Windows button should open Main Menu by default

Bug #388534 reported by gdi2k
6
This bug affects 1 person
Affects Status Importance Assigned to Milestone
One Hundred Papercuts
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Undecided
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Ubuntu
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Undecided
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Bug Description

Nearly all keyboards have a Windows button like this one:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/33359003@N00/3635330369/

When using Windows, pressing this key brings up the Start Menu, the central starting point for launching applications and accessing folders and documents.

Ubuntu's equivalent to the Start Menu is the Main Menu at the top left of the screen on a default installation (Applications / Places / System).

Currently the Windows button is not mapped, which seems like a waste of a button that's not going away any time soon. To most users coming from Windows, the most intuitive behaviour would be if said button opened Ubuntu's Main Menu. This is easily doable through System -> Keyboard Shortcuts, but most users don't change default settings.

This would be a good papercuts candidate as it requires no coding, just a change in default keyboard shortcut preferences for the next Ubuntu edition.

Update:
It was rightly pointed out to me that this has been previously reported and I have now marked it as a duplicate. However, the duplicate bug comes to the conclusion that the Windows key should not be mapped because "Ubuntu is not intended to be compared to or mimic the Windows OS in any way".

I disagree, here's why:

 - 90% of the world's computer-using population use or have previously used Windows. Nearly all Ubuntu users are current or ex-Windows users. Making the transition as easy as possible will maximise successful transitions.

 - The behaviour of the Windows key has become ubiquitous among the vast majority of computer users the world over, just as the left mouse button is known to select things, the right mouse button brings up context-sensitive menus, F1 brings up help, directories are known as folders and the close button is always at the top right of a window. Changing any of these things would drive users away. Applications not appearing after a push of the Windows button simply confuses people as the behaviour (or lack of) is unexpected.

 - Most people don't care about the Linux ideology. Avoiding common UI design implementations for the sake of "not mimicing Windows" simply makes it harder for new users to get started. Gnome mimics Windows in more ways than most Linux DEs (and is also the most successful). Why should the Windows key be any different?

 - Doing a quick Google search reveals that this is a very popular modification for Ubuntu users:

    * http://brainstorm.ubuntu.com/idea/5182/
    * http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/ubuntu/use-the-windows-key-for-the-start-menu-in-ubuntu-linux/
    * http://blog.myjotnotes.com/2008/12/21/setting-up-the-windows-key-in-ubuntu/
    * http://gandhiakshay.wordpress.com/2008/09/17/map-windows-key-to-start-in-ubuntu/
    * http://ubuntulinuxhelp.com/10-things-to-do-after-installing-ubuntu-linux/ (item 7)
    * http://iamyouruser.blogspot.com/2008/12/ubuntu-windows-key.html
    * http://fixlog.blogspot.com/2006/09/windows-key-to-access-ubuntu-start-menu.html
    * http://www.pcmech.com/article/linux-mint-the-ubuntu-that-should-have-been/ ("In [Linux] Mint I can pop up the apps with the Super key alone and I dig that.")

Why are we forcing users to google the solution when it could just be fixed by default?

gdi2k (gdi2k)
description: updated
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