Will Windows 8 make my keyboard redundant?

Q I’m aware that Microsoft will soon launch Windows 8 to replace Windows 7. I have not yet decided whether I will upgrade to this latest version but one thing that might put me off is the new Windows logo.

I have an ageing but reliable keyboard that I’d be loath to lose but it has a Windows key with a flag-style logo. I use this key all the time to open the Start menu, so I’m worried it will not work in Windows 8, with its new geometric logo – especially since, from what I have read, opening the Start menu in the new Windows is not easy.
Julia Cook

A Worry not – your current keyboard will continue to work in Windows just as it always has.

Microsoft introduced the Windows key with its Natural Keyboard product, designed to support the launch of Windows 95, in 1995. Since then, there have been various new versions of Windows, each with new logos, but the function of the Windows key hasn’t changed – by default, it has always opened the Start menu.

This won’t change in Windows 8, even though this forthcoming operating system has a new logo. In short, your keyboard will continue to send the same command when you press the Windows key, and in Windows 8 that will indeed open the Start menu.