Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ncar!umigw!umbio!ibiza!aem From: aem@ibiza.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Looking for Computer Folklore Message-ID: <1355@umbio.MIAMI.EDU> Date: 3 Feb 89 17:25:28 GMT References: <7143@pyr.gatech.EDU> <532@geovision.UUCP> <4575@tekgvs.GVS.TEK.COM> <319@itcatl.UUCP> Sender: netnews@umbio.MIAMI.EDU Reply-To: aem@Mthvax.Miami.Edu (a.e.mossberg) Organization: University of Miami Hertz Lab, Coral Gables, FL Lines: 14 In <319@itcatl.UUCP>, wrote: >Is it true that the phone company designed touch-tone keyboards upside- >down from calcutaor, etc numeric keypads because data entry people could >punch faster than the first generation switching systems could read? No. It was done for the same reason many early keyboards had the keys in an alphabetical arrangement rather than qwerty. You can't expect the general population to have familiarity with a given arrangement, so you make it as easy as possible for people who have to look at the keys. aem a.e.mossberg aem@mthvax.miami.edu MIAVAX::AEM (Span) aem@umiami.BITNET (soon) He that complains, acts like a man, like a social being. - Samuel Johnson