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It's time we also remove the "Windows"-button (edit: the branded concept, not the physical button) from all the keyboards. We should have the right to repair in
by Avamander 7y ago
It's time we also remove the "Windows"-button (edit: the branded concept, not the physical button) from all the keyboards. We should have the right to repair in the form of also removing corporate advertising from our devices.
- alexkavon 7y agoCome again? The “Windows”-button is just a super/command key that exists on many other keyboards and OSes outside of Windows.
- Avamander 7y agoIt exists on many keyboards outside of Windows, but always has Windows's branding (except with macs basically). It's anticompetitive to force such branding.
- ansgri 7y agoAs I understand, it's only about removing the Win logo from the button, which is long due on officially Linux-supporting laptops.
- Mikeb85 7y agoYou can get little Linux themed stickers to cover the Windows logo. Also Linux distros use the button for things...
- Avamander 7y agoYou can use the button, but it shouldn't be "the Windows button", we should remove the branded concept.
- dbtx 7y agoI agree in principle, having scraped their logo off my former favorite keyboard, including the big one with "Designed for Windows 98" on the bottom. But I also remember that we can now buy dozens of gigabytes of RAM for much less than the GDP of a small country, partly because MS helped bring up and keep up the demand across decades, justifying so much R&D. Now that key's name is just an annoying side effect of the way history went, and it's not the one I choose to focus on anymore.
- Mikeb85 7y agoI agree. I like calling it the super key myself.
- BubRoss 7y agoYou can buy keyboards without it or pop the button off. I don't think this is a great example of being unable to repair something.
- Avamander 7y agoHow would you go about and rebrand the button on a common laptop? Stickers wear down, look ugly, break backlighting. Using acetone will leave an ugly transparent spot or ruin the texture. There's basically no nice way to fix many of the keyboards. Imagine if every single one of your PCs had to show the windows logo on startup, right now it's just on your keyboard.
- MikusR 7y agoBuy a laptop with the button you like.
- Avamander 7y agoCan you please provide a link?
- jodrellblank 7y agoImagine if every single one of your PCs had to show the windows logo on startup My keyboards have a dollar symbol on the keyboard, a currency I don't use and have never used and no major country in this continent (Europe) uses. It's high time we had the right to remove this nationalist/capitalist advertising from our devices. Imagine if every single one of your computers had to show a dollar symbol on startup, right now it's just on your keyboard.
- Avamander 7y agoYeah, and that dollar symbol isn't the only symbol on the key, also provides you the information what the key does and allows you to type it and is used in many programming languages in addition to countries with the currency. The super key on the other hand with Windows logo provides no practical purpose, doesn't describe what the button does and is absolutely meaningless when you're not using Windows. The logo is just advertising, the dollar symbol is not.
- toast0 7y agoBuy a chromebook, they don't have a super button. Shop carefully to make sure you get one that's well supported by 3rd party firmware so you can run the os of your choice.
- Reelin 7y agoI was skeptical and checked some images. Wow. No number pad on laptops was bad enough (but understandable). Now no super, home, or end keys. Caps lock (probably the only key I never use) seems to have been replaced by a search button. An external keyboard is now an absolute requirement for power users I guess. Oddly enough, there does seem to be some sort of Google branded key on the left side of the Pixelbook keyboard. Not on any of the others I checked though.