It’s all about Control

Monday 23 February 2009 - Filed under Tech Notes

Wrong. Right. Wrong. Right. There are reasons why I would never buy certain laptops with my own money – even if the economy is good and the local currency is exceptionally strong against the greenback. For people who:

• type with their ten fingers;
• use the keyboard to copy, cut, paste, save, select all, undo, find, and replace;
• prefer to keep their eyes on the screen while typing,

…it is imperative that the little finger finds the Control key in the most natural, accessible, ergonomic position – the bottom left corner of the keyboard. Some laptop manufacturers, however, persistently choose to assign the keyboard’s prime location to one of the least used keys of all – the Function key. If you happen to know the logic behind this, can you please explain…?

In terms of usage, it would be fair to say that on average I press the Control key five hundred times before I find a need for the Function key. Although it’s important to acknowledge that people work differently and care about different things, I just don’t think this particular issue will go away. I don’t see how it could be a matter of preference or style or philosophy; it is in fact a matter of productivity and if the Control key is in the wrong place and because of that you have to look at the keyboard every time you want Control and/or continuously make mistakes, it needs to be questioned. What’s interesting is that over the past few years, some manufacturers realised what they were doing wrong and have moved the Control key to the bottom left corner of the keyboard, where it should have been in the first place. Those manufacturers include ASUS (pronounced ah-soos), Samsung, LG, and post-merger Compaq.

Having said that, Apple is an exception and can get away with the poor design around that corner of the keyboard. That’s because unlike Windows, Mac OS X (pronounced oh-es-ten) is not a Control-driven operating system. The “Command” key next to Space Bar, which is pressed by the thumb and not the pinky finger, does the job of Control in Windows. And it’s actually easier and more ergonomic that way.

Maybe it’s just me. I have not heard anyone around me complain about the position of the Control key, ever. I can deduce from that that I don’t associate with control freaks.

The point: If I had a say in a purchase or lease of hundreds of business laptops, I know my recommendation won’t be IBM/Lenovo just for this seemingly freakish reason.

2009-02-23  »  JK