Google abolishes caps lock

[pendell]

Specifically, in their new CR-48 (http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/technology/2010/12/good_riddance.single.html) notebook. The "Caps lock" key has been removed, replaced with a search key. Also, all of the keys on the new keyboard are lowercase by default. which seems to imply that google communications will look like this.

a look at the history of great runes (http://www.catb.org/jargon/html/G/Great-Runes.html) may be instructive. so my question is: is this a good thing? do we need capital letters at all?

respectfully,

brian p.

[Raddish]

I can't really write without capital letters, I don't like how my sentances look without them, I think it was ingrained in my mind by school. But I do not use caps-lock to write them ever, even though it would probably be much easier in some occasion.

[The Succubus]

I don't know about you, sir, but I was brought up with the idea that proper capitalisation is just as critical to good English as spelling or punctuation. It's important for people learning English as it can often help them find personal nouns, such as Tom, Jane or Brian in a sentence.

For example:

hi guys this is me on the internet im typing something in lower case english

..compared with:

Hi, guys. This is me on the Internet; I'm typing something in lower case English.

Which one is nicer to read?

[DeadManSleeping]

Without capital letters, that one song from Kiss Me Kate gets kinda disturbing.

[THAC0]

Capital letters are necessary. Caps lock keys are not. I can't remember the last time I intentionally used one. I do happen to hit it accidentally several times a day, which I find irritating.

[pendell]

I don't know about you, sir, but I was brought up with the idea that proper capitalisation is just as critical to good English as spelling or punctuation. It's important for people learning English as it can often help them find personal nouns, such as Tom, Jane or Brian in a sentence.

For example:

hi guys this is me on the internet im typing something in lower case english

..compared with:

Hi, guys. This is me on the Internet; I'm typing something in lower case English.

Which one is nicer to read?

I don't know, perhaps it's a step back to ancient Greek (http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Greek_How-To).

ancientgreekhadnoconceptofcapitalizationpunctuatio norevenspacingthemostancientdocumentsareallruntoge therlikethis

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Mercenary Pen]

Unless the shift key has also been removed, I'd say this was generally a step for the better.

[arguskos]

I don't know about you, sir, but I was brought up with the idea that proper capitalisation is just as critical to good English as spelling or punctuation. It's important for people learning English as it can often help them find personal nouns, such as Tom, Jane or Brian in a sentence.
I'm with you. Now, I don't care about losing caps lock, I never use the damn key. It's an obviously vestigial feature from the bygone days of yore at this point.

However, capitalization is critically important, at least in my opinion. Jeez, can you imagine a future where no correspondence has punctuation or capitalization? Shoot me now. :smallsigh:

[Xyk]

The default state for all letters is lowercase all ready. They aren't changing that at all. You just have to press shift to capitalize. Exactly like it is now, but without that obnoxious caps lock key. Although I do see myself frequently searching on accident.

[Weezer]

I see this as a good move, the Caps Lock key has always been useless to me. Not to mention the fact that it is placed in one of the easiest places to reach, which makes it's continued existence even more mystifying.

[Howler Dagger]

IMO, they should of dealt with the insert key first. I find it 20x more annoying.

[Mr.Tickles]

Caps lock good. Removal of caps lock bad.

[Lord Seth]

Seems like a silly idea to me. It's true the Shift key gets a lot more usage than the Caps Lock, but it's still convenient for when you do want to capitalize a lot of letters in a row. And did we really need a Find key? Don't computers let you do that with just a Command+F key (well, Macs do, not sure about Windows) already?

Furthermore, people who are fast at typing are probably so used to it that replacing it will cause them to habitually hit it anyway, causing frustration when it instead pulls up a search.

[Orzel]

Caps lock is mostly useless.

It is only mildly helpful when typing acronyms and "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

And since you have to hold Shift to get all the exclamation points, it's even less useful.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I never use it, even when I'm typing A LOT OF CAPITALS IN A ROW, I just hold down shift. So, I consider this a great improvement!

[Worira]

I THINK THE CAPSLOCK KEY IS A PRETTY COOL GUY

CRUISE CONTROL FOR COOL MIRITE

Seriously though, enjoy coding like this.

[Mystic Muse]

Unless the shift key has also been removed, I'd say this was generally a step for the better.

Agreed.

Really, I wouldn't mind it so much, except it's right next to shift and I occasionally hit caps lock instead. If it were on the top like the function keys, I wouldn't mind it so much. As is, I use the function keys more than I use the caps lock key.

