Documentation for the AT&T Sceptre Videotex terminal

On 21 Nov 2007, at 18:06, Gordon JC Pearce wrote: Here, I've corrected your statement for you: Of course we've ignored one important fact about most modern keyboards - they're bloody awful... I have an IBM keyboard here with windows keys - it is at least as good as the Mac keyboard (assuming that was actually made by Apple) that you say you're using in your work PC (and, really, probably better). Of course, I've had this a few years, and perhaps IBM's (Lenovo's?) current keyboards aren't so good, but you can still pay 100 quid (that's c $200) for a keyboard if you want a good one. PCkeyboard.com offer buckling-spring models which feature the Windows key and which are "based on an award winning design, ... the same quality and crisp tactile feedback as their IBM predecessors"; if these are really as good as the model M, then I think there are few who would be unhappy with them; I find these prices to be surprisingly cheap. I'm sure you can alternatively get a top-of-the-range Cherry with Windows keys, and I'm got one old one of theirs here which I believe to be better than a model M. Back when my father bought his first "IBM-compatible" 286, he paid more than that for a keyboard, but in those days, so did everyone else - it was just one component in a c ?2000 package. Nowadays computers are cheap "commodity" items, and Walmart sell whole computer systems for $199. Are you surprised that the keyboards feel naff? I find the Windows keys pretty useful, being obliged to use Windows on a daily basis. All the keyboard shortcuts on Windows 2000 / XP and other Microsoft apps of this generation are well-panned & useful - I'm sure I've read that Microsoft conduct a good deal of usability research, hands-on with users. For those of us that like keyboard shortcuts a Mac is a VERY poor relation in this regard. Stroller.