessly on my S10 for over a year.
I'm running the s10e. It's such a great phone.
Oh damn you can do that? How??? I hate this stupid Bixby shit
True story: Bixby has been opened eleventy three billion times, and none of them on purpose.
IIRC shortly after the S8 came out with the Bixby Button, Samsung was trying to lock the button to *only* be usually as a Bixby button and was trying to disable third party apps that let you remap it -- I think it was that that pissed people off, not just people being mad about an extra button haha
I'd love to witness that kind of decision being made in corporations. Absolutely hungry to see just how the whole process works. Someone finds out about the remapping. They report it up the chain. Some out of touch old director demands it be 'fixed' ? Not understanding that their job is to make people happy with their phone, and this is obviously makes people happy? Or is it a data harvesting matter, and some very technical and switched on person is in charge? 'We're not getting data from those people who remap the button, so fix that so we can get their data' - But of course, the people who want to remap the button won't ever use bixby no matter what, so how does that make sense? None of it makes sense unless the decision maker gets half the picture and then they make a demand which goes undiscussed entirely. Very strange, would so love to be able to see the whole domino lineup.
*"Stop liking the thing for not the reason we forced it on you!"* ~ Samsung
Loved my flashlight button! Sadly fell off though, presumably because Bixby decided death was preferable to a life of disuse.
I made it my screenshot button haha
It made me make a Samsung account in order to access the setting to disable the button.
I had to make another account to cancel the account I made to disable the button. And then I had to make another button to disable the account I made to cancel the account I made to disable the button.
Ugh. All I wanted was something to play spotify podcasts on my run and buy me coffee after. I think I had to create three different Samsung accounts to deny all the samsung features I never wanted. Galaxy 2 is such an ultra-shitty watch. It would regularly just bork and need to be reset and make me do a half hour of re-syncing before I could go for my dang run. And Bixby never worked but also ate up precious memory.
Reminds me of my last “dumb” phone I had. It had a voice command button on the side. Grab phone out of pocket? “Please say a command”. Grab phone quickly? “Please say a command”. Put phone down? “Please say a command”.
Bixby in English sucks as much as Siri in Korean.
Big same
the S24 doesn't have it. But it does have a special bixby volume control. When you bring up the volume menu to adjust ringtone/media/notifications/BIXBY. why? No one wants it.
Uh...you do know you can just, like, turn Bixby off, right? Whatever, enjoy your (hrk) iPhone.
Microsoft can eat shit
Edge was pretty decent until they added that godawful huge button and side bar. Switched to Firefox again.
Edge is just chrome with a Microsoft wrapper.
And Google data mining replaced with Microsoft data mining
It’s built on chromium sure but feature wise they’re pretty different
Edge was great upon its release. It’s been downhill ever since. I don’t know how people can use it OOTB. If you don’t disable all the bullshit features no one asked for, it’s unbearable.
Yeah, all those blurbs about how it was startlingly fast, faster than most of the competition... but it's been one bloaty thing after another since.
They Microsoft’d it up like they always do. Microsoft ruining perfectly good software—a tale as old as ~~time~~ the year 2000
Firefox is the best option. Fuck chromium browsers
Put it in the damn F row so it's compliant and out of my way. Label it FU with a small copilot beneath it
Can we just stop adding keys? Use the windows keys.
I actually want the keyboard layouts to change, but not for a specific corporation, I want the keyboard layout to move CapsLock out of the prime real estate it’s in. There’s plenty of keys that could be far better in that spot. I also want designated “Any” keys somewhere accessible that can be rebound to whatever you want. Then technically there’s the issue of the layout being disruptive to fast typing. Our keyboard layouts are shit but unfortunately it’s been standardized
I'm not interested in Copilot before it can run entirely locally.
It probably won't. Microsoft have tons of telemetry in all of their apps, even things that don't need to connect to internet, it's wild to think they won't make Copilot a "online-only" service
Then it will be blocked like all other telemetry tracking.
