I always did find the hype over ergonomics back in the early 90s pretty funny anyway.
Around '94 it was a serious topic though, as it became apparent that RSI was a real threat to office workers' health. They did not really catch on for 4 reasons only:
1. There are a lot more variables involved in ergonomics than just the keyboard itself. You are probably more likely to mess up with a regular board, but that doesn't mean you can't with an ergonomic one. Conversely, a conventional board can be perfectly OK under the right conditions.
2. The average user is not a touch typist.
3. The average user needs to use a mouse, too, but usually doesn't have a third hand. (The proposed ergonomic applications with all keyboard control didn't show up in the required numbers, or more likely mouse control proved to be more practical in a number of cases. Actually your average application isn't that bad in terms of keyboard control, but specialty stuff can be pretty thoughtlessly written in that regard.)
4. Even among touch typists, ergo boards may fail to account for individual typing habits (number 6 position, anyone?), plus possibly for this reason, there is no single layout that would be universally agreed upon.
For me an ergo board would probably be pretty deadly, as if anything I'd need it to be split pretty far to the right.
