Crack Smocking Microsoft

What the hell is it with Microsoft that makes them change the key configuration on their keyboards each revision? I realize that people need reasons to get the newest and best in the MS Natural Keyboard (which I have and like), but the last four keyboards I have had or used have a completely different setup as far as the arrow and home/end/pageup/down/insert/delete key region goes. I can see adding funky scroll things, or new “media” keys at the top, or even giving the whole thing a funky look with different colored plastic, but this is stupid.


The first version I had had the arrow keys in the standard upside down “T” and the home/end/etc keys in the standard 3×2 configuration.


The next one was the “not so damn big” version, which moved the arrow keys from usable to small and set up in a “+” with the home/end keys in the less easy to deal with two across three down configuration.


After that came my current home keyboard, the “Natural Pro” with the arrow keys back to the familiar upside down “T”, and the home/end/etc keys in their standard positions ((ins,home,pgup),(del,end,pgdn)).


Now I’ve got a chance to use the new keyboard they got for me at work and it’s a bit annoying. Thankfully the arrow keys are still in the upside down “T”, but the home/end/etc keys are just wacked. First of all, there is no “insert” key anymore. For those of us who are used to hitting SHIFT+Insert to paste, this is annoying. Actually, it’s not gone, but moved to the printscreen/sysrq key. Before you ask, no, it doesn’t work properly under linux (meaning the keycode it sends is different as far as I know). The rest of that set of keys are even stranger. They are in a 2 wide by three down, but… well, they are set up like this:



+——+—–+

| Home | End |

+—–+——+

| Del | PgUp |

|     |      |

|     +——+

|     | PgDn |

|     |      |

+—–+——+

So now I’m deleting stuff all over the place because I’m used to having an insert key where the elongated delete key is, and whenever I try to hit pageup I end up at the end of my documents.

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Category: Technology

15 Comments on “Crack Smocking Microsoft”

  1. The logitech wireless keyboard is wacked out in a similiar fashion too… indeed, WTF are they thinking???
    If the Microsoft Ergonmics Team is smoking crack, what are the laptop keyboard “designers” thinking? Ins/Del keys inbetween the cursor and Ctrl key is stupid. Having only one set of Ctrl-Alt-Shift is stupid.
    Perhaps they are going under the assumption that cursor and pgup/pgdn keys are nearly obsoleted (deprecated?) wheel mice…

  2. This is why Cthulhu goes to the used hardware store and buys the original very large ergo keyboards. They’re noisier, but you can flip them so the front (wrist) end is higher (which I prefer), and the keys are all in the right spots. And the black one (Belkin?) is great. Hippy hoppy happy!

  3. A keyboard with only three keys (CTRL-ALT-DEL) was a joke. Microsoft made it real now. 🙂