Except, it turns out, streaming services.

They use alphabetic keyboards. Worse, each one has a unique layout!

Want to search for that movie staring that guy who was in the film with that one who does the adverts for that thing you like? Here's the keyboards on the various streaming services I have:

Amazon Prime

Three rows. A-M. N-Z. Then a full number row 1-0.

Apple TV

A 6x7 grid. All lower case letters, with numbers appearing directly after the letter z.

BBC iPlayer

A 10x3 grid for the letters, and a separate number pad which goes 1-4, 5-8, 9-0 - unlike any other number pad I've seen.

Channel 4

The same letter grid as Amazon, albeit in upper-case. The space and delete are at the top, rather than the bottom.

Netflix

(I'd learned how to take screenshots from my FireStick by this point.) The same A-F grid as Channel 4 - but space and delete are reversed.

UKTV Play

The same A-F grid as C4 and Netflix. But this adds a "Clear" button. Oh, and numbers start from 0, not 1.

ITVX

The same A-J grid as the BBC, but space is bigger and delete is somewhere else. Also, the numbers are on the top row like a QWERTY keyboard!

BTW, does anyone need a # & £ button on a search?

Others

Feel free to supply your own screenshots for whichever streaming platform you prefer.

WTAF?!

What I don't understand is why they're like this. I assume each of these services have conducted extensive user testing to see what layout people prefer, and which is faster for the average user, right? Do none of their users have a smartphone? Do they turn away from their smart-TV and handwrite letters with a quill and ink?

I get that an A-Z layout is more logical than QWERTY. But surely there are more people who use QWERTY than not? Perhaps the technophobes generate more support calls? Maybe it's just too complicated to ask users if they want a choice of layout?

But this is my plea to anyone who has to display a virtual on-screen keyboard. Just use QWERTY!

I'm currently reading Melissa Schilling's book "Strategic management of technological innovation".

In a passage talking about customers' resistance to new inventions and the destruction of domain knowledge, it talks about the invention of the Dvorak keyboard. Supposedly better than the QWERTY keyboard - but ignored by the majority of customers.

August Dvorak is said to have died a bitter man, claiming, “I’m tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race. They simply don’t want to change!”

Is that true? The citation is maddeningly vague - as most citations are - saying only "Diamond, “The Curse of QWERTY.”"

Which Diamond? Dustin from Saved By The Bell? Which publication? Cat Fancier Quarterly?

A quick search found it on Wikiquote - albeit with a broken link. I found the original - a 1997 article by Jared Diamend.

August Dvorak died in 1975, a bitter man: I’m tired of trying to do something worthwhile for the human race, he complained. They simply don’t want to change!

Diamond doesn't list his sources. So it's off to Google books!

A search for a variation of that quote turned up 1972's Computers and People, Volume 21

Annoyingly, Google only shows a snippet, so we can't see who the author was or if the article is entitled "Imaginary conversations I had with great inventors while I was out of my gourd on drugs."

I couldn't find it in any easily accessible archives. The British Library only has Volume 22 onwards

Luckily, my Twitter gang are excellent

Terence Eden is on Mastodon

@edent

So, any Computer Science Historians have a copy of:
Computers and People
Volume 21
1972
Publisher: Berkeley Enterprises

THANKS GANG!

---

Andy T

@_andy_tea

@edent I don't think it's quite what you're looking for? But this link might still be interesting / helpful? :) archive.org/details/bitsav…

---

Indeed! The journal was called something else for Volume 21. And Archive.org has a scan of the full magazine:

Robert Parkinson simply called up Dr Dvorak and interviewed him! The article "The Dvorak Simplified Keyboard: Forty Years of Frustration" was the result.

The interview took place in 1962. Dvorak died three years after this article was published. As his keyboard layout didn't gain any significant traction between 1962 and his death, I suspect his attitude didn't alter.

Isn't it nice when quotes are accurate! And isn't it frustrating when authors don't go back to the source?

We spent some time trying to work out the best phone for her before, eventually, settling on.... another BlackBerry Torch!

Why?

My mum has an Android tablet which she likes very much. Her Windows laptop suits her needs fine. She admires her friends' iPhones and iPads. Yet she still chose the classic BlackBerry - not BB10 - over all the other phones on the market.

It comes down to the keyboard. My mum writes. Not just emails, but short stories, scripts, and novels. The BlackBerry keyboard is incredibly accurate - several times moreso than even the best touchscreen equivalent. Even when wearing gloves, the keyboard will clatter and clack away producing word-perfect results.

I love SwiftKey Flow for Android - but even that doesn't compare to the speed and accuracy of a physical keyboard.

Well, ok, what about the BlackBerry Q10? It has a keyboard and touchscreen, why not choose a more modern OS?

From my use of the Q10, it's no faster than BBOS7. The screen is tiny compared to the Torch, and the gesture driven interface is inaccurate and frustrating. Worse still is BlackBerry's decision to remove many of the features and shortcuts of the original BlackBerry. This means there's a steep learning curve - not an issue for a woman as switched on as my mother - but having so many half-familiar / half-broken UI elements is confusing and annoying.

Where Are The QWERTY Androids?

Back in 2011, I reviewed the Motorola Pro+. A phone so unloved by Motorola that they've subsequently thrown it down the memory hole.

The Pro+ had a pretty good form factor and an excellent keyboard. It was hamstrung by buggy software and underpowered hardware. But, boy, I loved that keyboard.

There are no Android phones currently on the market with a physical keyboard. Even the Chinese purveyors of ultra-niche phones don't supply them any more.

The BlackBerry Torch has a brilliant form factor. A large touchscreen covering a good sized keyboard. A little chunky - but big enough to store a capacious battery. That's one of the other reasons my mum went for it - who wants to recharge every single day?

So where are all the QWERTY Androids? I've heard unsubstantiated rumours that BlackBerry have so many patents on mobile phone keyboards that no one can produce a decent one without paying outrageous fees. That's certainly a possibility.

Or is it just a matter of fashion? Ever since Apple popularised the black slab of glass, all phones have moved towards that as a platonic ideal.

Will we ever see a modern phone with an integrated keyboard - or does my mother have to resign herself to buying increasingly outdated hardware in a bid to stay productive?