[thubby]

the trivial damage to proper grammar is a small price to reduce the ammount of needless SHOUTING ON THE INTERNET.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

the trivial damage to proper grammar is a small price to reduce the ammount of needles

in my mind, your sentence stopped here.
Take of this what you will.

[thubby]

in my mind, your sentence stopped here.
Take of this what you will.

i rest my case. :smalltongue:

[Icewalker]

I dunno, I like having a caps lock key as I do use it for things on occasion, given that I do a good bit of writing in various mediums, and scripts for example can often benefit from capitalized lines. Still, I don't think it was a terribly big loss, and I'd guess there's still a (less convenient) way to access the same functionality.

So, wouldn't have been my choice, but I don't think it was a big screwup on their part.

[Dogmantra]

Would not be surprised if the OS contains a shortcut for caps lock, just one that's a bit harder to accidentally hit.

[Little Brother]

IMO, they should of dealt with the insert key first. I find it 20x more annoying.They did. I love my ChromeBook.

[Remmirath]

I never use Caps Lock for normal typing (or, well, any sort of typing) even when writing a long paragraph in capitals. It just feels more natural to hold down Shift; it doesn't even occur to me to use Caps Lock.

Really, Caps Lock gets the most use from me as the 'jump' key in various DOS games, and presumably I would be able to use the 'search' key to do that. I can see that it would be rather annoying if you are used to using Caps Lock, though.


The default state for all letters is lowercase all ready.

Yes, but they aren't written lowercase on the keys, which I believe is what the article refers to. Certainly I've never had a keyboard with lowercase letters on the keys. Not that it's a big deal, really, except that for the ones that have words on them it would bug me if they weren't capitalised.

[Keld Denar]

Seriously though, enjoy coding like this.

Really? Of the very tiny amount of coding I've ever done (MatLab), capital letters were almost never used. MatLab variables are case sensative, so entervariable is different than Entervariable which is different from EnterVariable and ENTERVARIABLE. I don't see it in the HTML when it a web page breaks, either. In fact, the last time I saw capital letters used in coding was the FORTRAN section of my Professional Engineering study book.

That said, I personally won't miss it. Give me something that doesn't toggle, I need something else for my pinky to do while playing FPSs.

[Haruki-kun]

Eh... good riddance. I always just hold down SHIFT. Like I did just now. Caps Lock serves no purpose for me other than occasionally making me type my passwords wrong.

[Nepenthe]

Seriously though, enjoy coding like this.
Seconded. I can't even imagine the frustration that would cause me.
Also, a game design engine I use still needs it for various things (although the devs have been slowly eliminating it for awhile now).

[Whiffet]

We need capital letters, of course. Getting rid of caps lock doesn't mean we're losing them.

That said, I actually use caps lock. Not that often, but sometimes. It's better than holding down shift while typing several capitalized words. I only use caps lock for the occasional "shout" or corresponding privately with friends, and I'm careful to not overuse it in any circumstance. Heck, most of the with-friends caps is still shouting, just slightly more often than when I'm typing something publicly.

I like caps lock, but I'm okay with losing it. If no one had it, it would cut down on the awful overuse of caps... probably... hopefully.

[Tirian]

Eh... good riddance. I always just hold down SHIFT. Like I did just now. Caps Lock serves no purpose for me other than occasionally making me type my passwords wrong.

Even if that were the case for most people (and I will assume it is), is it really better to replace that with a button that will send an unwanted HTTP request halfway across the internet and back every time you brush up against it? The industry-accepted place for corporate logo buttons is on either side of the space bar -- Google needs to calm down and realize that nobody searches so often that they need it anywhere near their speed-typing home keys.

[MCerberus]

Sounds like a wonderful edit to the standard QWERTY setup to me.

[Ravens_cry]

It does make postal codes a little awkward to type in.
For those who don't know, Canadian postal codes are a series of capital letters and numbers. Since capslock does not "capitalize" numbers, switching on caps lock makes typing them in a breeze.
Now you have to hold shift, press letter, let go shift, press number, et cetera, often typing in ,say, '@' instead of '2', and having to go back and fix that.
A little thing I know, but annoying all the same.

[Connington]

ancientgreekhadnoconceptofcapitalizationpunctuatio norevenspacingthemostancientdocumentsareallruntoge therlikethis

Could be worse. Ancient Hebrew lacks all of that, and sees writing down the vowels as excess punctuation. Modern Hebrew has punctuation, spaces and all that, but vowels haven't caught on.

