SAY GOODBYE TO CAPS LOCK

The news came out last month, so I'm a little late posting this, but I'm finally starting to dig into my archive of old bookmarks.  As illustrated at left, the new Google notebook computer has no Caps Lock key; in its place is a "search" button.

For those who insist on yelling in discussion groups, and for those who need allcaps for specialized text, the key will be programmable back to an allcaps function.  And, at least for the present, the change is occurring on only one device; it is not clear whether Google is setting an industrywide standard or not.  Still, this announcement offers an excuse to review the history of Caps Lock, and an article at Slate offers some perspective:

Caps Lock originated with typewriters... Uppercase letters were typed by holding down a "shift" key that would literally shift the carriage so that a different part of the type bar—the part on which a reverse uppercase letter was printed—would hit the ribbon. The problem was, it was hard to hold down the shift key for more than a few letters. So typewriter manufacturers added a "Shift Lock" button that would keep the carriage elevated until the button was released. It was a useful innovation: Typewriters didn't have options for italics or bold or underlining, so capitalization was the only way to emphasize words. ..

Caps Lock had its uses back in the olden days. Some of the earliest computers were business machines, used to input product keys and other strings of letters and numbers that often included all caps. Some of the first programming languages, like FORTRAN and Basic, were composed entirely in caps...

And, yes, Caps Lock does have its merits. There's no question that capital letters do a better job EMPHASIZING WORDS than bold or italics... Nor is Caps Lock the only key deserving of criticism. The function keys (F1 to F12) are useless to the average user...

As e-mail and texting have become primary forms of communication, expectations of proper spelling and grammar have diminished. Capital letters aren't necessary to get your point across—why bother with Shift, let alone Caps Lock?

"perhaps the day will come when caps will be out of favor and will be mere embellishments," writes former George Mason University technology professor Virginia Montecino in a caps-less e-mail. "i see an overall simplification of text...

e.e. cummings would be pleased.