Change is Good

Even though I've typed exclusively on a Maltron keyboard for almost ten years, I'm about to change to a different keyboard. While the curved "bowls" of keys on the Maltron are quite comfortable, and I've gotten very used to the "Malt" key layout, I'm in the process of switching to a Kinesis Advantage USB keyboard using the Dvorak key layout. Here are the pros and cons as I see them:

Maltron Pros

• Comfortable keyboard layout
  
• I type about 85-110wpm on it
  
• I have three of them (2 PS/2 and 1 ADB)
  
• Like an old friend
  
• Weird design freaks people out
  
• QWERTY and Malt key layouts
  

Maltron Cons

• Keyboard has weird bugs--certain key combinations flip CAPS LOCK on, keys repeat or get stuck on occasion
  
• Keyboards don't feel very sturdy
  
• New Maltrons (USB) have different physical key layout, which means if I buy one new one, I need to buy three new ones as I can't deal with slightly different layouts. The physical layout has already changed once in the past. :-(
  
• $500 price tag
  
• I really need to buy at least two new ones
  

Kinesis Pros

• Even more comfortable key layout
  
• Slightly less weird design still freaks people out
  
• Does Dvorak and QWERTY
  
• Well made
  
• USB Native
  
• Lack of keypad makes it easy to mount a touchpad in the middle of the keyboard
  
• $300 price tag (still, ouch)
  
• If I learn Dvorak on the Kinesis, I can probably pick up Dvorak on a flat keyboard pretty easily
  
• If I learn Dvorak on the Kinesis and a flat keyboard, I don't have to drag my huge keyboard with me on road trips
  
• Got one at the office
  
• Only need to buy one
  

Kinesis Cons

• I can only type 32wpm on it so far
  
• I don't have three of them
  
• Not wired into my brain for emacs keybindings
  

So I'm switching to the Kinesis soon and my goal is to do it by July 19th (my next road trip that I'll need to do a fair bit of typing on). When I switched to the Maltron so many years ago, I taped a layout of the keyboard to the top of my monitor and spent an hour a day for two weeks typing in correspondence to get the hang of the keyboard. After that I switched to Maltron at home for two weeks, went on vacation for a week, then switched to Maltron at the office. It was a pretty painful transition with several extremely frustrating days when I was only typing on the Maltron.

So in the interest of avoiding a ton of pain and suffering by just switching cold turkey to the Kinesis, I'm spending 15 minutes a day with Ten Thumbs (which I bought many years ago) until I get my speed up to 50wpm on the Kinesis, which seems likely to take me another three weeks or so. I'm hoping that by the time I get to 50wpm, the cost of switching won't be quite so high as I'll at least be somewhat familiar with the keyboard.

So here's hoping... now if only there were a way that I could get Ten Thumbs to test me on my emacs keybindings...