[Worira]

Could be worse. Ancient Hebrew lacks all of that, and sees writing down the vowels as excess punctuation. Modern Hebrew has punctuation, spaces and all that, but vowels haven't caught on.

Don't you mean "ancnthbrwlcksllfthtndsswrtngdwnthvwlssxcsspncttn"?

[Connington]

Don't you mean "ancnthbrwlcksllfthtndsswrtngdwnthvwlssxcsspncttn"?

I actually tried that joke, years ago. No one else found it funny, probably because they didn't take 15 minutes off to decode it.

[Feytalist]

I regularly draft contracts and professional documents in my occupation. In many cases there are whole paragraphs written in capital letters, mostly terms and conditions and those kinds of nonsense. Professional documents need to be formatted in a certain way for them to be acceptable. As such, I use caps lock much more often than a normal, casual user.

I realise that this is a notebook of course, not a desktop. However, the caps lock key makes my life so much easier. If space on the keypad is not an issue, there's really no reason at all to do away with it.

[factotum]

Back when I was a programmer, and thus had to type all sorts of weird stuff in ALL CAPS, I got into the habit of just holding down the SHIFT key with the third finger of my left hand while typing with the others (so as to not interrupt the flow of my typing too much)--don't think I've touched the CAPS LOCK key in years!

[Manga Shoggoth]

A little history:

The CAPS LOCK key is a hold-over from the days of manual typewriters (in those days it was called SHIFT LOCK). The upper and lower case letters were on the top and bottom of the hammer, and you if you needed upper case you pressed the shift key to - literally - shift the mechanism upwards so that the uppercase symbol hammer was used.

The mechanism was quite heavy, so the SHIFT LOCK key locked the mechanism in the upper position to allow a set of upper case letters to be typed without tiring the fingers.

The key is still occasionally useful (especially where standards mandate that uppercase is used...COBOL I'm looking at you...), but is a pain especially when, for example, my daughters teachers insist on teaching my daughter that if you are typing more than one capital you have to use CAPS LOCK.

These days it causes more trouble than anything else - especially when people hit it when entering passwords...

[Lix Lorn]

Think I agree. It'll be marginally annoying for anyone trying to do a Karkat impression, but I don't think it's that big an issue.

[Mercenary Pen]

It does make postal codes a little awkward to type in.
For those who don't know, Canadian postal codes are a series of capital letters and numbers. Since capslock does not "capitalize" numbers, switching on caps lock makes typing them in a breeze.
Now you have to hold shift, press letter, let go shift, press number, et cetera, often typing in ,say, '@' instead of '2', and having to go back and fix that.
A little thing I know, but annoying all the same.

Same is true of British postcodes, but I still use the shift key for them...

[Shadow of the Sun]

I could see this being a big improvement, albeit if they retained the caps lock faculty and made it a command you could toggle.

For example, having SHIFT+SHIFT to toggle capslock on, then the next time you use the SHIFT key turn it off would work. It'd make it a bit difficult to WRITE LIKE THIS !!!!!!!@@#@!#@@!#, but that can only be an improvement.

[The Succubus]

Caps lock is mostly useless.

It is only mildly helpful when typing acronyms and "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Oh, so that's what Darth Vader was whining about in Return of the Jedi!

[Elder Tsofu]

More likely, Google's decision to ditch the pesky key is one more step in the decline of casing itself. As e-mail and texting have become primary forms of communication, expectations of proper spelling and grammar have diminished. Capital letters aren't necessary to get your point across—why bother with Shift, let alone Caps Lock?

I'm not sure that you will get your point across if you stop using proper grammar and spelling. If you can't even take the time to spell it right why do you expect me to use my time to read whatever you just didn't try to write?

I wont mourn the caps lock, I don't use it. But I wont cheer due to its removal since I never use it on accident.
But I don't know what I would use that search-key for though, why change a redundant key for a just slightly less redundant one?

[_Zoot_]

While I don't feel that I'll morn the removal of Caps Lock, I do worry about the notion that capitalisation will become unnecessary. I really don't want to have to deal with that level of damage to grammar. Not that I am suggesting that this move will lead to that, but the article does bring it up.

