Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!purdue!bu-cs!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
From: jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga
Subject: Re: Caps Lock Position
Summary: I like it
Message-ID: <548@tardis.Tymnet.COM>
Date: 1 Sep 89 09:24:53 GMT
References: <3101@spudge.UUCP>
Reply-To: jms@tardis.Tymnet.COM (Joe Smith)
Distribution: na
Organization: McDonnell Douglas Field Service Co, San Jose CA
Lines: 39

In article <3101@spudge.UUCP> johnm@spudge.UUCP (John Munsch) writes:
>I find it hard to believe but in over a year of reading this group I have
>never seen anybody complain about the position that the caps lock occupies.

I was very glad to see that CAPS LOCK key in the same position as it is
on the VT100 and the LA36.  My fingers have this habit if pressing CAPS
LOCK whenever they have to type 3 or more uppercase letters, and CAPS
LOCK again when done.  (This comes from writing too much code in the
MACRO-10 assembler using the convention of code in all caps and comments
in upper and lower case.)  The reversal of CAPS LOCK and CONTROL on the
HP2621 gives me problems.

However, note the past tense in the first line of the above paragraph.
My fingers don't use CAPS LOCK as much as they used to.  (Something about
switching to a OS that allows (demands) lowercase in file names and
commands.)  And CAPS LOCK affects the keyboard and all windows, not just
the one currently selected by the mouse.  So my fingers won't get upset
now if the CAPS LOCK button becomes nonfunctional, but they will complain
quite loudly if the CONTROL key is moved any closer to the "A" key.  They
say the position is critical, and the effort to reach that distance is
irrelevent.  (Anyone else have fingers that 'talk' to the brain ? :-)

Looking at the relative positions, one would get the impression that the
manufacturer feels that the CAPS LOCK key is more important than the
CONTROL key.  As long as they are selling to the general public, where
non-programmers outnumber programmers several to one, this is so.
The number of people out there that know how to use a CAPS LOCK key
(and think they need it) far exceeds the number of people that know how
to generate a Control-C character (or even need to know).

But nothing I say will change the fact that serious computer users are a
vocal lot, complain when things that could be changed are not changed to
match their personal preferences, and have opinions that differ from
mine.  So there!  :-)
-- 
Joe Smith (408)922-6220 | SMTP: JMS@F74.TYMNET.COM or jms@tymix.tymnet.com
McDonnell Douglas FSCO  | UUCP: ...!{ames,pyramid}!oliveb!tymix!tardis!jms
PO Box 49019, MS-D21    | PDP-10 support: My car's license plate is "POPJ P,"
San Jose, CA 95161-9019 | narrator.device: "I didn't say that, my Amiga did!"