Would you mind if I tried to answer this here later today in an abbreviated form? Would be curious to get feedback on my thinking.
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Replying to @mattlaschneider @mkirschenbaum
So, I think the bigger picture is this:
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1. Typewriters evolved into electric typewriters (Electromatic/Electric/Selectric) with 2@ and Caps Lock on the left. IBM dominated this.
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
2. Teletypes detached from early typewriters, evolved into terminals, and then (many) home computers, with 2” and Ctrl on the left.
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
First IBM PC, 5150, in 1981, started with a keyboard similar to Selectric, but also borrowing a bit from home computers (see: Ctrl).
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
They got some backlash from office users for deviating from Selectric, and “fixed” it with 101-key Model M later that decade.
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
That itself became a standard and basically spread into all the other keyboards, incl. future home computers.
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
So, IBM was kind of at a mercy of a de facto Electric/Selectric office standard it itself established in the 1960s.
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Replying to @mwichary
Oh interesting--which is why non-IBM computers like C64, Apple ][, etc, dodged that
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Yeah, people who used home computers didn’t have as specific expectations and loud opinions as…
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
…heavy-duty eight-hours-a-day office workers would have towards IBM and it’s non-Selectric PC keyboard.
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Replying to @mwichary @mattlaschneider
Which is annoying, since now we’re suffering with [Caps Lock] being in a stupid place.
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