The often abused QWERTY key is nowhere to be found on the Google Chrome OS laptop keyboard, but you can bring it back.
(http://i52.tinypic.com/dh988x.jpg)
Google's Chrome OS Cr-48 laptop mixes up the traditional computer keyboard a bit, putting a bunch of browser-centric keys along the top, adding power on/off and, most shockingly, leaving out Caps Lock.
When reports of this exclusion first surfaced, some people could scarcely believe it. Who ever heard of a computer without a Caps Lock key? Now that we have one of the Cr-48's in our hands, we can confirm that the Caps Lock has been replaced with, yes, you guessed it, a search button. Click on it and a new Google Chrome OS tab opens, with the cursor flashing in the omnibox—just waiting for you to enter a query.
But wait, the ability to type in "ALL CAPS" is not entirely missing from the Cr-48 or Google Chrome OS. We found it during the laptops' built in tutorial. Here's how Google snarkily explains it:
"If you really need Caps Locks so you can post an INSIGHTFUL COMMENT ON YOUTUBE, click the wrench, click Settings, and then go to the System section for change the Modifier Key from a Search key to a Caps Lock key."
And, viola, you have Caps Lock right back where it belongs. You can also choose to change that key to Ctrl, Alt, or disable it altogether.
As we were going through this exercise, a number of Twitter posters asked us if you really even need a Caps Lock. To Google's point, how often are you SCREAMING in all caps? Isn't that agreed-upon bad Internet etiquette?
One poster @scottieGGGG told us: "You know, I use the Caps Lock in waves, the first is by accident, which is immediately followed by usage to toggle it back off."
He's right. How many of us have accidentally hit the Caps Lock key and typed an entire paragraph in ALL CAPS before we realized what we were doing? So perhaps Google Chrome OS and the Cr-48 laptop are doing us a favor. What do you think?