In other words he broke his keyboard by removing the keys. What's the point?

Contrary to popular belief, the QWERTY layout was not created to slow down typing. As a matter of fact, Sholes originally had it in alphabetical order. Reconfiguring it to the qwerty layout actually reduced jamming.

He didn't break his keyboard, he just moved the keys. I think that should be fairly simple on a typical laptop keyboard where all the letters are basically the same shape and size. Doesn't work so well with a desktop keyboard where they are angled differently row to row.

I gave Dvorak a whirl but found that any increase in typing speed was completely killed by the much longer reaches for standard keyboard shortcuts. I guess I just don't type enough to make it worthwhile.

Or at least Apple should have it as an physical keyboard option when ordering a new computer. I have a Powerbook I've been wanting to switch to Dvorak but I'm afraid of breaking the keyboard. My next computer I want it on a Dvorak keyboard! Anyway I did it on the Dell at work by rearranging the keys and it works well, although some of the angles are off. Its also cool that no one else can type on it!

Both windows and MacOS have had Dvorak layouts available just about forever. The dvorak 'home row' layout of aoeuidhtns makes typing fast (eventually) but more important, it makes it a lot easier. It would be nice to have the physical keys show the letter that appears when you type on them. But it's completely unnecessary if you're a touch typist, and that's the whole point, isn't it? If you're going to switch, and I would highly recommend it, make sure you have a couple of weeks to acclimatize yourself. In 12 weeks just about anyone will be typing 50 or 60 words a minute -- that's another Dvorak difference that almost no one mentions, is that it's easier for everyone to get up to a pretty good average speed. Have fun, everyone!

What's next, "MacBook owner plugs non-Apple mouse into computer!" ???

Dvorak keyboard layouts (there are a couple of varients) have been available most of the time on Apple's computers since the Apple/// and //e. The trick was usually finding out that it was there, and how to access it.

It is quite possible to map the keyboard so you have Dvorak layout for typing, and keep some of the command-key equivalents in the same place as in Qwerty, if you really want to.

Dvorak really can make for greatly reduced effort if you type a lot, I've used it off and on since 1980. (It's not a practical option if you have to use employer-supplied machines at work, unfortunately.)

Petrol vs Diesel, Fast Food vs Food that is good for you, iPod vs Everything else, one button rodent vs multi buttons-- QWERTY will never die, people can barely type on it as is, let alone change. DVORAK will never hold the user mindshare that QWERTY does. Ever.

We'll see eye, pen, voice or telekinetic inputs before DVORAK is widly adopted.

Think back to the early 90s when the US was going to change to Metric to be like the rest of the world. Never happened. Even England is split 50/50 on Old English measurements and metric. Simply put: It may be great for some folks, but it isn't going to become mainstream.

More power to the modder, he's ensured no one will touch his laptop.

I believe that OS X has an alternate Dvorak (Actually, American Simplified Keyboard (ASK)), that tries to accomodate muscle memory regarding keyboard shortcuts, by switching temporarily to the QWERTY layout when the Command (Apple) key is pressed.

Apple has a keyboard layout called D-Q that uses Dvorak for typing and QWERTY for keyboard commands. That's what I use. You can find that layout in the input menu of the International preference control panel.

When I first switched to Dvorak, I put those stickers on my keys so I could see which key was which, but I quickly got used to them and began touch typing and haven't needed those stickers since.

The main advantage of Dvorak is that it's easier on the hands since you don't have to reach as much. It helps prevent fatigue in the forearms and carpal tunnel syndrome.