Windows Key

> ⊞ Win + Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + Alt + L Opens Website LinkedIn

> ⊞ Win + Ctrl + ⇧ Shift + Alt + Y Opens Website Yammer

> ...

Non-short shortcuts, but another example of how Microsoft uses its OS for things an OS should be neutral about.

How many words of "frienship" did i send to Microsoft because of this key ? Nothing was worse when playing a DOS game in Win 95 or 98 than to press this key and be thrown out of the game or worse, to lock the machine.

I've always been amazed that Microsoft managed to get every keyboard manufacturer to advertise Windows for free. And even more so that they placed limitations on how to do so, like regulate how the logo should look. I suppose Windows usage in the 90s becoming near universal in home and business computing, along with the death almost every non-MS and non-Apple OS, meant that keyboard layouts became much less varied.

It's a personal annoyance since pretty much every non-Apple laptop comes with that damned logo, even ones that come with Linux installed, and I haven't had Windows on a personal machine since 2008. I think System76 is a rare exception? At least with an external mechanical keyboard I can change the keycaps, with most sets these days coming with "Super" or "Code" keys. With my laptops I have to resort to stickers.

It's weird that keyboards before this just didn't have a key there. No one looked at the almost entirely contiguous main block of keys and thought "huh we could put another key in that gap"?