Keys are staggered

Why QWERTY, And What's Better? By David Piepgrass 、staggered
http://b.hatena.ne.jp/raycy/20090119#bookmark-11724999
http://millikeys.sourceforge.net/misc/why-qwerty.pdf

One final thought. Old habits die hard; some things continue to be
done illogically even when change is easy. This can be seen in the way keys
are staggered (Fig. 12). Decades ago, keys were staggered so that the type
bars would be evenly separated. But ergonomically, the design makes no
sense. Firstly, consider that human beings are symmetrical; it is illogical that the keyboard is not.
Secondly, a touch typist is expected to move fingers from the middle to the lower row, but when one
does so in the most natural manner (particularly for the left hand), the fingers end up between the keys.
Thus, the user must do extra work to move the finger laterally. I myself strike the wrong key sometimes
about 1.6 MB of data; please note that these measurements vary a lot between texts, and need a lot of data to stabilize.
10 Update (Dec. 25, 2006): there is now a Windows installer for Asset also.
15
Figure 12: Keys are
staggered to separate
the type bars
Q W
A S
Z
2 3
X
as a result of this oddity.
To align the keys vertically would be a trivial change for manufacturers, but do they even
consider it? For the most part, even “ergonomic” designs do not! Now, some would worry that it would
be difficult to get used to. That is conceivable. But what about a compromise: rather than achieving
complete alignment, by shifting the bottom row half a key to the left, why not shift it a quarter key? I
hypothesize that it would be more comfortable even for a longtime typist. And then, in twenty years
when we are all used to the change, the row could be shifted by another quarter key. The adjustment
would be painless and free, but I bet you have never even thought about it: witness the power of habit.

QWERTY　Keys are staggered