I never said it does. I just said that only a minority of niche customers actually hold the same opinion as you. The vast majority of people are perfectly happy with both the new keyboards and the lack of a physical escape key. You don't prefer it but that has to mean that you're a minority of the population that buys their products.

Indeed. In this, and other things besides. Consequentially I've learned to be distrustful of majorities, and their self-appointed spokespeople in particular.

Back on topic, though: thankfully the new Air has an Escape key and enough grunt to develop on (the MacBook being underpowered for some tasks). I was not looking forward to exiting the Apple/OSX ecosystem for my next laptop.