http://healthytechtalk.com/2010/01/05/podcast-about-ergonomic-keyboards-mice-and-tech-news-jan-4th-2010/ Sun, 11 Jul 2010 09:49:27 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.9.2 hourly 1 http://healthytechtalk.com/2010/01/05/podcast-about-ergonomic-keyboards-mice-and-tech-news-jan-4th-2010/comment-page-1/#comment-7868 Don Patterson Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:44:31 +0000 http://healthytechtalk.com/?p=930#comment-7868 Based on 18 years of experience, I think the DataHand keyboard is worth much more than it costs, and in my opinion all the other options are a net negative. I would not want them if you gave them to me for free and paid me thousands of dollars to use them. Some people want to stick with the antique keyboard paradigm out of cultural habit, but they should not---if they were smart. (The Orbitouch can be valuable for people with certain disabilities, as you noted, but I am not among those.) Full disclosure: I am a DataHand shareholder, but I am proud of that, because I believe in investing in products I think are offering something important. In addition, I used the product for almost a decade, before I said anything about my experience; I allowed that much time to be sure the product was as valuable as I thought it would be. Nonetheless, it is not without areas where improvements are still needed. For example, its mouse functionality is not as good as it should be, so I supplement it with either a trackpad or a trackball. Other improvements are needed, but for alphanumeric entry the DataHand keyboard is the best there is, especially for people who need to do a large amount of continuous typing every day. Yet, I would not ask people to take my word for anything; people should only to take my view as one person's opinion to be checked out. There can be reasons why the DataHand keyboard can wrong for some people. Hand size can be an issue for example; people with very large, very small, or unusually shaped hands may not find it right. The keyboard should not be bought on an impulse; it should be studied thoroughly first by reading everything on the company web site as well as everything found through an Internet search. Even then, people will not understand everything, but they will understand enough to get started and enough to know why changing keyboards might be worth the trouble. They will begin to understand what is wrong with the established alternatives---and why. Based on 18 years of experience, I think the DataHand keyboard is worth much more than it costs, and in my opinion all the other options are a net negative. I would not want them if you gave them to me for free and paid me thousands of dollars to use them.
Some people want to stick with the antique keyboard paradigm out of cultural habit, but they should not—if they were smart. (The Orbitouch can be valuable for people with certain disabilities, as you noted, but I am not among those.)
Full disclosure: I am a DataHand shareholder, but I am proud of that, because I believe in investing in products I think are offering something important. In addition, I used the product for almost a decade, before I said anything about my experience; I allowed that much time to be sure the product was as valuable as I thought it would be. Nonetheless, it is not without areas where improvements are still needed. For example, its mouse functionality is not as good as it should be, so I supplement it with either a trackpad or a trackball. Other improvements are needed, but for alphanumeric entry the DataHand keyboard is the best there is, especially for people who need to do a large amount of continuous typing every day. Yet, I would not ask people to take my word for anything; people should only to take my view as one person’s opinion to be checked out. There can be reasons why the DataHand keyboard can wrong for some people. Hand size can be an issue for example; people with very large, very small, or unusually shaped hands may not find it right. The keyboard should not be bought on an impulse; it should be studied thoroughly first by reading everything on the company web site as well as everything found through an Internet search. Even then, people will not understand everything, but they will understand enough to get started and enough to know why changing keyboards might be worth the trouble. They will begin to understand what is wrong with the established alternatives—and why.

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