Not really off topic, but I dont see a better place,
I had wanted to post something about this before Wednesday when it was on radio 4 ...but I forgot.
Its now on the BBC site as a listen now or a download,
and I am sure you all know of the other places it, and the others in the first two series are to be found.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00t9t6rFrom the above...All rise for Judge Stephen Fry, in whose court the Qwerty keyboard stands trial.
The gravest charge against the still ubiquitous Qwerty is that the layout was designed deliberately to slow typing down.
Typists in the 1870's got too fast for their machines. The keys would easily stick. Typists would have to delve under the bonnet to untangle them.
Messy business. Dirty Mr Qwerty.