I'll bet most Mac users at one point runs into this one: some instructions say "press the option key and..." and they look all over the keyboard, finding no option key.
Well, the "option key" is the one helpfully labelled "alt". Like I said, brain-dead.
And it has an odd little symbol on it. I guess it's meant to symbolize a track diverging, thus giving "options" (?).
By the way, the "command" key is also usually not labeled well. It's the one with the apple. Verrrrry logical. The other strange symbol means "remarkable feature" when seen on road signs. Apple adopted it to mean "command" and forgot to tell the rest of the world.
Update: it seems Bron is right when he says his keyboard from a 24-inch iMac does it right:
Funny thing is that mine, here, is also from a 24-inch iMac:
I guess you just never knows what Apple does from day to day.
Or maybe it's a UK/Eu/US difference? Mine is a UK one.
Update: David Pogue tells me: "It is indeed a US/UK thing."
You think that's bad...on my keyboard, the alt and command keys are SWITCHED. I can't remember why it got set up that way, but I'm afraid to switch it back, because I'm so used to it the way it is. But as soon as I get back on a regular Mac keyboard I'm not going to know how to do anything without thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteMike
Eolake,
ReplyDeleteLook at the new apple keyboards; the three keys are: control, option, command. Infinite loop, but no munched apple.
Mines about a year old.
Bron
"I guess it's meant to symbolize a track diverging, thus giving "options" (?)"
ReplyDeleteThis symbol, originating on the Apple Lisa, represented the pull-out plastic card situated under the Lisa keyboard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Option_key
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Command_key
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Control_key
I suppose when the total sum of human knowledge is available from Wikipedia, knowledge and experience will be even less well regarded than they are now.
Bron, do the keys *say* "option" and "command"? (And is it an alu keyboard?)
ReplyDeleteIf they do, that's finally a big step forward. I have some pretty new Apple keyboards here, and none of them do.
---
Mike, probably they got switched because the Mac was used at one time with a PC keyboard.
... I looked up my un-used alu keyboard... the apple is replaced by "cmd", which is progress.
ReplyDeleteEolake,
ReplyDeleteI just sent an e-mail to whatever address of yours I have, service.
Bron
My 2005 iBook had "control-alt- *loopy symbol*" IIRC. I now have an original 2006 MacBook and a late-2007 MacBook. The 2006 has "control-option- *loopy symbol*" and the 2007 has "control-option-command".
ReplyDeleteSo... it seems Apple is slowly evolving to more sensical labeling. :)
That's why the PC systems have always been at the forefront of computing. The PC has been king for many years. The SGI machines are king in the digital film/motion picture realm, and then there's the McApple, never able to decide what to do exactly. The Apple disease is all about making money and not about empowering people who use the product. Apple will go GM soon.
ReplyDelete....Royce, said cheekily.
ReplyDeleteAAPL's market cap is 128 billion and only has about 4% penetration in the computer business; while MSFT has $194 billion market cap and practically controls the PC world.
It is exactly these idiosyncrasies of Apple that makes it so iconic.
And, if I remember correctly, manuals for Apples were either very thin or non-existent, compared to novels (often fiction) on how to operate a PC.
There's just something iconic and aesthetic about the Apple keyboard.
Note that no one talks about the PC keyboard.
Hmm, must be a modern thing, I remember the old apple keyboards to be very intuitive. All the onscreen prompts used the symbols to show which key to use.
ReplyDeleteInfinite Loop key, I always saw it as an augmented hash. Still, "One Infinite Loop" was the address of Apple back in the 90's (where are they now).
As for PC keyboards. You could speak volumes about them. I saw a concave QWERTY keypad at the hospital the other day. I just expected it to be Dvorak. Still, PC's are so bad no one talks about them.
Oh yeah - PCs are bad - that's why there's so many millions of them in use. And the reason the keyboards aren't being talked about is the same exact reason nobody talks about a wrench. They're tools, and they work. If Apple could come up with a keyboard that could randomly change the position of it's keys, they would - just for the publicity.
ReplyDeletemy macbookpro keyboard has got a fourth key, to the left of the three pictured by you. it says "fn" on it. i have no idea what it is good for.
ReplyDeleteThat changes the function of the F keys (F1 through F13).
ReplyDeleteDoesn't FN also sometimes give access to the faux numeric pad on "UIO,JKL,M"? Or am I thinking of Num Lock?
ReplyDeleteFN can also modify arrow keys, my brightness on one machine is implemented that way.
Also there were millions of Ford Escorts, Minis, Citroen 2CV, Lada (also FSO, Polski FIAT, Yugo et al) and VW Beetles in use. Does that make them good, or good enough?
David Pogue tells me: "It is indeed a US/UK thing."
ReplyDeleteBut WE are the UK?
ReplyDeleteI still believe that the Acorn far outgunned the Apple and the PC at the time (1992-4). They were using Arm processors while Macs were still 68K and PC's still 386's. Can't say that wasn't forward looking.