Pointless Buttons and Keys

I have a 23 inch Apple Cinema HD Display, and love it. It makes work fun. This is the only thing of mine you will hear me brag about. The only display that could be better would be the 230 inch Apple Cinema HD Display, but they do not make those yet.

Well, I do have one little complaint. One teeny tiny little complaint. There are three touch sensitive areas on the right that go brighter, dimmer, and one that is supposed to turn off your computer. Why, when I press this button, does it give me a menu of choices on-screen? Sure, I can hit Return to select Shut Down, the default. Presumably the purpose of this is to save you from accidentally touching your display and turning your computer off. But it seems more logical to have that button put your computer to sleep. No need to ask questions, really, people will figure it out. But to have it pop up a question on my screen, imploring me to go grab my mouse to make a selection, seems utterly silly.

This reminds me a lot of the vestigial help key on my keyboard. What does it do, exactly? Did it ever really do anything? Why don’t they make it do something?