Re: Qwerty and Dvorak touch-typing.

[Norman Bauman nbauman@xxxxxxxx]

Phil,

Do you have any idea how *fast* you type in Dvorak?

There was recently a debate, which I don't want to take sides on, about
whether Dvorak was *really* faster than Qwerty. With regard to the question
of whether it was possible for Microsoft or anyone to dominate the industry
with a technically inferior product, some economists were using the Dvorak
keyboard as an example of a technically superior product that failed. Some
other economists were arguing, on the Wall Street Journal editorial page,
that the original claims of the superiority of Dvorak were exaggerated. I
certainly wouldn't take the WSJ editorial page on faith, but they did raise
the question of, how do I really know that Dvorak is better. I dunno. Does
somebody really know?

Norman


At 06:19 PM 5/23/00 -0400, P Ferreira wrote:
>
>I gave up Qwerty for Dvorak in 1983 and I've never looked back. I wasn't
>much of a Qwerty typist. So it made no sense for me to try to maintain those
>old skills. However, I did know a woman who remained highly proficient on
>Qwerty even after she took up Dvorak.
>
>I think that you may overestimate the need for Qwerty once you switch.
>Every system running windows can be easily made to run Dvorak. (It's in the
>"properties" section of the standard US keyboard. You'll need to download
>some files from Microsoft to enable Dvorak with DOS, though.) And if you
>need to type on a standard typewriter there are -- or at least there were --
>available Dvorak "balls" and "wheels" (or whatever they're called) that
>immediately transform many electric typewriters.
>
>You should also realize that in addition to greater speed there is less
>fatigue. Besides typing much faster, I can type for longer periods of time.
>Since the hands move much less with the Dvorak keyboard, you should be more
>relaxed when you type. And Xywrite can, of course, easily load a customized
>Dvorak keyboard.
>
>Phil Ferreira
>ferreira@xxxxxxxx



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