From the critique:<p>> The CODE keyboard is just a very expensive version of your standard keyboard that can make cool clicking noises (which some of your co workers may not find that cool).<p>From the product page:<p>> These switches are unique in the Cherry line because they combine solid actuation force with quiet, non-click activation, and a nice tactile bump on every keystroke. These hard to find switches deliver a superior typing experience over cheap rubber dome keyboards – without deafening your neighbors in the process.
An interesting rant. I ordered one of the keyboards to play with and see how it holds up. For me the "features" for keyboards are:<p>1) accuracy<p>2) repeatability<p>3) positional awareness<p>#1 is about hitting the right key that you wanted to hit and is facilitated by keeping distances correct. I had a vaio keyboard where the keys to the right of the home key were a bit further away from the home row than the left ones and it drove me nuts.<p>Repeatability is about allowing your muscles to actually train. Since much of what I type is by muscle memory anyway the more often the exact same muscle sequences are actuated the more 'trained' into the muscles they become.<p>Positional awareness is about "feel" and knowing where your fingers are, relative to where they should be, by how the keys feel. This is something I really didn't appreciate until I learned to play the piano where playing a chord can happen anywhere your hands are in the right place, and getting from one chord to another is again a function of where you are vs where you want to be.<p>I use a Logitech G15 at work (a G10 at home) which is ok, although I can type faster on my old ThinkPad keyboard. (black with cherry key switches and heck-a loud.) I like the programmability of the "macro" keys so that I can put basic sequences in them, but would appreciate better Linux support :-) Anyway, we'll see how this keyboard compares.
Surprised at how many posts here are disparaging this keyboard. Seems pretty rude to me to put down a pet project like that. You don't have to buy it.
> Why not put special keys for things programmers use, eg: Build, Debug, Step In, Step Over, Step Out, and a special key between Ctrl and Alt just dedicated for ‘Auto Complete’ so we don’t have to hit Ctrl+Space ever again!<p>Because those aren't system commands, where as media keys are.
If it made cool clicking noises, I'd be more interested. It makes a standard quiet cherry noise. Now if it was a complex white ALPS switch or something completely new, we'd be talking something genuinely interesting (or at least actually rare/difficult to come by).
Another fact which is ignored in this "review" is the possibilities for tweaking and customization; e.g. switching the layout, pulling of key-caps, etc.