Inefficiencies, arbitrariness, market failures, lock-in effects, and QWERTY keyboards

That's the theme of the latest Spark interview with interface researcher Jared Spool.

Mr. Spool believes that the QWERTY keyboard and many other designs are inefficient and arbitrary, and that the only reason they persist is because they're cheaper to reproduce rather than to recreate.

My former professor at NC State and one of the smartest people I know, Steve Margolis, would beg to differ. It is amazing to me that Jared Spool would neglect to mention this landmark paper that convincingly argues the exact opposite of what he believes.

I'm glad to see Spark covering topics like this, but boy did they choose the wrong guest.