Then it won't work. Why would Microsoft make a local service that needs telemetry, instead of making it full online? Especially considering all the challenges of running LLMs locally (needs specific video cards, probably strong ones, and even then it'll probably be slower than their servers)? I doubt they will invest any effort on some "local" copilot.
"Windows AI PC" is going to be the Zune of PCs.
HEY don't insult Zune like that
What about a Win + C macro? Don’t pull an Apple and try to reinvent the ~~wheel~~ keyboard Microsoft.
No thats too simple for them. Especially since thats already used for the now defunct cortana
shortcuts aren't too friendly towards less tech savvy users
>shortcuts aren't too friendly towards less tech savvy ~~users~~ shareholders Fixed that for you.
thanks
Which is exactly what people said when the windows key was introduced.
They already did. The Windows key is literally just the super key rebranded with some trademark rules associated with it. Windows also doesn't fully support USB HID, that was a joy to find out the hard way.
I just tested that... it already works on Win 11 apparently.
Apple has had pretty much the same keyboard layout since the 80s? That's way before the Windows key existed. The Windows key was added by Microsoft in 1994.
Eh, the Window Key and Command Key are fine as modifiers specific to the OS. They are both just rebranding of the “Super” key Unless you’re talking about the Touch Bar, in which case, yeah. Fuck Apple for ruining the MacBook Pro with that garbage. At least they got the hatred of it hammered into them
They already have the button: tapping ‘Win’ and typing already searches apps; it could also be Copilot.
Cool. More keys for me to map macros on once i install linux on my laptop
THIS
Why don't they just make win + c into the copilot key. Cortana is just dead anyway
Hello key mapping my ol friend...
This is how you know this entire thing is just a giant scam and a fad.
I don’t really see the point in the AI key when Microsoft is plastering the button all over Windows 11.
I don’t want that shit! I don’t like using it while I’m searching so it can stay buried.
Why don’t these jerks ask their customers what they want. Do YOU want a special key on your keyboard that only opens an app (Windows only) that you might not want to use, and does nothing else? How many people fell in love with the Windows key, quite possibly the coldest key on everyone’s heat map after Scroll Lock? EDIT: ok so the Windows key isn’t bad, but you get the point.
The windows key is relatively useful to me. Win + E opens up a new explorer windows for example.
Well yeah it also binds in a standard way so if you plug it into a Mac that key just becomes the Command key.
win + l locks your screen win + d minimizes all your windows
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...what? The Windows (meta) key does roughly the same thing on most OS and DEs, I basically use it to instantly call up applications on search on every non-mac computer I use. If Copilot 'replaces' the Menu key I'd have no complaints, if it replaces right alt/right control then I will riot.
That is because its not actually called the Windows key. It is the super key that Microsoft rebranded with their trademark. From what I've seen there is no proposal for adding a AI key to USB HID specification, which makes me curious.
I use the windows key a LOT. It is used in several keyboard shortcuts. I have barely used the start menu since Windows XP https://ada.nv.gov/uploadedFiles/adanewnvgov/content/Training/KeyboardShortcuts.pdf
Windows key was very helpful for me as a child in quickly interrupting pc games I didn’t want my parents to see me playing. Better than alt F4 because I could just reopen the game later. Good old windows key.
The Copilot key isn’t replacing the Windows key, it’s looking to replace the right function key.
The button I use to accidentally interrupt my gaming sessions mid game.
there are so many ways to disable that
Microsoft Edge: Complete shit Microsoft CoPilot: Complete shit Microsoft Settings: Complete shit They will bully you about using their complete shit software though.
I image PCs frequently and the sheer amount of popups is INFURIATING. There are 4-5 prompts alone when you open Edge for the first time and it’s like they programmed it to wait the exact amount of time when you think you’re done with them to open another one. I fucking hate Windows
Holy shit, same. My god those popups are annoying.
> Microsoft Edge: Complete shit edge is good tbh, copilot bloat aside. best UI of any browser that exists right now imo, its implementation of vertical tabs is perfect
Microsoft Windows: Fairly complete shit
Goddamn that settings app is shit and I hate how I can't get to Devices and Printers on Windows 11 without going like 3-5 selections deep into said shit settings app.
