The Ghost of the Typewriter: Part 4 of 6

The Ghost of the Typewriter (Part 4): Commercial Success & The Trap

In Part 3, we saw a "Golden Age" of invention where pioneers proved that straight (columnar) keys were the biomechanical answer.

But in 1994, the Tech Giants entered the room. It was the "Year of the Ergonomic Keyboard." Apple, IBM, Cherry, and Microsoft all launched competing visions of the future. But strangely, they all made the same mistake.

The Battle of 1994: The Titans

The transition from "Medical Instrument" to "Consumer Product" began with a wave of releases from the world's most respected hardware companies.

Apple Adjustable Keyboard (1993)

Apple fired the first shot with a radical split design. It allowed users to change the angle (tenting/splaying) to widen their chest and straighten their wrists.

IBM Model M15 "Adjustable" (1994)

IBM, the king of keyboards, released a split version of their legendary Model M. It featured the famous "Buckling Spring" switches and a ball-joint mechanism that allowed for infinite tenting and splitting.

Cherry G80-5000 Ergoplus (1994)

German engineering giant Cherry released the G80-5000. It was a fully adjustable, split mechanical keyboard with Cherry MX switches and additional "wings" for wrist support.

Enter the Conqueror: Microsoft (1994)

While the others built complex, adjustable mechanisms, Microsoft took a mass-market approach with the Natural Keyboard. It used a fixed curved shape and cheaper membrane switches, backed by a massive marketing budget.

The Shared Fatal Flaw

Despite the fierce competition, the high prices, and the "Ergonomic" labels, every single one of these keyboards shared the same fatal flaw.

Bent but Broken

Whether it was the $100 Microsoft Natural or the expensive IBM Model M15, they all retained the Staggered Layout.

They split the board. They tented the board. But they refused to straighten the keys to help the fingers. By preserving the diagonal QWERTY stagger (the 1873 jam-prevention hack), they remained "Half-Measures."

They prioritized Familiarity over Anatomy. They wanted to sell ergonomics without forcing users to relearn how to type.

The Patent Freeze

Ultimately, Microsoft won the war. They aggressively patented their "Natural" design (US Patent 5,551,787). Following their explosive commercial success, the expensive, adjustable keyboards from Apple, IBM, and Cherry vanished from the market.

Whether it was the patents or the price war, the result was the same: The "Split Staggered" design became the global definition of ergonomics.

The Chill Effect: For the next 20 years, innovation froze. Truly ergonomic keyboards (Columnar) were pushed to the fringe. Even Kinesis eventually released the Freestyle line, adopting a split-staggered design to survive in a Microsoft world.

Next in the Series: In Part 5, we analyze the most damaging consequence of this monopoly. How Microsoft's dominance contaminated medical science itself, leading researchers to test the wrong keyboards for decades.

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