I'd say it was confusing that they are copying Cherry colours.
Well, if they used a completely different color coding, people wouldn't remember which one was clicky, which one was quiet tactile, which one was linear - because they wouldn't be bothered memorizing the Kailh color code in addition to the Cherry color code.
However, if they used a different shade of red, a different shade of blue, and so on, to prevent misidentification of their switches with genuine Cherry switches, that would address your objection without creating a whole new color code to memorize.
Yeah, since the Cherry MX patent has been expired for something like 10 years now, I'm all for clones and any potential improvements and or price reductions that they might bring. So, fanboyism aside, everyone is perfectly able to clone Cherry switches to make them better or more cost effective, and the consumer will be happier as the result provided they are at the very least objectively about the same quality. If Cherry doesn't want to lose business in this exploding market, they can either start competing on cost and/or availability, or start making new and better switches that are patented.
At the moment, apparently the Kailh switches aren't quite the same quality as real Cherry switches. The stems can break more easily, and the switches aren't made to tight enough tolerances to ensure keyboards with a uniform feel, at least so I've read from recent threads here.
However, given that a number of major keyboard makers are using those switches, they can't be
that bad, either.
Of course, the other major mechanical switch, the ALPS, had been cloned for quite a while now.
What I'd really like to see, though, is not so much Cherry trying harder to compete, but the Chinese trying harder to compete.
They made one buckling spring keyboard in China. It was a hilarious failure - but mostly because there was no solid backing for the keyboard. A sheet of metal of reasonable gauge below the keys would not be that expensive, and perhaps a few other design changes to fix other issues should not be an insuperable challenge.
And why couldn't the Chinese inexpensively manufacture the
ultimate keyboard, the patents for which have
definitely expired? Presumably it would require the keyboard chip to be set up for capacitative operation. Like a Topre. Like a Model F buckling spring. But better than either in terms of tactile feel.
Unfortunately, it would also be noisier, which is probably why the Chinese and everyone else are figuring that it would never sell enough to be worth the effort.
Yes, I do indeed mean: a Chinese clone
beam spring keyboard!!!
