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Hail to the dinosaurs! Seriously, this mentality is the main reason why keyboard aren't improving. Dvorak was right: "I'm tired of trying to do something wort

Hail to the dinosaurs! Seriously, this mentality is the main reason why keyboard aren't improving. Dvorak was right: "I'm tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, they simply don't want to change!" > The benefits of the Dvorak layout aren't well proven (if they exist at all), but some people find the layout more comfortable to use. The benefits are obvious and well established. Only irrational fools and extreme believers in the so called "efficient market" would believe otherwise. It just have a learning curve, which most people don't want to suffer. Some people find Dvorak more comfortable? Come on, nearly everyone who has tried it for over a month would reckon it's more comfortable. > Good keyboards are standard keyboards. No. This is a good keyboard: http://ergodox.org/ http://ergodox.org/ This is an okay keyboard: http://typematrix.com/ http://typematrix.com/ (I have tried that one myself, and got used to its layout in a couple hours. And I touch type too.) If we switch to such layouts overnight, people would complain for a few months, then forget about it. I even suspect that after the fact, most would mock the silliness of keeping the staggered design even though the keyboards were no longer mechanical. > Good keyboards are […] keyboards that […] let me switch effortlessly to other systems. Oh, you're the rare breed who use several systems regularly? I suggest you buy a keyboard you like, and plug it to those various systems. Unless you're an even rarer bread who cannot even even plug external keyboards to his computers for security reasons.

dsr_ 13y ago
"you're the rare breed who use several systems regularly?" Rare? I don't know anyone who doesn't. In a typical day, I use a MBP, an IBM Model M, a Unicomp EnduraPro (modern equivalent to the Model M, only slightly inferior), and one or two random keyboards. Oh, and my phone. Even my elementary-school-age son will use two or three keyboards in a day: one on a laptop, one on the desktop in the living room, and a virtual one on his tablet.
- loup-vaillant 13y ago
  (Phones and tablets don't count: they have no keyboard to begin with.) I write custom software for a living. I use 2 desktop computers: one at home, one at work. I plug my typematrix to both. When I'm on vacation, I may use my laptop, to which I pug my typematrix as well. Some of my co-workers (10%) also use a laptop at work, because they have to move around. Others (1%) are sysadmins, and often have to go to the server room. Both could buy a keyboard, and plug it to the computers they use. The sysadmins would have to pay for an additional keyboard that stays on the server room. By the way, I use a completely non-standar keyboard layout. Like Dvorak, only optimized for French (Bépo). Since I only rarely use systems that I don't control, this is okay. 90% of my co-workers are in the same situation. What do you work on that requires you to use several different keyboards you don't choose on a daily basis? To me that doesn't sound rare. That sounds alien.
  - dsr_ 13y ago
    I chose the IBM and the Unicomp. I don't like the Apple keyboard much, but I don't use it much. Random keyboards are needed because I might be bringing up new hardware and using whatever keyboard is supplied or debugging a user's problem and using their keyboard. Lots of people have a personal laptop, a personal desktop, and a work laptop or desktop. My wife has her own preferences in keyboards; so do my kids.
    - loup-vaillant 13y ago
      > Random keyboards are needed because I might be bringing up new hardware and using whatever keyboard is supplied or debugging a user's problem and using their keyboard. Ah, that sucks. If I did that often, I'd likely bring my own keyboard, and a software utility to temporarily change the layout from Qwerty to Bépo. It's a drag, but not as much as suffering Qwerty. > Lots of people have a personal laptop, a personal desktop, and a work laptop or desktop. I have too. It's just that since I control the keyboard I use on my desktop, so it doesn't really count. As for my laptop, I just put my Typematrix on top of the original keyboard (or on my lap). Ideally, though, I would have liked to have standard keyboard slots in laptops, so I can insert my favourite keyboard instead of the default one. It doesn't have to be ergonomic. Just a little more sensible: http://loup-vaillant.fr/articles/better-keyboards http://loup-vaillant.fr/articles/better-keyboards > My wife has her own preferences in keyboards; so do my kids. Looks that it strengthen one of my points: good keyboards aren't standard. They're adapted to their users. Hence my point about laptop keyboards. It would be sooo cool if users could change them.

dsr_ 13y ago

"you're the rare breed who use several systems regularly?" Rare? I don't know anyone who doesn't. In a typical day, I use a MBP, an IBM Model M, a Unicomp EnduraPro (modern equivalent to the Model M, only slightly inferior), and one or two random keyboards. Oh, and my phone. Even my elementary-school-age son will use two or three keyboards in a day: one on a laptop, one on the desktop in the living room, and a virtual one on his tablet.

loup-vaillant 13y ago
(Phones and tablets don't count: they have no keyboard to begin with.) I write custom software for a living. I use 2 desktop computers: one at home, one at work. I plug my typematrix to both. When I'm on vacation, I may use my laptop, to which I pug my typematrix as well. Some of my co-workers (10%) also use a laptop at work, because they have to move around. Others (1%) are sysadmins, and often have to go to the server room. Both could buy a keyboard, and plug it to the computers they use. The sysadmins would have to pay for an additional keyboard that stays on the server room. By the way, I use a completely non-standar keyboard layout. Like Dvorak, only optimized for French (Bépo). Since I only rarely use systems that I don't control, this is okay. 90% of my co-workers are in the same situation. What do you work on that requires you to use several different keyboards you don't choose on a daily basis? To me that doesn't sound rare. That sounds alien.
- dsr_ 13y ago
  I chose the IBM and the Unicomp. I don't like the Apple keyboard much, but I don't use it much. Random keyboards are needed because I might be bringing up new hardware and using whatever keyboard is supplied or debugging a user's problem and using their keyboard. Lots of people have a personal laptop, a personal desktop, and a work laptop or desktop. My wife has her own preferences in keyboards; so do my kids.
  - loup-vaillant 13y ago
    > Random keyboards are needed because I might be bringing up new hardware and using whatever keyboard is supplied or debugging a user's problem and using their keyboard. Ah, that sucks. If I did that often, I'd likely bring my own keyboard, and a software utility to temporarily change the layout from Qwerty to Bépo. It's a drag, but not as much as suffering Qwerty. > Lots of people have a personal laptop, a personal desktop, and a work laptop or desktop. I have too. It's just that since I control the keyboard I use on my desktop, so it doesn't really count. As for my laptop, I just put my Typematrix on top of the original keyboard (or on my lap). Ideally, though, I would have liked to have standard keyboard slots in laptops, so I can insert my favourite keyboard instead of the default one. It doesn't have to be ergonomic. Just a little more sensible: http://loup-vaillant.fr/articles/better-keyboards http://loup-vaillant.fr/articles/better-keyboards > My wife has her own preferences in keyboards; so do my kids. Looks that it strengthen one of my points: good keyboards aren't standard. They're adapted to their users. Hence my point about laptop keyboards. It would be sooo cool if users could change them.