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Path: utzoo!sq!msb
From: msb@sq.uucp (Mark Brader)
Date: Sun, 5-Feb-89 12:28:20 EST
Message-ID: <1989Feb5.122820.13531@sq.uucp>
Newsgroups: comp.misc
Subject: Re: Looking for Computer Folklore
References: <7143@pyr.gatech.EDU> <532@geovision.UUCP> <4575@tekgvs.GVS.TEK.COM> <319@itcatl.UUCP> <3381@sugar.uu.net>
Reply-To: msb@sq.com (Mark Brader)
Organization: SoftQuad Inc., Toronto

> > 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?
> 
> Not according to an exhibit I saw at the Museum ...
> they laid out the touchtone keypad after a lot of research to find out
> what worked best for people. ...

The way I recall reading this (and no, I don't remember where) is that
even people familiar with the inverted keypad of the calculator made
fewer errors when using the touchtone keypad layout we know today.

A possible reason for this occurs to me.  Back when those tests were
being performed, phone numbers with letters in them were much more common
than today.  Notice that the alphabet (minus Q and Z) appears in order on
a standard touchtone keypad.  Anybody know if the people who were tested
asked to "dial" numbers like 963-8337, or like WO 3-8337?

Mark Brader			"Never re-invent the wheel unnecessarily;
SoftQuad Inc. (416-963-8337)	 yours may have corners."
utzoo!sq!msb, msb@sq.com				-- Henry Spencer