I was in charge of office "ergonomics" for 8 years, working at an institute within Harvard Univ. I left to join Dept. of State in 1999. When in training for four-plus months, I used a std. keyboard sitting on a std. table with a monitor in front of me. Coming from my previous job, it would be like you going to bed one night and waking up in the Stone Age (ok, the Bronze Age, maybe?). 3 months after I went to an overseas post (but with a keyboard on a desk) I was diagnosed with bi-lateral osteonecrosis of the lunate. Whoopee, except it meant the lunate bone in each wrist was dying from interrupted blood supply...as it dies, the bone marrow swells, until one day the bone shatters from internal pressure. This is a rather painful and untreatable condition that I personally link to constant pressure on the underside of my wrists from the sharp edge of the table as I used the keyboard. A simple keyboard tray at each seat would have solved this for every student, just as an adjustable task chair would have done its part too. State, of course, is monitored financially under a Congressional microscope (which they would do well to apply to themselves with equal zeal!!). Thus, we often work like a collection of Bob Crachetts, unless one presents medical evidence that a special keyboard/whatever, is needed. And yes, a split/non-liner keyboard is vastly more comfortable once one has made the jump to working with the hands in a "normal" alignment to an object narrower than one's shoulders. Duh..
Oh, and about the 'whimp' nonsense - one magazine article tangential about me cited me as "burly", so maybe "Lance" should go stuff himself???
The bone condition by the way, underwent spontaneous revascularization (where do they get such precise terms?) and I recovered. Now, if the near-debilitating pain would go away, I'd be all set!

Sorry, Lance. I have to disagree. I absolutely love my Microsoft ergonomic keyboard. When I was using a standard keyboard, my wrists always hurt, and I was forced to wear one of those elastic wrist cuffs to ease the pain. But I thought to myself, I'm too young to already be experiencing wrist strain--how will I make it through to retirement on a computer?!?!

Soon after I started using the ergonomic keyboard, the wrist pain went away. I was pleasantly surprised. And just yesterday, I started using Microsoft's ergonomic mouse. I thought it would take awhile to get used to it, but it just feels so natural in my hand.

I'm all about ergonomics, and I wish more people would feel the way I do because they're so much better for your health. I understand why some people are turned off by ergonomic keyboards and mice because they're not used to something with a different look and feel. But seriously, try 'em out--you won't regret it!!!

Just weighing in as the on-site napping advocate. Yay, naps! I could use one now.

Hi Internet, allow me to introduce myself: I'm PJ Jacobowitz, Product Review Coordinator at PC Magazine, I'm the guy who broke into Lance's office and replaced his traditional keyboard with the Ergo one. I also introduced "Jen the Weird Hunter" (and a bunch of others here at the mag)to Microsoft's Ergo keyboard. I've been hooked on the product since it was first released in '95 and have always thought that it hasn't gotten enough credit. I tried to give the product some coverage and look what happened. Anyway, I'm in the "this keyboard is awesome" camp. Here's the bottom line: if you're a touch typist, you should be using this keyboard, if you're not a touch typist, you should be.

I tested out the Microsoft set a few weeks ago and I have to say, while the keyboard was nicer than I expected, the mouse was awful, at least for me. It makes you turn your wrist sideways, which sure keeps it from bending, thus restricting blood flow, but it also makes the weight of my arm wrest on one corner of a bone in my wrist wrest. And in that position, that bone sits right on the desk. Within five mins, my wrist hurt. That's not exactly ergonomic.

I think making the mouse flatter is a better solution than making it vertical.

everyone was much nicer than i was. i thought Ulanoff's article was tasteless and poorly thought out.

his critique didn't really hold relevance to the topic at hand. as i commented on my blog Ulanoff is a really, really bad example of a test subject for an ergonomic keyboard. if you can't type properly, there's not much any engineer can do to help.

maybe he should have just bitched about the way msft handled the sales process...

I read Lance's article and was looking for the research material he used for reference in formulating his opinion. Like everyone else, I found none. Its obvious it is purely a personal opinion applied over a broad science.

I have been working in ergonomics for over 7 years and forgive my bias, but I spent time in college researching the pressure within the carpal tunnel with the wrist and hand in different positions. The findings supported that a hand in a slightly flexed and inverted position will decrease the pressure in the carpal tunnel. The science behind the design of the ergonomics keyboard supports these findings. I have also spent 10 years working in the physical therapy field working with patients that had work related injuries and many of them related to ergonomics.

Ergonomics is costly. Obviously Lance is not familiar with the cost of a work related injury. The average cost of an Occupational Injury is $16,678 as reported by the Bureau of Labor statistics 2003-2004. Hard to believe? Most people think of injury costs as purely medical, but they include lost time, re-training/re-hiring, overtime costs, disability. So the investment in reducing the risk to an employee is much less than the costs of a potential injury.

Ergonomics is not an exact science. Every individual is different and needs to be addressed individually. For a journalist to form this opinion and apply it to a general population is negligent. Maybe someone was more concerned about meeting a deadline versus spending some time to put all the pieces together.