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Comment by ako | Hacker News Reader

I don't understand all the hate for the touchbar. I can never remember the functions performed by the function keys, so having icons indicating which functions are available seems really useful.

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The problem is that most serious computer users use a laptop docked, so it’s useless 70-90% of the time, which means the software can’t rely on it, which means it’s an afterthought in all apps.

>most serious computer users

Ahh... the good 'ol Scottsman shows his face yet again! Right on time!

A Scotsman would be to say “No true computer user ...” - this was a generalisation. An apt one IMHO

No it wasn't. Define "serious". What makes one computer user more "serious" than another. The point of the no true Scottsman is that the term is never defined by the statement and so it's completely subjective.

That’s not how it works.

Actually it is: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No_true_Scotsman

Refuting the initial generalization by saying that no "serious" computer users use their Touch Bar because their computers are closed is nearly a textbook example of the fallacy.

that's not what he (or she) was doing.

I don't see how much more clearly I could breakdown what happened. Their entire argument was predicated on the fact that most "serious" (replace "true") computer users don't use the Touch Bar because their lids are closed.

I'll compromise. We'll call it the no "serious" computer users fallacy instead of the no serious Scotsman fallacy.

why close it when 'docked'? mouse on right, keyboard in middle, touchpad and touchbar on left

Do you have to look down to use those icons on the Touchbar? This is something I don’t have to do as a touch-typist. Repeatedly craning your neck to look down will result in RSI. I spend a little effort to learn new hotkeys every so often and the benefit far outweighs the cost: I’m much faster and keep my good ergonomics.

I don't use the function keys much, so yes, i do look at the keyboard when using them.

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