Paradoxically enough, my favorite keyboard and mouse is a Microsoft product. Their keyboard (split) and mouse are ergonomic-friendly. I never liked Apple’s keyboard and mouse as they cramp up my wrist and hands.
The problem with Microsoft keyboard is that the Windows and Alt keys are switched (which means the Windows Start button becomes the Command button when it should be the Alt button). Confusing! I have to download the latest keyboard driver but often Microsoft is slow in releasing the latest driver, which is understandable; however, I cannot just sit and wait.
Leopard changed that.
The genius engineering team at Apple finally added a new feature under Keyboard & Mouse in System Preferences called Modifier Keys. I no longer need to wait on a driver to swap the keys.
You can re-map the keys to whatever you like if you don’t like any of the default assignment.
Nov 12, 2007Totally agree with you on the Apple Keyboard and Mouse. I use a Microsoft Wheel Optical and a Matais Tactile Pro keyboard, because I’m not a split-keyboard fan.
Have you looked at Microsoft’s Mac Keyboard? It got great reviews when it came out.
Also: Map Expose (F9) to the middle button (wheel button) and you’ll never minimize a window again!
Nov 28, 2007Thanks for the heads-up on that; the lack of an update to the Microsoft Intellipoint software was on my “why I can’t move to Leopard yet” list. I use their Natural Ergo 4000 board (which is great for long days of typing) and the ALT/START button issue is always a thorn.
I sure sure sure wish Apple would release an ergo board. It won’t happen, likely, but I’d like to see an Ive’d ergonomic keyboard with the Apple logo on it.
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12:38 pm
It’s more important to use the Mouse Preference to reverse the left-right buttons. (“Primary mouse button”) The original Apple one-button mouse taught us to use it with the index finger parked on the extreme right side where no tension to finger muscles is required to avoid inadvertent mouse-clicks. That tension extends right up into your shoulder, which you can demonstrate by waggling your fingers with a bared arm & shoulder. Having to constantly move your index finger across to the left, or worse still, having it hovering, is guaranteed to cause RSI/OOS.
With the buttons reversed, the index finger can be at rest most of the time, only moving fractionally for a “left button” click or flicking over to the left button for the rarer “right button” or contextual menu clicks.