deskthority

I always assumed that the staggered arrangement was a holdover from the days of typewriters - when it wasn't possible to arrange the keys in a grid.

Well... Here's a typewriter from 1895 that proves that an XY was possible...
.

There's a picture collection of unusual typewriters http://ergo.human.cornell.edu/ErgoPROJE ... rless.html

Wooo!

LOL. It is a peerless. I wonder if the tactility moves around depending on how fast you type ... and if every third random typewriter feels really weird.
Yes.. I know that I am being silly and disrespectful. It is a beautiful piece of engineering, that.

Yeah, the name is now associated with something worse

You can forget touch typing, with 2 sets of characters, 1 for upper case and another for lower.

The really old typewriters made you use capital i for a 1 so they could save a hammer - this one is clearly aimed at the business user (as if there were any other kind back in the day).