The numeric keypad is the opposite way round from how it is on a phone
The QWERTY configuration for typewriters can be traced, actually, to the telegraph.
www.theatlantic.com
Damn, that led to such a recursive rabbit-hole of linked articles. To the point where I forgot what it was I was originally looking for.
See, I'm sure I heard long, long ago that story about QWERTY being intended to slow typists down (to stop the mechanism of early typewriters getting entangled). I'm also sure I heard almost as long ago that that was a myth.
What's more intriguing is the way that "The QWERTY effect" has become a central illustration (if not strictly 'evidence') of the idea that path-dependence can mean markets don't always produce optimum results.
I think Krugman made a big deal about that at one point. As did another liberal-leaning economist I read once (Ormorod?). Then I noticed there was a bit of a backlash from libertarian pro-market types, who want to claim that the 'market' winner _is_ usually the best solution, arguing that it's not really true that QWERTY only beat Dvorak because of first-mover advantage. Because the whole issue is important to the case for or against government intervention in markets.
The article linked above, doesn't really answer the question that it claims to address (what was the real reason for the QWERTY layout) , it just refers you on to this article:
The invention's true origin story has long been the subject of debate. Some argue it was created to prevent typewriter jams, while others insist it's linked to the telegraph
www.smithsonianmag.com
Which in turn mentions that Dvorak is in fact not more efficient than QWERTY, but doesn't explain why, just refers you on to this post
Michael Pyne sends in an article published at Reason Online 13 years ago, dismantling the entrenched myth that the Dvorak keyboard layout is a superior technology to QWERTY. The odd thing is that this 13-year-old article recaps research (refereed and published in a respected economics journal)...
hardware.slashdot.org
Which also doesn't answer the question but just refers you to this article - which does seem to make a good case that the claims for Dvorak over QWERTY are based on very questionable evidence.
The standard typewriter keyboard is Exhibit A in the hottest new case against markets. But the evidence has been cooked.
reason.com
So maybe it really doesn't matter what layout a keyboard uses, as long as you get accustomed to it?
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