Please revert Xorg decision to disable Ctrl-Alt-Backspace

[Gerry Reno]

Daniel Stone wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Fri, Mar 27, 2009 at 10:16:31PM -0400, Gerry Reno wrote:
>   
>> "Data loss is always unacceptable and Xorg should do whatever it takes  
>> to prevent it."
>> This is a very flawed view.  Data loss is nearly 99.9% of the time a  
>> result of user error and insufficient user training.  It is not the  
>> responsibility of Xorg to play Nanny.  It's the responsibility of the  
>> user and the users employer to provide the correct training.
>>     
>
> That's a complete copout when you're talking about tens of millions of
> people who want to write university theses, documents for their work,
> deal with their photos, and don't know or care about ServerFlags.  If
> you know what Xorg is and that it's responsible for Ctrl-Alt-Backspace
> making your presentation that needs to be on your boss's desk by 9am
> tomorrow go away, then you are not the majority of the userbase, nor
> even close.
>
>   
This is smoke and mirrors.  This is not about worrying about people 
accidentally hitting Ctrl-Alt-Backspace while working on their papers.  
I've never in thirty years of *nix experience working in companies with 
tens of thousands of employees ever see this happen.  This is about 
implementing a change for Emacs users so that "their" similar keystroke 
combinations don't conflict.  And that's not something that is affecting 
tens of millions of people.  That is affecting only the tiny Emacs 
community.

>> And this reply was right on target:
>>
>> Pushing the reset button or pulling the cable from the wall also
>> causes data loss, but you don't see flip covers protecting the reset
>> buttons nor are the power cables welded into the wall at one end and
>> the unit at the other. Unfortunately, there's no cure for human
>> stupidity ;-) -Igor
>>     
>
> The reset button is recessed, marked as reset, and everyone know what
> it does.  A few people in my family use Ubuntu and Fedora regularly
> (which was a surprise to me), and I can guarantee you they don't know
> or care what Ctrl-Alt-Backspace is, but would be annoyed if they hit it.
>
> If you're seriously suggesting that people equate the Backspace key to
> a power plug when you look at a keyboard, I cannot take you seriously.
>   
Do you even understand what that poster was trying to say?  He was 
saying that you cannot protect users from doing things out of 
stupidity.  Any user on an X server system should be aware that 
Ctrl-Alt-ANYTHING is going to do something.  And if they're not sure of 
what it does, then they shouldn't be typing it.


>   
>> And this reply:
>> Seems like it's a problem with emacs. Sure glad I use vi. :3
>> Seriously, no. Zap once, learn forever.
>>
>> And all the votes in the thread were "NO" for changing the behavior.   
>> Only the poller favored making any change.  So why did all these "NO"'s  
>> end up as a change in default behavior?
>>     
>
> Because we discussed it before (about ten times, actually), and came to
> a sensible conclusion which is not going to be changed, no matter how
> many individuals come forward claiming to represent the universal view
> of the entire Linux userbase.
>
> Cheers,
> Daniel, a vim user
>   

This was not a sensible conclusion at all.  It is the implementation of 
a special interest for a tiny minority group.  Pure and simple.


Regards,
Gerry

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