keyboard trends

[jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org (Jarod Wilson)]

On Jan 18, 2011, at 3:35 PM, Tom Metro wrote:
...
> Apparently Sony resurrected this trend about 4 years ago, and a couple
> of years ago Apple picked it up and popularized it. It has since spread
> to many other laptop and desktop manufacturers.
> 
> No doubt this has been primarily driven by aesthetics (and I guess they
> assume most of their buyers are too young to remember the junky
> keyboards that looked like this in the 80's), but manufacturers claim
> that the design makes typing less error prone. As you would expect, this
> claim has been debated, and the issue gets muddied due to Apple's
> involvement.
> 
> I can see merit in the concept, and would be curious to see if it would
> cut down on the number of times I misfire the caps lock key when I
> strike the "A" key. I tried out one in a store, and it seemed fine, but
> you can't really tell in 5 minutes. Anyone lived with one of these
> keyboard for a while?

Yes. I've got a MacBook Pro and the Apple Wireless Keyboard. I'm using
the wireless one 8-10hr/day at work right now, have been for a couple
of months now. I rather like it. Still not sure if I like it more than
an ergonomic split keyboard, but I'm definitely happy with it. Mine is
without number keys, and I haven't missed them, I touch-type number on
the top row sufficiently well enough, and it makes for a lot of spare
room on my desk with such a tiny keyboard (which sits alongside an
Apple Magic Trackpad, which I also really like). I can switch between
the slightly different layout and required use of modifier keys for
things like page up/down, delete, etc., on the Apple keyboard and a
full ergo keyboard[*] without a problem.

[*] a Microsoft(R) Wireless Natural(R) MultiMedia Keyboard

-- 
Jarod Wilson
jarod-ajLrJawYSntWk0Htik3J/w at public.gmane.org