I've used two IBM PS/2 towers in the past. Oddly I remember nothing about what keyboards they had, nor what they felt like. Were they Model M keyboards? Who knows. It's part of human nature to tune out much of the detail in the world around us. I'm amazed at the details I've later realised that I didn't pick up on, or must have simply written off as irrelevant and forgotten.
Watches are a bad analogy, as everyone must have seen a jewellers store, and plenty of watch styles – the main difference between watches is merely fashion, something that goes down big with ordinary folk. However, with computer keyboards it's too easy to simply assume that like so much else in the world, they simply suck: after using nothing but rubbish from year to year, job to job, it's something of a leap to assume that somewhere out there, are better products that no-one buys.
My first computer had linear mechanicals, and after using these keyboards for many years, I never ever realised that the switches actuate at mid travel. After that, I just got used to bad rubberdome after bad rubberdome, wondering with each new board why they suck so much, Mac and PC alike – Mac rubberdomes are particularly awful, everything from 68k beige up to the Apple Pro Keyboard.
The only seed that was planted in my mind was being given a Tulip 286 with what turned out to be a complicated blue ALPS keyboard (I finally found the courage to open up a now very scarred switch), which is exceptionally clicky, and very tactile. I saved that for years wondering what to do with it, since it's PC/AT and wouldn't connect to my PS/2 PC.
As for the original question: the down-side to Cherry is that bottoming out is like hitting a brick wall, and it's quite uncomfortable. Until and unless you reduce your stroke force, which takes a lot of mental retraining, a rubberdome's cushioned landing is much easier on your fingers. I don't notice how much lighter I type now on Cherry browns, until I try using a rubberdome and find it as stiff as XMs. However, the heavy-handed approach that rubberdome requires is engrained in my brain and I still use too much force unnecessarily, closing in on two years after switching to Cherry.
Rubberdomes vary so much though – I'm used to Dells, which are some of the worst for their clogged-with-wet-sand feel and awful rattle. Microsoft's rubberdomes are a lot better, as is also the latest Dell standard keyboard, which is a rarity in that it has low profile keycaps with full travel switches, so it both looks and feels good, yet it's still noticeably scratchy and rattly in a way that Topres aren't. There's no doubt that Topres are rubberdomes (I think people conflate rubberdome and membrane: Topres are rubberdome but not membrane, Model Ms are membrane but not rubberdome) but they're exceptionally clean in feel and sound – if you do like the softness of a dome switch, Topre is what you want: for a dome switch it's flawless. Having got used to Cherry, I also appreciate my Realforce not requiring 65 g force like a typical rubberdome!
