Re: Kinesis Sexual Advantage

On Sat, Oct 17, 2009 at 2:19 PM, Gregory G <[email protected]> wrote:
> Been reading a bit of the posts from some of you programmers and I'd just like to say that if you've not switched to the Kinesis advantage keyboard yet, I do not know what you are waiting for. Among the major advantages ...
[snip - many good advantages]

On the other hand... The curly and square braces, which programmers of
most languages use pretty damn often, are in about the worst possible
position, and the +/= key is almost as bad. The arrow keys, which i
use a lot more than normal typists when jumping around in code are now
broken up and far less usable. There's also the ~/` key which is now
more awkward than before, given that one doesn't get tooo much use but
still it's used more by command line jockeys than normal folk.

Combine it with Dvorak (which the Advantage can easily switch to) and
things become even worse.

Then there's the problem of when you go to type on your laptop. Maybe
it's not so bad for querty folk but every time I'm on my laptop and
make the mistake of stopping and thinking about where any of the keys
that Kinesis went and moved around are I'm screwed. I always seem to
stumble on the {} because my fingers, so used to moving low on the
right hand when coding at work, now are confused and wandering....

And then there's the problem of  MS Outlook. I wouldn't be surprised
if this was just a foible of mine, but in outlook if you hit control
and enter while typing an e-mail it sends it. On the Advantage, the
control key is just above enter which you hit with the very imprecise
side of your thumb which means that maybe once a week, when i'm really
typing quickly I'll shoot an e-mail off when i'm trying for a
paragraph break... very annoying. Yes, using a non-crap e-mail client
would fix this but nothing else works well with exchange's
calendaring.

Most of all there's the fact that you will be utterly annoyed you will
be that while you bought one for home you couldn't afford to buy one
for work too (or vice-versa). You'll use your non-Advantage keyboards
with a sense of grim reluctance, like trudging through a swamp. You
only do it because you have to... stupid swamp. stupid cheap MS
"ergonomic" keyboard... "they wouldn't know 'ergonomic' if I hit them
over the head with it.... can I please?!"  You'll try not to think
about the fact that there's no hope of ever seeing a laptop with a
keyboard like your sweet Advantage.

You'll also be annoyed with your gutless coworkers who are afraid to
touch it at work, but secretly happy that you are the only who will
ever be touching your computer. You will try and convert them to the
Advantage religion and they will give you "hmms" and "yeah that makes
sense"(s) when you talk to them after their latest mention of
"ergonomics" or bout of wrist pain, and then go back to using their
straight lined Querty torture devices. Heathens! What will it take to
make them see the light?!


-Kate

P.s. Greg's mostly right... Although the bit about the porn star... I
think that might only be true if it was just one opportunity to have
sex with them. If it was daily sex with them vs the Advantage... well,
the Advantage would still win, but only because porn stars aren't know
for being particularly great for talking to between the sessions of
awesome sex.



Greg's suggested advantages:

is that things such as backspace the control button are handled by the
strong, agile and opposable thumbs. In addition the entire rows are in
a straight alignment instead of in that awkward jig jag that is a
child of Qwerty 1873 design due to the mechanical links from the keys
to the typers required at the time. The man who invented the split
keyboard - Kroamer - did much good work.  His basic research was
obviously used in creating the Kinesis as they did not miss a trick.
And the separate pockets of a Maltron keyboard combined with the
optional programmable three pedal footpad will make any programmer
worth his salt think of his own ideas for their use as the basic
functions are already well designed.  All told, the money that you
spend on one of these is worth giving up movies once week for six
months.  At first they are a bit hard to get used to even for trained
Dvorak typists but the pleasure you will find and the joy of using one
far surpasses any good that could possiibly come from having sex with
your favorite porn star.  And, cheaper too.