this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2026
289 points (98.3% liked)

Technology

80795 readers
5143 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related news or articles.
  3. Be excellent to each other!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, this includes using AI responses and summaries. To ask if your bot can be added please contact a mod.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed
  10. Accounts 7 days and younger will have their posts automatically removed.

Approved Bots


founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
 

The new Micro~~soft~~slop copilot key always sends the following key-sequence when pressed:

copilot key down: left-shift-down left-meta-down f23-down f23-up left-meta-up left-shift-up
copilot key up: <null>

This means there's no real key-up event when you release the key --> it can't be used (properly) as a modifier like ctrl or alt.

The workaround is to send a pretend key-up event after a time delay, but then you mustn't be too slow / fast when pressing a shortcut.

tldr: AI took a perfectly working modifier key from you.

--- edit ---
Some keyboards apparently do the "right" thing and don't send the whole sequence at once, you can remap those properly with keyd, see: https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd/issues/1025#issuecomment-2971556563 / https://github.com/rvaiya/keyd/issues/825

copilot key down: left-shift-down left-meta-down f23-down
copilot key up: f23-up left-meta-up left-shift-up

this will still break left-shift + remapped copilot and left-meta + remapped copilot, but RCtrl remaps should work as expected

top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] PolarKraken@lemmy.dbzer0.com 5 points 55 minutes ago* (last edited 52 minutes ago)

An embarrassing new low, even with the bars they've already set. And fitting, for this being the (egregiously multiply-) branded button to launch the shit show. Christ, this has been a fucking carnival lmao.

Microslop has now regressed to implementing "features" very closely resembling - in sophistication and effect - my own bumbling, desperate, ignorant attempts at similar ("making a button behave like a macro"), using AutoHotKey, somewhere between 15-20 years ago.

And do I understand that they both shipped that, on hardware, AND it's broken so badly it can't be easily remedied?

I don't know what to say. It's like all the geniuses of comedy who died too young are doing this, all of it.


(No shade whatsoever to AHK, it was, probably still is, awesome at its job!)


Edit: suddenly realized it's just on purpose, probably. Anyway, rant remains lol

[–] kamen@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago* (last edited 45 minutes ago)

I'm all for hardware remappable keyboards in laptops too - just like what you can have with an external one. I do realise though that this is a niche within a niche. From what I know only Framework (oh, and System76) is doing something like that.

[–] spacelord@sh.itjust.works 18 points 5 hours ago

Doesn't seem to be present on my keyboard. 😁 keyboard image

[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

The WHATNOW is impossible to properly remap?

[–] Threeme2189@sh.itjust.works 3 points 2 hours ago

That nuisance you pop off with a flathead screwdriver and throw in the trash can.

[–] texture@lemmy.world 11 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

happy to be typing this comment on a framework laptop, where no such key is to be found.

interesting post, and thanks for the info. i cant believe the crap MS pulls. Linux is easier than ever. Join us.

[–] ColdWater@lemmy.ca 8 points 7 hours ago (2 children)

If this garbage is on my keyboard I will drill that motherfucker out no second thought

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I have a Lenovo usb keyboard with a fn Key in place of the Ctrl key that has absolutely no purpose. It's for volume control like fn+F7 BUT... IT ALSO HAS DEDICATED BUTTONS FOR VOLUME CONTROL!!

After the nth time I accidentally switched fn and Ctrl I took a screwdriver and popped it out permanently (being USB it doesn't report fn status to the os and of course the BIOS doesn't allow FN remapping because it's not a laptop)

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 6 hours ago

Or just glue a new keycap in place

[–] Fokeu@lemmy.zip 69 points 11 hours ago

Congrats Microsoft, you managed to enshittify a goddamn keyboard key.

[–] ivanafterall@lemmy.world 11 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

It's the Bixby Button all over again.

[–] attero@discuss.tchncs.de 12 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

It's arguably worse, because Samsung has full control over software, hardware, and firmware of their devices.
Even if MS would like to fix this mess, they can't.

[–] SlurpingPus@lemmy.world 1 points 10 minutes ago

Theoretically I think they could redefine it as a new key instead of the combo — as is done with the windows and context-menu keys. That would allow it to be remapped properly.

[–] Sims@lemmy.ml 16 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

"tldr: AI took a perfectly working modifier key from you." - 'AI' ?? I can't see how this is anything but Microshit and Capitalism that 'takes away" anything..

[–] HertzDentalBar@lemmy.blahaj.zone 7 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

That's the former right click button location. They took it away to implement a AI button. So it's AI that's done it, not literally but figuratively.

[–] JohnEdwa@sopuli.xyz 8 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

They (Microsoft) did actually also originally implement it, the application key was added to Microsoft keyboards in 1994 along with the Windows key. It's meant to give compatibility to the Windows user interface when your PC had a mouse with only one button. Don't remember those being very relevant in the recent years.

So it's Microsoft deciding that their right-click button isn't necessary after 31 years, and swapping it for a Co-Pilot/Windows Search button.

[–] cheesybuddha@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

I use the the 'right click button' literally every single day. It's super useful for not having to move between the mouse and keyboard for tasks.

Also, this is on Linux, and I think it's fair to say that the key has evolved to become a fairly standard part of keyboards and operating systems. Just because MS were the first ones to use it doesn't give them some kind of say control over the idea, at least beyond the scope of their own hardware, and I don't think anyone is arguing that they don't have the right to change their own hardware. It's just a bad decision.

[–] SUDO@reddthat.com 4 points 8 hours ago

Didn't KDE say they were working on a way to remap it in a future update?

[–] rob_t_firefly@lemmy.world 10 points 11 hours ago

You can remap that key on a hardware level with a little flathead screwdriver. 🪛 🗑️

[–] Earthman_Jim@lemmy.zip 9 points 11 hours ago

so fucking stupid

[–] TootSweet@lemmy.world 2 points 7 hours ago

Jesus. I guess we're going to have to start figuring out how to reverse engineer our keyboards so we can install QMK on random built-in laptop keyboards and cheap Logitech membrane keyboards to repair the damage Microsoft has done to them.

[–] GreenKnight23@lemmy.world -4 points 4 hours ago (1 children)

sure it is! just install Linux. you can remap ever single key.

[–] Wispy2891@lemmy.world 10 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Not really, it sends a combination of 3 really fast button combination on press and doesn't report to the os when your finger releases the key. You need to run a daemon that detects that specific combination and emulates a finger release after a specified time

Assholes. Couldn't they just remap one of the useless "internet" keys from the 00s like KEY_HOMEPAGE or XF86Mail??

Or create a brand new scancode since they could change the kernel without any problem, especially because the manufacturers would need to change the keyboard firmware anyway AND because copilot requires special hardware, it doesn't need retro compatibility with older windows versions that don't have the scancode in kernel or in the keyboard driver

[–] FrChazzz@lemmus.org 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

I have one on my Lenovo IdeaPad I bought a few months ago and am running Mint on. I remapped it to bring up the menu almost immediately. No issues. It acts like a Super key. Maybe this is a model specific thing?

[–] nibbler@discuss.tchncs.de 3 points 2 hours ago

As I read it, you can't use it as modifier as it does not ever release. So bringing up a menu directly works, but copilot+x is troublesome to map

[–] ashenone@lemmy.ml 83 points 18 hours ago (2 children)

I'm gonna hug my old ThinkPad when I get home today

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments
view more: next ›