Much has changed in the computing world. Everything, it seems, except for the lowly and low-tech Qwerty keyboard. Here it sits on its own special pull-out drawer on every computer desk in the world, from pressed particle wood student desks to the fanciest of enterprise computing stations. The Qwerty keyboard even has its own little hidey-hole that smartly tucks away in the most modern of smartphones.
It’s utterly amazing that this awkward contraption created in 1872 keeps getting dragged forward into increasingly complex machines. The question is: Will the keyboard continue to be dragged forward with each new generation of computing or will it soon lapse into oblivion like the dinosaur it truly is?
Inventor C.L. Sholes designed the Qwerty keyboard for his typewriter prototype in the 1860s simply to overcome mechanical problems that jammed the machine. Each key on the board was tied to a rod that rose from a semicircle of similar rods in order to strike an ink ribbon and impress that letter on a paper page. If two letters with adjacent rods were struck in succession, the rods would hit each other and jam. By purposely building distance between frequently used letter pairs, Sholes overcame most of the jamming problem.
The Qwerty keyboard is arguably the oldest and best example of the importance of being the first to market. Sholes was the first to market with a typewriter and we’ve used his keyboard design faithfully ever since.
The typewriter is forgotten. Yet the keyboard continues all on its lonesome as the universal user interface for a variety of hardware. Sure, the Qwerty keyboard has been created in ergonomic shapes on occasion and we’ve added a few keys such as the Function row and the Escape key, but overall, it’s the same thing it was at inception.
Qwerty has seen competitors over the years like the Dvorak keyboard. Heard of it? Most major operating systems have the option of toggling to the Dvorak “simplified” keyboard, but few people know that and fewer still actually make the switch. Why? Users need to learn to type using a new system. Although, Dvorakians claim the alternate keyboard layout speeds typing and prevents physical ailments such as carpal tunnel syndrome, the keyboard hasn’t caught on – yet. Then again, the Dvorak keyboard wasn’t invented until 1936.
The telephone keypad came along in 1960 with the advent of touch tone technology. The keys doubled for numbers and letters but few people like this keyboard for typing – not even for typing short SMS (text) messages today.
Thus the Qwerty has easily risen above each and every one of its challengers over the decades. But will it finally succumb to new means of data entry such as touchscreen, motion commands, and voice recognition technologies?
“The extinction of the keyboard began with the introduction of the mouse, which provided a marked improvement over arrow keys for navigating in visual space,” says Phil Bowermaster, chief futurist and strategy guy at Zapoint, a career planning and learning tool for Human Resources departments. Indeed, Bowermaster makes a valid point in that keyboards “have become and will continue to become obsolete for many, many functions for which they were never a great fit, anyway.”
But the flipside of that is also the reason Qwerty keyboards will likely never disappear entirely: They are the perfect tool for data entry in most circumstances. Even the mighty mouse cannot keep pace.
“I try not to touch the mouse so I can use all the shortcuts in Microsoft Excel,” explains Scott Nguyen, an analyst.
But what about the touchscreen? How does it measure up to the old fashioned Qwerty?
Mom tech blogger at Well Connected Mom and self-titled “Touchscreen Queen,” Lori Cunningham, says it’s no contest. “For a brief e-mail or text, sure, touchscreen works fine,” she says. “But when you're writing a document or article, or book, you need a faster way to input information.”
Well, how about speech-to-text then? Wouldn’t it be simpler and faster to use speech technology for lengthy data input?
Speech recognition is becoming more accurate. “But the truth is, there are a number of circumstances where you are writing down your thoughts or taking notes and you do not want to disturb others, yet you need to be quick,” says Cunningham. “Examples of this are when you're on a plane, subway, in class, working in a company with low wall cubicles, in a meeting, etc.”
What about motion sensors then? Surely they are quieter to use. But can you imagine top executives flagging their arms about to enter data? Would a contact center representative truly be more efficient jumping, swaying, or blinking furiously to enter a customer’s address or needs on a service report? (Okay, so it’d be fun to watch.) Can accounting tasks be done faster if everyone from data entry peons to CPAs tapped their foot like a horse doing a counting trick?
As funny as these mental images are, they also underscore that Qwerty keyboards appear to be in no danger of ever being replaced in the enterprise space.
“Given the proliferation and importance of email, texting, PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets, and written business documents, using a keyboard of some sort would seem to remain a necessity,” says Timothy G. Wiedman, assistant professor of Management and Human Resources at Doane College.
