Re: ABC vs. QWERTY

Back in the mid '80s, my sister had a dual-floppy Kaypro XT clone.  My
niece, at age 2, could find the right floppy disk, insert it in the
drive (right side up), power on the PC, and type the name of her game at
the DOS prompt.  No problem with learning her ABCs and no confusion with
the "QWE"s.

I'd recommend the QWERTY keyboard and if the question comes up in a
couple of years as to why it isn't ABC, take the kid to a museum, show
them a typewriter, and explain that QWERTY made it so those sticks that
pounded the letters on to the page got jammed less often.

Whether or not it also triggers a rant about standards is up to you.  :)

John A. Jones, CISSP
Americas Information Security Officer
Jones Lang LaSalle, Inc.
V: +1-630-455-2787 F: +1-312-601-1782
john.jones@xxxxxxxxxx

-----Original Message-----
From: pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:pctech-bounces@xxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Joe Pluta
Sent: Saturday, July 08, 2006 10:06 PM
To: 'PC Technical Discussion for iSeries Users'
Subject: Re: [PCTECH] ABC vs. QWERTY

From: Gary Kuznitz

This question is best suited for a child behaviorist not for the 
people that use "PC's a LOT".

<shudder>  I'm actually very uncomfortable with the current state of
behavioral science particularly when it comes to children; this is the
group of folks who gave us an entire generation of children on Ritalin
and who have pretty much turned any behavioral issue into a syndrome
(God forbid it should actually be a parenting problem).

That personal position aside, what I was really looking for was input
from people who use keyboards regularly as to whether or not they think
switching keyboards is difficult.  As I said, I have difficulty with the
split keyboard or with slightly modified 5250 layouts, so it may be that
I'm hyper-sensitive.  But it seems that lots of people think the QWERTY
keyboard is the way to go, so I'm thinking I may just go that way.
Plus, it's a USB keyboard, which means I should be able to use both the
BigKeys keyboard and the regular keyboard, so that we can help Anthony
out.

There are lots of toys to learn the alphabet.  Get some variety in his

life.  While to you the keyboard is the staple of your life to him he 
should grow up knowing there is more than a keyboard in the world.

I know it's hard to believe, but I didn't push the keyboard on him.  As
an infant I did stuffed animals; Anthony now has more stuffed animals
than any human being should have.  Then it was balls of all shapes and
sizes, and in the last six months we've started on trucks.  The keyboard
thing I think came from watching Daddy (many emails have gone out with
Anthony's imprimatur, especially in the early days before I realized he
is as quick as he is).  After having to stop him from making mayhem on
my Word documents, I finally decided to show him some online toddler
games (Fisher-Price has some great ones).

But it was at the Kohl Children's Museum in Glenview where we saw the
BigKeys keyboards -- they were using them in kiosks for Reader Rabbit
games, and he loved them.  And when I looked into the keyboard for him,
I saw the ABC and QERTY models, and hence the question.

Joe


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