back to article Microsoft's little eyes light up as Oscar-winning Taika Waititi says Apple keyboards make him 'want to go back to PCs'

Surface supremo Panos Panay took time out from fondling his slabs (and ordering up new business cards) to make a proposal last night to Oscar-winning filmmaker Taika Waititi. Waititi, who yesterday picked up the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for odd WWII film Jojo Rabbit, was asked for his thoughts on what writers …

  1. Brian Miller

    Show a PC keyboard?

    Clue for the clueful: that's a C64 there! Really now, show an original PC keyboard! You know, the one with the 5-pin DIN cable and the IBM logo!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Show a PC keyboard?

      It was great, and you could drive a car over it, and it would still work. But if I remember right, it cost around £100, not an inconsiderable amount in 1983

      1. Pascal Monett Silver badge

        Worth every penny

      2. //DLBL SYSRES

        Re: Show a PC keyboard?

        Still have a few working, they need and adaptor or two but they are soooo good.

    2. Jaspa
      Windows

      Re: Show a PC keyboard?

      Our beloved breadbin will lack a number of required keys and qualifiers but kudos for the pic :)

      Ahhh , AT before the days of PS/2.

      Icon as I suddenly feel old.

    3. MisterHappy
      Boffin

      Re: Show a PC keyboard?

      Very tenuously - Last night's University Challenge had a C64 in the picture round, suffice to say that none of the 20 somethings recognised it.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Angel

      Re: Show a PC keyboard?

      The best keyboard ever isn't a PC or an Apple or even a C64 - it's an IBM Selectric typewriter keyword.

      The best computer keyboard was the IBM Model M.

      You youngsters can debate what comes close on the market today.

      1. Imhotep

        Re: Show a PC keyboard?

        I'm with you on the Model M.

      2. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

        Re: Show a PC keyboard?

        Some people say that the Model F was better, although I'm quite happy with a Model M as my favorite keyboard.

        The model F family, using non-contact capacitive key triggers and buckling springs and most often seen on the the original 5150 IBM PC or 5160 PC/XT was not the same as the Model M in any flavor of PS/2 or 5 pin DIN connector (these were referred to as the Advanced keyboard), but were the keyboard with 10 function keys in a 2x5 vertical strip on the left hand side of the keyboard, not as a top row. They also had a multi-purpose numeric keypad with no dedicated arrow keys (which explains why, even now, the numeric keyboard has arrow keys on 2, 4, 6 and 8 keys) without any clear space making the key pad a separate island from the main keyboard.

        The feeling of these keyboards was a-maz-ing, and was clearly the best computer key feel that I had ever felt.

        When the Advanced keyboard came along with the early PC/ATs the feel was very good, but not quite as good as the Model F. But the layout was much better (I had been using DEC LK201 keyboard layouts, and the IBM Advanced keyboard felt a better layout because it was close to the LK201).

        If anybody made a Model F with the Advanced 102 (or even better 105) key layout and USB or even wireless interface, that would be incredible. and would be worth paying a small ransom for! I know there was a project to make small runs of Model Fs, but I don't think they were the Advanced layout.

        Mind you, I do echo the comment earlier about the IBM Selectric typewriter keyboard. At the University I attended, there were has some configured as hard-copy terminals with the APL character golf ball, and they were a joy to use!

    5. Anonymous Coward
      Pint

      Re: Show a PC keyboard?

      > Clue for the clueful: that's a C64 there!

      Inn keeping with El Reg's recent editorial strategy, I think you'll find that's a prop from the StarWars franchise, as used by Mr. Spock.

  2. trevorde Silver badge
    Joke

    The answer is...

    ... Linux!

    1. Alister

      Re: The answer is...

      Now... what's the question?

      1. David Webb

        Re: The answer is...

        42. Obviously.

  3. Wemb

    Clickity-clck

    I do sympathise with him, but my UniComp Model M-remake has, alas, been banned from the office on noise pollution grounds.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Best ever keyboard is from ...

    The Sinclair ZX80!

    No, really ..!

    1. TReko

      Re: Best ever keyboard is from ...

      Which Microsoft decided to copy with their Microsoft Surface

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Isn't that a C64 keyboard rather than a PC ?

    1. Mike 16

      C64 not a PC?

      Those of us who get senior citizen discounts without asking may remember a time when "PC" simply meant "Personal Computer".

