Das Keyboard Model S Ultimate

[Richard Pieri]

On Jan 20, 2011, at 2:51 PM, Tom Martinson wrote:
> 
>     When the fastest runner in the world wears nike, there might be 
> something.

Usually a rather substantial monetary compensation for the endorsement.

> When the fastest race car driver drives an ford, there might 
> be something there.

Again, usually a rather substantial monetary compensation for the endorsement.

> When the fastest super computer in the US is made 
> by Cray and uses AMD Opteron's there might be something.

AMD is cheaper than Intel.

As for Dvorak vs. Standard, Scholes set up his original typewriter not to make typing slower, but to make it faster.  Anyone who says that QWERTY exists to make typing slower is either lying or has bought into myth.  In practice, a good typist typing on a Standard layout is just as fast as an equally skilled typist typing on a Dvorak layout.  So says the US Navy and US G.A.O.... and I'm having a hell of a time finding the actual report.  I can find plenty of references to it but not the report itself.

For the record -- so to speak -- according to Guinness, the records for Standard typists are comparable to or better than Barbara's Dvorak records.  Here's one from IBM's files:

http://www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/exhibits/modelb/modelb_4509PH04.html

That 140 wpm record is sustained speed, a mere 10 wpm slower than Barbara's sustained typing speed.  Stella's 1 minute burst is 216 words, 4 words per minute faster than Barbara's best.

So no, the fastest English typist ever didn't use a Dvorak layout; she used an IBM Electric.

--Rich P.