Also, to support my 'capitalisation is a good thing' argument:

Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse..." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse..." :smalltongue:

[Androgeus]

Even if that were the case for most people (and I will assume it is), is it really better to replace that with a button that will send an unwanted HTTP request halfway across the internet and back every time you brush up against it? The industry-accepted place for corporate logo buttons is on either side of the space bar -- Google needs to calm down and realize that nobody searches so often that they need it anywhere near their speed-typing home keys.

I would have thought it would be a document search, not an internet one.

[factotum]

I would have thought it would be a document search, not an internet one.

This is a Google machine--I fully expect these to be the *same thing* as far as they're concerned!

[Eldan]

There's really only one difference...

Try typing, say OF5K92M3FJL59CJIV9VK9FK3K9 with, and then without caps lock.

[Mercenary Pen]

Also, to support my 'capitalisation is a good thing' argument:

Capitalization is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse..." and "I had to help my uncle jack off a horse..." :smalltongue:

Gotta correct you here...

Capitalisation is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse" and "i had to help my uncle jack off a horse"... Your I in the second example was still capitalised.

[Eldan]

You can just change that, then.

dad helped my uncle jack off a horse.

[Sipex]

Seconded. I can't even imagine the frustration that would cause me.
Also, a game design engine I use still needs it for various things (although the devs have been slowly eliminating it for awhile now).

I'm really curious what you guys are coding in which requires caps lock. I've been coding for nearly 10 years and nothing requires the button (nor requires constant application of shift either).

[_Zoot_]

Gotta correct you here...

Capitalisation is the difference between "I had to help my uncle Jack off a horse" and "i had to help my uncle jack off a horse"... Your I in the second example was still capitalised.

You win this round. But still, the argument stands. :smalltongue:

[Mercenary Pen]

I never said that it didn't- and I agree that capitalisation is important... I just don't agree that a caps lock key is the way to implement it in the same way that it was in the past.

[Triaxx]

I've had need to use the Caps Lock as a 'shift' key before. I mourn it's loss.

[ShortOne]

Maybe it's to make random internet raging harder? /shrugs

[factotum]

I've been coding for nearly 10 years and nothing
requires the button (nor requires constant application of shift either).

What language have you been coding in? The standard I've always seen for #define identifiers in C is always to have them in all caps, and certainly the Microsoft Windows development libraries follow that, so coding in C on Windows often requires typing long strings of capital letters. C# and C++ and all these other new-fangled gizmos probably don't need it as much!

[Raddish]

For some reason when I was learning to touch type I was taught never to use the caps lock, even when writing a lot of stuff. Something about forgetting to turn it off and screwing the next 10 pages up.

I was also taught to copy things without looking at the screen or the keyboard, so I guess it had a place as a piece of advice. All I managed though was to hurt my neck...

Although I would rather they just found a different place for the key, for me it's in an awkward place, I hate accidently hitting it without realising and then writing badly but as some people do use it wouldn't it be better just to move it to somewhere that you are not going to push is accidently or something.

[valadil]

Sadface.

No, I don't use it as caps lock. I rebind it. Caps lock was the only convenient and accessible key on the keyboard that I could guarantee had no purpose and could safely rebind without fear of breaking functionality somewhere.

[razark]

I regularly draft contracts and professional documents in my occupation. ... Professional documents need to be formatted in a certain way for them to be acceptable.
I end up using it a decent amount when creating forms. It can be a very useful thing.


For example, having SHIFT+SHIFT to toggle capslock on, then the next time you use the SHIFT key turn it off would work.
This would work for me, or move the key to another location.

Frankly, removing caps lock only treats a symptom. The problem will still exist, and people will continue to write like idiots.

[Haruki-kun]

Even if that were the case for most people (and I will assume it is), is it really better to replace that with a button that will send an unwanted HTTP request halfway across the internet and back every time you brush up against it? The industry-accepted place for corporate logo buttons is on either side of the space bar -- Google needs to calm down and realize that nobody searches so often that they need it anywhere near their speed-typing home keys.

Er.... no. I'd rather substitute it for a more useful key or remove it altogether. But honestly, I won't miss it that much.

That being said, Google might have hit the target. *shrug* Maybe some people will actually like this improvement.

[pendell]

Sadface.

No, I don't use it as caps lock. I rebind it. Caps lock was the only convenient and accessible key on the keyboard that I could guarantee had no purpose and could safely rebind without fear of breaking functionality somewhere.

