Yes, you can teach old dogs new tricks, and if you’re an old dog yourself, you can learn new tricks. But is it worth the trouble?
  The standard typewriter keyboard is fatiguing. Fingers have to reach too far too often.
  There are parallels between the development of keyboards in the 19th century and computer operating systems in the 20th. Just as there were several different operating systems, there were several different keyboards. One of the least efficient keyboards won out, just as did the cumbersome, crash-prone Microsoft Windows.
  One story is that the keyboard had to be designed to slow typists down in the days of manual machines. Fast typing jammed keys.
  Whatever the reason for the awkward configuration, the universal keyboard is universal because it’s universal, just as some celebrities are celebrities because they’re celebrities. Neither has any intrinsic value.
  Maybe the standard keyboard won out over others because of marketing, just as Microsoft won out over Apple with superior marketing.
  But, just as there are other computer operating systems, there is a more efficient, less tiring keyboard. It’s been around a long time, but its chances of usurping the standard keyboard’s dominance is just about zero.
  I’ve spent a lot of time the past few weeks with my Dvorak typing book learning the Dvorak keyboard. It didn’t take long to learn it; it’s incredibly logical. Typing is much faster with far less effort, but trying to change 40 years of hardwiring in my brain is another matter.
  With typewriters, you have to either buy one with the Dvorak keyboard or have your favorite machine rebuilt. With computers—at least with Microsoft—you simply go to Control Panel, Keyboard, Language, Properties, and change from the English 101 keyboard to English Dvorak.
  The essence of Dvorak is simple. The most commonly used keys are in the home rows and the least commonly used are in the least convenient locations and reached with the weakest fingers.
  All the vowels are the left hand’s home row. The most commonly used consonants are under the right hand. Punctuation marks are in more logical locations, too. The only things besides the A and the M that are in their usual places are the numbers.
  I learned the keyboard in about a week. You can’t cheat by looking down at your keys because the letters on them are the wrong ones. I cut out a diagram of the keyboard to put on the wall above my computer for those times when my brain locks up, just as Windows 98 does from time to time for no apparent reason. I was in business.
 Of course it’s not that simple. I can type accurately in Dvorak, but I can’t write in it.
  If I don’t think about the typing, most of my fingers revert to four decades of habit. If I’m in a hurry, or trying to write a column or work on a book or article, I have to change the keyboard back to what my brain is used to.
  A possible solution to the confusion was, when typing with the old keyboard, to use two fingers and look at the keys. It’s not as fast as touch typing, but I thought it would help my brain’s rewiring project if I didn’t confuse it by alternating between two touch-typing systems.
  Then I recalled how long it took between my high school typing class (I got a D-) and acquiring typing proficiency. It took a long time, and I didn’t have to unlearn a previously learned system.
  So now I have to wonder how long it will take, if I use Dvorak exclusively, to become proficient enough to make abandoning the old system worth the time.
  It’s like selling a gas-guzzler and buying an economy car when gas prices go up. You have to figure out how much fuel you have to burn before you’ve saved the difference you paid for the new car.
  I’m too busy to slow down for the amount of time it will take to equal my present typing speed. I could force myself to learn the new trick, but, to this old dog, it’s probably not worth it.