Have a look at the keyboard on the new Microsoft Surface Pro:
See where the Power Off button is located?
Yep. Right there, right next to the ‘Delete’ key.
So when you need to delete the last letter you’ve typed, heck, with your eyes closed you just might power the whole thing off.
To be fair, actually powering off a Surface Pro requires you to hold that button down for a few seconds. So you are unlikely to actually switch off your computer when trying to delete a single character.
But what if you — like me — are the type of typist who holds down the ‘Del’ key for seconds at a time in order to delete several characters? Well then you are well and truly in Russian roulette territory.
On the plus side, at least the designers have added a luxury carpet to the thing, and made it available in maroon. So there’s that.
Hmmmm. Better check those auto-save settings…
Brian Hughes is an academic psychologist and university professor in Galway, Ireland, specialising in stress, health, and the application of psychology to social issues. He writes widely on the psychology of empiricism and of empirically disputable claims, especially as they pertain to science, health, medicine, and politics.