I'd be surprised if the key couldn't still be rebound. I personally would rebind it to a null function. Having a search screen pop up in my face when I miss the 'a' key is more distracting than if I inadvertently maKE A MISTAKE LIKE THIS.

Respectfully,

Brian P.

[Yora]

Capital letters are necessary. Caps lock keys are not. I can't remember the last time I intentionally used one. I do happen to hit it accidentally several times a day, which I find irritating.

I don't recall ever having used that key and can in fact not imagine a single thing it might be useful for,
On a typewriter, on which you only had a single font, writing long passages all-capitals does have some purpose. On a PC, this is completely redundant.

However, I do remember many cases of it getting in the way.

I am Yora, and I approve this move.

[Keld Denar]

I unbound my Windows key on my left hand. I often use Ctr and Alt while gaming (used to play WoW and various FPSs), and accidentally hitting the Windows key which would force minimize the game I was playing often resulted in me or other people dying. So I just completely unbound it (like, in regedit). I still have functionality in my right Windows key, but the left one is just a blank, meaningless key that I can mash without worry.

I'd imagine you could do the same with the caps lock, if it was really that big of an issue.

[Trog]

I like that they mention that you can change it back to caps lock if you want. I'd like it even more if I could just change the dang thing to act as a shift key. After all I normally hit it accidentally when I am reaching for the shift key anyway and I certainly don't want to do a search every time I hit that key. That would rapidly get even more annoying than the original caps lock function.

[Gwyn chan 'r Gwyll]

I like that they mention that you can change it back to caps lock if you want. I'd like it even more if I could just change the dang thing to act as a shift key. After all I normally hit it accidentally when I am reaching for the shift key anyway and I certainly don't want to do a search every time I hit that key. That would rapidly get even more annoying than the original caps lock function.

You can do that.
My dad does that to all of his computers. The one I'm on right now doesn't have it rebinded like that, but it's very doable.

[Gator]

Capital letters are necessary. Caps lock keys are not.

This. I only use it when I'm being ironic.

[RS14]

I regularly draft contracts and professional documents in my occupation. In many cases there are whole paragraphs written in capital letters, mostly terms and conditions and those kinds of nonsense. Professional documents need to be formatted in a certain way for them to be acceptable. As such, I use caps lock much more often than a normal, casual user.

I realise that this is a notebook of course, not a desktop. However, the caps lock key makes my life so much easier. If space on the keypad is not an issue, there's really no reason at all to do away with it.

As someone who occasionally reads EULAs, I actually find this really annoying. All caps are hard to read, and the capitalized sections are the sections I'm mostly likely to get fed up with and skip.

[Lord Seth]

I never use Caps Lock for normal typing (or, well, any sort of typing) even when writing a long paragraph in capitals. It just feels more natural to hold down Shift; it doesn't even occur to me to use Caps Lock.Really?:smallconfused: Holding down Shift forces one of your hands in place (making typing feel awkward) and more importantly renders one of your pinkies unavailable, removing easy access to several keys.

[The Bushranger]

IMO, they should of dealt with the insert key first. I find it 20x more annoying.


They did. I love my ChromeBook.


...but if there's no Insert key, how do you paste (shift+insert)? :smallconfused:

[Mystic Muse]

...but if there's no Insert key, how do you paste (shift+insert)? :smallconfused:

CTRL+V? That's what it is on my computer.

[Knaight]

I'm not sure that you will get your point across if you stop using proper grammar and spelling. If you can't even take the time to spell it right why do you expect me to use my time to read whatever you just didn't try to write?


Considering that the statement cited started with the presupposition that one doesn't use upper case letters in emails - a presupposition that is comical in its absurdity - I wouldn't take anything stated in it seriously. Sure, there are people who don't use emails, but in all probability the majority of emails sent are work place emails, and a level of professionalism is required in those - moreover, unlike texting on some phones, typing is simple enough for enough people that capitalization, the use of full words in lieu of "plz" and similar, and related behaviors are not discouraged by the machinery.

[factotum]

Really?:smallconfused: Holding down Shift forces one of your hands in place (making typing feel awkward) and more importantly renders one of your pinkies unavailable, removing easy access to several keys.

That's only an issue if you're a proper typist and everything. If you normally type with maybe three or four fingers, like I do, keeping one of them on the Shift key isn't a problem. :smallwink:

[Eldan]

I don't recall ever having used that key and can in fact not imagine a single thing it might be useful for,
On a typewriter, on which you only had a single font, writing long passages all-capitals does have some purpose. On a PC, this is completely redundant.


