-Caveat Lector-
Kris Millegan wrote:
>
> -Caveat Lector-
>
> from:
> http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/special/engelbart/part2.htm
> <A HREF="http://www.mercurycenter.com/svtech/news/special/engelbart/part2.htm"
> >SiliconValley.com: News </A>
> -----
> He manipulates the screen with a mouse in his right hand, while typing
> commands with his left hand on something that looks like five piano
> keys, called a chord keyset.
>
> "I can 'talk' to the computer at the same time that I'm 'pointing,' " he
> explains. Although Engelbart spent the next 10 minutes describing how
> this device works, I never did understand him. He's the first to admit
> he's a lousy salesman of his own ideas, a serious handicap for a
> revolutionary.
>
> The chord keyset, I subsequently learned, is ingenious. It's an
> auxiliary to a standard keyboard, allowing you to deliver commands in a
> shorthand code. If your right hand is busy using the mouse, your left
> hand can keep working.
>
> "It needs to be much easier to use before I'd buy it," I tell him.
>
> Engelbart's easygoing manner vanishes. "I hate the term 'user-friendly,'
> " says the guy credited with virtually inventing the concept. "People
> balk if they have to learn a different way of doing something."
>
> The keyset has never been turned into a viable commercial product -
> which drives Engelbart nuts. To Engelbart, the fact that many of his
> innovations are user-friendly is incidental. He believes the commercial
> world's fixation on user-friendliness has seriously slowed down the
> computer revolution. Instead of developing the best tools, marketers
> want products that are easy to use, even if they aren't the most
> productive. So consumers are sold inferior products. He sighs, "This is
> what I came up against in the '70s."
I have a set of two keyboards, one for each hand which each have a
key each for the fingers and three keys for the thumb. Each by itself
can be used to type anything one would type with a standard keyboard.
They work by cording. Some letters use only one finger, but others may
use two, three, four or even all five. Some things have to be done by
shifting with one of the auxiliary thumb keys. This changes the
configuration of the whole keyboard temporarily.
I have used this keyboard set up with just the left hand for entering
music into a music typesetting program with great benefit. I can see
that it would be useful for other programs such as graphics or
databases. Any program which requires a lot of mousing or keyboard work
other then straight text entering. Entering text is may be very
efficient also, but I never got that good at it. So, anyway, the device
mentioned in the story is basically available, though perhaps somewhat
different (maybe better). It is called a "BAT". The company is called
Infogrip, inc. 805-566-1049 1-800-397-0921 They are at: 1141 East Main
St., Ventura, CA 93001
Howard Davis
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