[OT] QWERTY key layout (was Re: BigApache for Windows - Why doesn't BSD have an installerpackage like this ???)

[Svein Halvor Halvorsen]

[Bill Moran, 2004-08-01]
>  I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that the qwerty layout
>  was not designed for raw speed (as some people think) but was designed
>  for speed on _mechanical_ typewriters.  i.e. part of it's design is
>  to maximize the possibility that you'll alternate left-hand/right-hand,
>  thus minimizing the possibility that the hammers that fly up and strike
>  the paper won't jam.  (probably most of you have never used a truely
>  _manual_ typewriter, and thus don't understand the mechanics ...

This is probably not true (that most of us have never used one of those,
that is.) It's not -that- long, since these were in common use, probably
just 20 years. And even though I'm not alot older than that myself, most
people my age have seen and played with one of those as a kid. Everyone
had one in the attic, if not your parents, at least your grand parent.

I can, by the way, confirm what you've read. The qwerty layout -is- indeed
designed to make typing slow, in order to minimize the posibility of a jam