Is it time to permanently retire the Caps Lock key? Pieter Hintjens thinks so.
Hintjens, the CEO of iMatix, has launched the Capsoff organization in a campaign urging hardware manufacturers to ditch the oft-abused and misused key. Hintjens' plan is to build the entire infrastructure for the movement using only freely available tools from Google. He's already set up a Blogger Capsoff blog and a forum at Google Groups.
"The Caps key is an abomination," Hintjens writes on his blog. "It's a huge key, stuck right there where the Ctrl used to be, and as far as I know, it's only used by 419 scammers and Fortran programmers."
Zealous net newbies have also subjected the Caps Lock key to overuse, composing e-mails and newsgroup posts entirely in capital letters, an ugly and inelegant style of communication akin to screaming. In fact, the Capsoff organization's slogan is "STOP SHOUTING!"
The antagonism toward the Caps Lock key extends beyond its misuse by 13-year-old trolls and naive users. Caps Lock is also responsible for failed entries of passwords and other case-sensitive phrases. Users of word processors are forced to retype any text that was entered with Caps Lock accidentally turned on.
The Capsoff movement's primary target is the device manufacturer. "Obviously the keyboard producers have been so indoctrinated that they don't even inspect their own products any longer," Hintjens writes. "Listen, dudes: No one wants that crummy Caps key. It's history."
Discussion on the Capsoff Google Group took off Wednesday when the protest was picked up by tech news site Slashdot. Group membership has swelled to more than 200 members, and debate has been heated. Many users have been quick to offer alternative uses for the possible gaping hole left between Tab and Shift. Some advocate moving the Esc or Ctrl keys to the empty slot. Others have asked for volume controls to be inserted into the valuable piece of keyboard real estate.
Even though Hintjens' idea is quickly gaining momentum, some find the movement rather pointless.
"I don't see it being a problem at all," says Joel East, a technical designer at Ikey, a company that manufactures custom keyboards and pointing devices for industrial applications. "The Caps Lock key is there, and people can choose to use it or not."
Ikey has been creating input devices since 1989, and the company's designers have never encountered a single customer complaint about the existence or location of the Caps Lock key. In fact, East says it's highly unlikely that the Caps Lock key will go the way of the ghost any time soon since it is used frequently in data entry and inventory management.
"It would make more sense for (Capsoff) to concentrate on educating and training the general population about etiquette and proper use of the keyboard," he says.
Short of taking a penknife to your keyboard and prying the darned thing off, here's how you can eradicate the Caps Lock key from your keyboard of choice.
Windows users should check out the custom keyboard-mapping utilities offered at Shareware Connection. Advanced users can try the input scan-code techniques outlined at Windows Hardware Developer Central. Warning: Attempt scan-code remapping at your own risk.
Mac OS X users have it much easier. Open System Preferences and click on the Keyboard & Mouse icon. Under the Keyboard tab, click on the Modifier Keys button. In the dropdown list next to Caps Lock, choose No Action or set the key to one of the other options.
Of course, anyone with enough money and determination can always commission their own custom keyboard -- sans Caps Lock.