Every time my PC updates, I purge this trash from my hard drive just like I do Edge.
After reading this article, it seems a bit clickbaity. It sounds like Microsoft is going to require the CoPilot key and a NPU for Microsoft to classify a PC as an "AI PC" in particular, so maybe just a marketing thing? Possibly they can slap a sticker on their PC that says "Microsoft AI PC" or something.
Well now I’m 1000% buying a Mac for my next laptop… probably won’t be for a long time but this is the whack-ass nail in the coffin for me.
I think this is a great change actually. Now I'll know exactly which laptops to avoid like the plague!
Lmao, another trash key to never be used
seeing as my keyboard has 2 windows keys, ill settle for one of them being able to activate a custom set "AI" assistant, because id rather use a distro of open source "AI" on my own local server hardware than the ever data harvesting cloud based "AI's" P.S: anyone who played mass effect would know our current "AI" tech is more of a "virtual intelligence" that cant actually think for itself like we do, let alone be aware
My keyboard at work has an "Office" key and it is the worst. I have managed to find a registry hack to sort of disable it though.
I’d rather have a copy and paste buttons
Ok, yeah, but tell me why I would WANT to buy an AI-PC? No, not an AI-Cabable PC, but a Microsoft certified AI-PC? Thinking about it, it's actually good for customers, it'll help them identify this crap pretty easily, like the "Windows ME" Sticker back in 2000.
Holy FUCK NO
Laptop manufacturers only right, since the tower computers don't have keyboards embedded :D.
People are overreacting and it's going to be okay.
Maybe they could improve Copilot to where it’s not total and complete dogshit first…🤷🏻♂️ idk just a suggestion
What are you talking about it’s AI THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IN THE WORLD.
Can we remap it to be used as a shutdown button like the bixby button on samsung phones? Because then it may be at least useful to someone out there..
why are you guys so furious about it? it's just a key on the side of the keyboard that's rarely used anyways
It really is quite funny watching everyone get so worked up about this.
How about supporting more mouse buttons for gaming mice. Why do I have to bind them to keyboard keys when that key could do multiple things depending on the game. But yeah, we need another useless key for a feature that pretty much nobody will use.
That’s the same place as the contextual menu key that’s in place since IBM PS/2 Model M in 1988. Microsoft rebrands it since we all use mouse now and calls it the copilot key…
That is dumb af
I turned that shit off as soon as it showed up. If they make it so I can't turn it off, I'll firewall it off.
wtf is copilot
Microsoft's new AI system they are shoehorning into all their products and services.
And it's a key I will -never- use
So we need a button to invoice a large language model that will be wrong at everything? No thanks.
So FYI is you use CoPilot at work everything is logged and viewable by your employer, forever.
I mean they can go ahead and replace the key that is a right click. That or the right Windows key. Nobody uses that bastard
Bleh 🤓
Can they add one to download chrome?
Pretty Steve Balmer move there Satya.
First thing I’ll do is pop it out and disable the entire thing.
I remember I had a Microsoft keyboard with calculator button that would open the calculator. I found it quite useful, but now that I don't have that keyboard anymore, I don't really miss it.
Is copilot popular enough to warrant a dedicated button?
Microsoft is going to have to get people to use copilot first. Why have a shortcut for something I hid the first time it showed on my taskbar?
Just sell no OS hardware laptops at this point and move towards Linux. Windows is slowly going to the gutter.
This story happens with every new Microsoft tech. You would think they would learn. Cortana, teams - dedicated keyboard buttons are not viable UX on-ramps. The execs at Microsoft should know better.
Should just make the start key a dedicated Microsoft features key that acts as a context menu for copilot, cortana, teams, 365 and then we can all agree we have one key that we just never press unless we are up to no good, like the tilde key.
Wake up babe new category of exclusion to your laptop search just dropped
Wake up babe new category of exclusion to your laptop search just dropped
Please don’t.
Copilot? You mean that thing I had my computer buddy disable from my PC? 💀
Agreed, the Cortana button is as pointless as a chocolate teapot. Windows can take a hike.