As I've said, using Shift changes the number keys to various punctuation, which Caps Lock doesn't do. In some technical applications, you have to type long passages like FIR49A491KMV9IJR4VK9F9F7HH7 and so on, in which case Caps lock saves quite a bit of time. But it's not strictly necessary, yes.

[Lord Seth]

That's only an issue if you're a proper typist and everything.Well, yes, but...many people are that.

[Mr. Snuggles]

Caps Lock is used by Chinese input method to switch between writing Chinese and writing English. I suppose that escaped the Ph.Ds at Google.

[PairO'Dice Lost]

What language have you been coding in? The standard I've always seen for #define identifiers in C is always to have them in all caps, and certainly the Microsoft Windows development libraries follow that, so coding in C on Windows often requires typing long strings of capital letters. C# and C++ and all these other new-fangled gizmos probably don't need it as much!

Coding on Windows? With all those capital letters? Who does that? I'll take FILE *file = fopen("filename.txt",'w'); over HANDLE file = CreateFile("filename.txt", FILE_WRITE_DATA, 0, NULL, CREATE_ALWAYS, FILE_ATTRIBUTE_NORMAL, NULL); any day. :smallamused:

More seriously, I do most of my coding in Perl, Java, and other mostly-OS-independent languages that use capital letters less frequently than the Windows version of C* languages do, so I too haven't had any use for caps lock in a long time, and on the rare occasion where I am forced to code C/C++ on Windows I just use Shift out of habit. Partly because my caps lock key is mapped to something else.


Sadface.

No, I don't use it as caps lock. I rebind it. Caps lock was the only convenient and accessible key on the keyboard that I could guarantee had no purpose and could safely rebind without fear of breaking functionality somewhere.

Likewise here. My caps lock is set to the Compose key on my Linux systems, which lets me use non-ASCII characters with a short combination (for instance, the upside-down exclamation mark, ¡, is caps+!+! and lowercase Greek letters are caps+g+letter, like omega ω or lambda λ) just like it can for alternate keyboard layouts. It's so much faster and easier to do foreign language, math, and programming homework with that instead of copying symbols or using alt codes or the like. While removing caps lock isn't really a deal breaker, if they keep removing remappable keys, soon I'll have to replace a key I actually use with a Compose key.

[Knaight]

Caps Lock is used by Chinese input method to switch between writing Chinese and writing English. I suppose that escaped the Ph.Ds at Google.

That might have something to do with why Caps Lock is still easily bound into the old position. As this isn't just Chinese, but most languages with a script significantly different than that of English.

[Eldan]

Oh, and it's also the only way I know of writing a capital Umlaut on a Swiss keyboard.

Shift+ö is é, but Caps lock+ö is Ö.

Granted, there aren't that many capital umlauts, but it's still annoying.

[shadow_archmagi]

which seems to imply that google communications will look like this.


I'm curious now. Did you only capitalize things using CAPSLOCK? Do you press CAPSLOCK for each letter at the beginning of a sentence?

[kaomera]

This all seems rather silly to me. Google hasn't abolished the CAPSLOCK key, they've just replaced the usual text on the key with the graphic image of a magnifying glass (and made remapping it more obvious / accessible) on their next-gen netbook (oh, yeah, and they made a typographical change to alphabetic keys as well...). Which, really, at this point is just a different physical format of the same general idea as a smartphone or tablet PC.

The only real issue I see is that a lot of consumers still really don't want two or more separate devices for their computer needs - they basically want their phone, mobile internet access, and computing needs (and more) handled by a single device and this is what leads to people coding on their iphones and trying to use smaller-scale laptops / palmtops for general computing use, etc.

[Flickerdart]

You'll actually find a number of texts published in the 20s and 30s using no capital letters; a bunch of designers decided that they were for chumps and we only needed the one alphabet. Needless to say, it never caught on.

[Archonic Energy]

WITHOUT CAPS, HOW WILL DEATH DO "THE VOICE"

lower case just to stop the forum software.

[An Enemy Spy]

The Caps Lock Key Is Very Necessary! How Else Am I Going To Scream At Everybody On The Internet?! Hold The Shift Key?! There's No Time For That! The World Must Feel My Rage!!!!!!!!!!!!
What the crap? It lowercased what I was writing automatically!

[Eldan]

This forum does that, yes.

[Gator]

Bwahahahahahahahaha.