In hindsight, the standard PC keyboard is covered in absurd anachronisms. Never-used commands get to own their own keys, while frequently-used actions can require complicated chords. I mean, I can't even tell what Scroll Lock does, and Caps Lock is the source of constant rage... but if I want to switch to the previous tab in any tabbed interface? Why that's just CTRL+SHIFT+TAB. How simple!
Leaving soft-reboot on a complicated mess like CTRL+ALT+DELETE makes perfect sense. Using that combo to log on or access a perfectly useful menu is hopelessly moronic.
Remember that PC keyboards were modeled after these things called 'typewriters' and typewriters often had a caps lock or shift lock key, so it made it onto a computer keyboard.
Things like copy/paste or cycling through currently running applications had to be keystroke combinations since typewriters had no idea of clipboards or running applications.
Yes, but the keyboard has already substantially changed from the typewriter. Everything to the right of the "enter" key or above the number line is new, and plus MS got the Windows/Meta and the Rclick key standardized pretty late in the game. The number of bucky-keys isn't exactly consistent across typewriters either - settling on CTRL and ALT is prettymuch an accident of history. The rarely-used function keys have been something of an anachronism since the jump to GUIs (I remember the days of little paper overlays to show all the function-key commands for Word Perfect), and I doubt you'll find those on a typewriter.
The PC keyboard wasn't the only keyboard. Apple computers didn't have F-keys, AS/400 keyboards had 20+ F-keys and another cluster of specific keys to the left of where the Tab/Caps/Shift keys are today.
It's not just Firefox - any Windows UI that uses tab-panels will support ctrl-tab (and ctrl-shift-tab). This applies to SSMS windows, properties windows, the task manager, etc.
What?! He was talking about going to the previous tab. :) And it's not just in Firefox--lots of applications and operating systems use Shift+Tab and Ctrl+Shift+Tab.
I don't know... there's something about Ctrl+Alt+Del that was so uniquely satisfying -- maybe because it required two hands? Because it was so arcane and unintuitive? And the awesome power to restart your computer via simple key presses, no matter how locked-up it was?
It's bizarre to say, but I almost miss having something like it on my Mac. A single, obvious power button just isn't as much "fun".
So a funny story which relates. The actual "feature" of resetting the system (sending it the appropriate non-maskable interrupt) was handled in early PC's by the keyboard controller, which was a chip on the motherboard. I was at a company and we were building our own "lights out" server system, no keyboard, so the hardware engineer deleted the keyboard controller from the schematic. The issue was that the BIOS we got from AWARD couldn't deal with the fact that there was no controller, it would enable the interrupt anyway and I guess the pin was simply not connected on the interrupt controller so we'd get random interrupts. Back and forth half in English and half in Chinese to get the BIOS fixed, every time an update came it would be broken again. It became such an issue that the HW engineer built a small board that had the controller on it that could be 'blue wired' into the circuit so that we could continue to debug/build stuff while the BIOS guys were in a 'broken' cycle. In later versions we switched to AMI and had a much better time of it but sheesh it was a pain.
What's the alternative? I'd like some sequence of keystrokes that goes directly to the OS and can't be intercepted by other programs. I want to know that the dialog I'm typing my password into is really the OS.
What I'd like is a trustworthy key-combo (preferably a single key, SysRq seems a good candidate) that toggles an overlay on the screen indicating what application "owns" each visible portion, with a very distinctive style identifying parts drawn by the OS. All obscured-input text fields would, by default, only be enabled when the overlay is visible.
The overlay would always be available so any app that asks for any sensitive info could use the same mechanism, and I could use it even when the developer didn't think the information was sensitive, or didn't attempt to protect the input channel for any other reason.
IIRC, other computers such as the Apple II had a single 'Reset' key. It was not uncommon (for me) to be typing in my code from a magazine, reach up to hit backspace (delete) and accidently reset the computer. :(
There were a few iterations that depressed the key, etc.
Overall, I liked the three finger combination because you had to mean to do it.
I will say that using it to login/lock windows instead of rebooting was not intuitive at all.
"[...] Ctrl+Alt+Del because it was impossible to press with just one hand."
At first I thought, "Well, not impossible, really...", because you can "play the chord" with your right hand:
Pointer (Ctrl) + Thumb (Alt) + Middle (Delete)
But...
The older keyboards [1] only had a single "Ctrl" key and a single "Alt" key. They were located on the left side of the keyboard, while the single "Del" key was located on the right side.
So, with that configuration, it actually was impossible to perform the combination with a single hand.
For some reason, cartain PC clones didn't let you do CTRL-ALT-DEL with the right-side ctrl and alt keys. I can remember the early models of eMachines not allowing it, not sure if it was the keyboard itself, the BIOS, or what.
Heh... as a pianist, I'm used to unusual hand positions. I use my left hand, put the thumb on the right-hand [Alt], left index on the right-hand [Ctrl], and then left flipper, ring, or pinky, depending on where [Del] is located. I'm amused that people think you have to use two hands.
On my laptop, [Ctrl] and [Alt] are next to each other, so it's right thumb on both of those, and right index for the Del key.
I didn't realize anyone else heard chords with multiple-key presses. For me, the [Ctrl] is an A (435), the [Alt] is a C(5), and the [Del] is an F#(5), so it's a D7 minus the root. A fairly bland chord, when it comes right down to it, but then I imagine a G#(2) underpinning it, to give it just a little character, but still resolve to the nice, bright G.
it used to be left pinky and index, and right middle finger..but after getting used to mac it's now left ring finger and index with right middle finger.
If it was a single key I would have to have one of those plastic shields installed on top of it like you see in the cockpit of jet fighters. Gotta flip it up and then push it lol.
Which use of ctrl-alt-del exactly does he consider a mistake? I can't believe that anybody could consider allowing the computer to be rebooted with a single accidental keypress a good idea.
Ctrl-alt-del doesn't reboot a Windows computer (without additional input) and it hasn't for quite some time. Even Windows 95 had a "Close Program" dialog box.
I know; that's why I asked. The article didn't make it clear whether he opposed it already in the DOS era (he mentions that it was IBM who originally came up with the combination) or only its more recent incarnations.
I think the good thing about making it three buttons is that you have to learn something kind of complex and arcane to gain a bit of power over the machine. It tells you something about the machine in order to interrupt it this way.
Leaving soft-reboot on a complicated mess like CTRL+ALT+DELETE makes perfect sense. Using that combo to log on or access a perfectly useful menu is hopelessly moronic.