      This was a bit before PC was re-purposed to mean only "bit for bit and bug for bug compatible with the IBM 5150 [1], complete with the BIOS and DOS not being able to agree whether the COM ports were numbered from zero or one, and for the love of all that is holy, _NEVER_ press the Turbo button"

      [1] Those in the intersection of (computer nerds) and (union of (Van Halen fans), (law enforcement personnel), (police scanner obsessives)) got a laugh out of that designation. I guess Rat Mouth Florida never has any instances of people acting crazy in public (or has so many that they are not noticed).

  6. Sgt_Oddball
    Coat

    Throwing a left field option....

    How about the mid-90s Dell clunkers with the Alps keys? Just as well made as an IBM model M and originally available in a fetching shade of black.

    Or... You know.... Go for a full RGB gaming spec mechanical keyboard for some reason.

    I'm going already..

    Mines the one with the DAS Keyboard manual in the pocket.

    1. imanidiot Silver badge

      Re: Throwing a left field option....

      I did. (well, I wanted something with mechanical key switches that wasn't eyewateringly expensive. The RGB version of the keyboard I ended up with was on sale and cheaper than the non-backlit version.)

      I'm a little too young to have scored a 80s or 90s keyboard and don't move around in the kind of circles that would land me with one so I make do with what I have now. Still like it WAY better than the mushy rubber dome Dell shit I have to use at work.

  7. eswan

    Why does that picture of a C64 keyboard have 2 CRSR up/down keys? For some reason, that really bugs me.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Holmes

      They couldn't find the right one

      The key caps should be up/down left/right. The key caps wore out long before the keyboard did and replacement caps are catch as catch can. Apparently they couldn't find the right replacement.

  8. Plest Silver badge
    Facepalm

    Ermmm, they have USB ports you know.

    My wife has an iMac and she has an MS USB 102 keyboard plugged in as she prefers the clunkier keys over that slim nonsense that comes with Apple kit. The Windows key gets auto-mapped to the CMD key on an Apple keyboard, and Left-ALT is mapped to OPT and you're sorted!

    I wish people would stop making life hard.

    1. jason_derp
      Joke

      Re: Ermmm, they have USB ports you know.

      USB?! Instead of Lightning!? Bro I didn't drop 2k on an underpowered laptop so I could look like NEW money!

    2. Peter Ford

      Re: Ermmm, they have USB ports you know.

      Yeah, but the f***ing " is still on @ and | is on # and # is an option-modifier (sorry, left-alt) away...

      I have one USB keyboard with Apple layout but I now have a Mac mini too and forgot to order a keyboard for it...

  9. Blackjack Silver badge

    I still use PCs

    But the Desktop has Linux Mint Mate and the Laptop, that one that's not undead, still has Windows 7.

  10. J.G.Harston Silver badge

    I love my Dell SK-3205 keyboards. Nice and chunky, proper tactile feedback, decent key travel, reminds me of my Remington International that I learned to type on.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      > Dell SK-3205 keyboards

      The Hapsburg lip of the keyboard world.

  11. Imhotep

    The Screenplay Came From A Mac?

    I just watched JoJo Rabbit, and I still have mixed feelings about it. What his brand of humor did for vampires and werewolves is somewhat disconcerting when the subject is the holocaust.

  12. southen bastard

    a full RGB gaming spec mechanical keyboard

    a full RGB gaming spec mechanical keyboard with the RGB turned off, it,s the best investment i ever made!

    1. imanidiot Silver badge
      Trollface

      Re: a full RGB gaming spec mechanical keyboard

      I like having the LEDs on full blinkenlight mode when I have visitors, just for the sheer shock value it provides. (It gets quickly turned off after they leave though.)

  13. DrXym

    There is no such thing as a "PC keyboard"

    Since every single desktop, laptop and tablet / folio device does its own thing. Some copy Apple style keyboards, others offer chunkier keyboards with more travel. But perhaps that's the point. If you hate Dell laptops you can use one by Lenovo or whichever manufacturer produces one to your liking.

    1. Michael Wojcik Silver badge

      Re: There is no such thing as a "PC keyboard"

      If only. For most of each day, I'm forced to use the one my employer likes. (It's a Dell, and the keyboard is chicklet crap.)

  14. Mike Moyle

    Oscar vs. MacBook

    According to an acquaintance of mine who's in the biz, while the Academy won't charge you to put "Oscar™-winning <JobTitle>..." in front of your name, actually getting a statue to put on your mantel will cost you a couple of Gs, IIRC. So he may already have spent the money that would have gone for that new MBP.

    It's kind of like those stars embedded in the sidewalk on the "Hollywood Walk of Fame". You get "awarded" a star after you agree to pay for it and sign a contract to see that it's maintained in good condition. Let it get shabby and suddenly someone else gets "awarded" a star in your spot!

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