Path: utzoo!utgpu!utstat!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!ames!ncar!gatech!hubcap!ncrcae!ncrlnk!uunet!pdn!reggie From: reggie@pdn.nm.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: Looking for Computer Folklore Message-ID: <5591@pdn.nm.paradyne.com> Date: 9 Feb 89 20:38:39 GMT References: <7143@pyr.gatech.EDU> <532@geovision.UUCP> <4575@tekgvs.GVS.TEK.COM> <319@itcatl.UUCP> Reply-To: reggie@pdn.nm.paradyne.com (George W. Leach) Organization: Paradyne Corporation, Largo FL Lines: 27 In article awm@gould.doc.ic.ac.uk (Aled Morris) writes: >>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? >Sounds like the excuse for the existence of the QWERTY layout keyboard >(that is, to make it difficult to use so the mechanics of those early >typerwriters wouldn't jam so often). God, how does such nonsense get out. See R. L. Deininger, "Human Factors Engineering Studies of the Design and Use of Pushbutton Telephone Sets", Bell System Technical Journal, 34(4), July, 1960, pp. 995-1012. for the real story. -- George W. Leach Paradyne Corporation ..!uunet!pdn!reggie Mail stop LG-129 reggie@pdn.nm.paradyne.com P.O. Box 2826 Phone: (813) 530-2376 Largo, FL USA 34649-2826