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Comment by nrbafna | Hacker News Reader

I am really surprised one thing didn't come up. It's about the super+(?) shortcut.

If you press them very quickly, say 'super+D', then it will take to desktop and open dash as well. To be safe, you have press 'super', wait till numbers appear on the icons in launcher and then press 'D'

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I am really surprised one thing didn't come up. It's about the super+(?) shortcut.

Really?? You are surprised that the test group didn't somehow magically discover an edge case in a feature they didn't know existed and has no discovery mechanism?

Well, they did use the shortcut.

It happens to me 90% of the time I use super+d.

I use a Logitech G15, and it has a little switch on it to switch between "computer" and "gaming" mode. Since I rarely use(d) the super/windows key, I tend to just leave it in "gaming" mode. Without running into a post like this, I would have found it extremely tedious to click the icon type the application name, and then click it's icon.

While I'm sure I'm in a minority, it is always something to consider when writing shortcuts to consider that people may not have a key available.

I haven't tried recently but last attempt I believe alt+f2 did not work as a "run" dialog

Okay, surprise me. What key is "super"?

It's the Windows key on Windows keyboards, and the Cmd key on Mac keyboards.

Why invent a new bit of jargon then? Where does this get explained to people (bearing in mind users don't read!

The solution is to call it the Windows key as 95%+ of Ubuntu users will know it as that and have a Windows keyboard.

It's not really "invented" so much as having been called the "super" key for a long time by Unix convention, and having been adopted by Microsoft to become the Windows key where it actually showed up on consumer keyboards. If you look at a classic Solaris keyboard for example, you'll find four classic modifier keys: control, alt, meta, and super.

That doesn't matter. If you want normal people to use Ubuntu, you don't start on at them about Unix conventions.

You also can't just demand people who have been using naming conventions for twenty plus years to write off that history just because Microsoft decided to use something different.

I'm pretty sure Ubuntu adoption rate isn't affected in the least regardless of whether you call it the Super key or Windows key, or Logo key, or any of the other names it's gotten over the years. "Normal people" don't ever use that key anyways.

1. You can if they are in a very small minority.

2. It's not about adoption. It's about usability. Everyone will know what you mean if you call it 'the Windows key'. The same is not true if you call it 'the Super key'.

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