Microsoft’s push into AI continues with the announcement of a special Copilot button on some Microsoft keyboards. Will a Copilot key be any more popular than other Microsoft attempts to add their products onto keyboard?
The Copilot key might look like this
Or more likely this single color version:
Keyboards with a Copilot button are promised for later in 2024. They will be on some Surface devices and also some third-party computers.
The new button will be on the left, as in this Thinkbook example from Lenovo.
Or this Acer model.
No word on whether the Copilot key will be added to some Microsoft keyboards like the Surface keyboard or the various other external keyboards.
What will the Copilot button do?
The Copilot button will open the Windows 11 Copilot app (surprise!)
The new button will be the same action as the current Win + C shortcut on newer Windows 11 releases.
Perhaps there’ll be other actions available with the Copilot button plus a letter. Microsoft hasn’t said anything. Maybe it will also become a shortcut to the Office apps (e.g. Copilot + W starts Word) which is what the Office key was supposed to do, see below.
The Copilot button will be a horrible waste if all it can do is open the Copilot app.
Selective memory at Microsoft
Microsoft’s announcement more than the usual amount of marketing blurb and hype with little detail. One sentence caught our eye for it’s selective corporate memory:
“The introduction of the Copilot key marks the first significant change to the Windows PC keyboard in nearly three decades.”
Microsoft has erased the ‘Office key’ from their corporate memory even though, it was only in 2019. The ‘Cortana key’ that was also hyped as the new big thing for keyboards before sinking without a trace.
On the other hand, those hyperbolic (though false) statements work for Microsoft. At least two reputable media outlets used that ‘alternative fact’ in their headlines while others quoted it unquestioningly in their reports on the Copilot key.
The Office key was added to some Microsoft keyboards in 2019, we tried one for a few days after purchasing from a Microsoft Store.
Even Microsoft staff didn’t know about the Office key. Our head honcho had to explain it to some staff at the Microsoft Store in London. The idea was to make starting Office apps faster with a series of Office key + key combinations. For example Office + W would start Word, Office + X for Excel etc.
Both the Office key and Cortana key were quietly dropped by Microsoft and apparently now from their corporate memory.
There’s no doubt that AI will be a big part of our computing future but will a Copilot keyboard button will last any longer than the Cortana or Office keys did? If all the Copilot key does is open the app, it’ll be a waste. Hardware makers and customers haven’t shown a lot of interest in Microsoft’s attempts to push other Redmond products via the keyboard.
