Dragaera

QWERTY vs Dvorak - anyone made the switch?

Mark A. Mandel thnidu at yahoo.com
Fri Jan 28 18:29:48 PST 2005

Charlie and Johne are both asking about the Dvorak keyboard. Folks, I am not
knocking that, but I want to be sure you are aware of another alternative:
speech recognition software. I am not typing this letter, I'm dictating it. I'm
using Dragon NaturallySpeaking Professional, version 7.3 (version 8 is out
now). It sure isn't perfect, but it sure beats the hell out of the typing that
was beating the hell out of my hands.

Disclaimer, if you like: I am not a totally unbiased participant. From 1990 to
2001, when the company that had bought us went bankrupt, I was the Chief
Linguist for Dragon Systems. I used the program then because I enjoyed it,
because it was helpful, and because in principle it was the right thing to "eat
our own cooking". Now I use it because I have to.

I don't read this list as often as I might, so if either of you -- or anyone
else out there -- wants more information from me about it, write to me at this
address as well as writing to the list.

-- Mark A. Mandel
   Chief Linguist, Dragon Systems, Inc. (R.I.P.), 1990-2001
   [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]

--- Charlie Arnold <tenebrious_mockingbird at yahoo.com> wrote:

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Johne Cook [mailto:johne.cook at gmail.com] 
> Sent: Thursday, January 27, 2005 9:02 AM
> To: Dragaera list
> Subject: QWERTY vs Dvorak - anyone made the switch?

 
> I'm right there.  I'm feeling some ghost pain in my hands, nothing much,
> but enough to make me just a bit nervous.  And then I remembered reading
> the Piers Anthony (who is nothing if not prolific) switched to Dvorak
> and was more prolific and effective than ever.  And then I realized that
> I was again checking out various Dvorak articles.
> 
> I'm standing here at the edge of the cliff and am curious if any of you
> have taken the plunge, and if you have any tips or considerations beyond
> the obvious.



		
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