On Dec 7, 2007, at 3:43 PM, cls@truffula.sj.ca.us wrote:
The PC keyboard had that exaggerated click so it would feel more like a Selectric typewriter. IBM Data Entry Division wanted to sell PCs through the typewriter channel because Armonk didn't want the PC.The Boca Raton marketing droids hoped it would be more familiar than thesomewhat ergonomic computer keyboards common in the late '70s, so it would be easier for typewriter salesmen to sell.
"Ergonomic" is not a word I'd use to describe the computers and terminals I'm familiar with from the late 70s. Most had truly awful keyboards. The Apple II, TRS-80, and VT-100 all had keyboards that just hit bottom, plastic-on-plastic, with no tactile feedback at all. I found it very hard to type quickly on those machines.