Sans keyboard

Will the next big trend be devices without keyboards?

Not simply devices with virtual keyboards, such as those on phones and tablets, but devices without keyboards at all? Are such devices possible?

Well, of course a keyboard-less device is possible. Not only is it possible, we have had several popular devices that were used without keyboards. They include:

The pocket-watch Arguably the first wearable computing device.

The wrist-watch The early, pre-digital watches kept track of time. Some had indicators for the day of month; a few for day of week. Some included stop-watches.

Since we mentioned them, Stop-watches.

Pocket transistor radios Controlled with one dial for volume and another dial for tuning, they kept us connected to news and music.

Apple iPod

Film cameras From the Instamatic cameras that used 126 or 110 type film to Polaroid camera that yielded instant photos to SLR cameras (with dials and knobs for focus, aperture, and shutter speed).

Digital cameras Knobs and buttons, but no keyboard.

Some e-book readers (or e-readers) My Kobo e-reader lets me read books and it has no keyboard. Early Amazon.com Kindle e-readers had no keyboard.

So yes, we can have devices without keyboards.

Keyboard-less devices tend to be used to consume content. All of the devices listed above, except for the cameras, are for the consumption of content.

But can we replace our current tablets with a keyboard-less version? Is it possible to design a new type of tablet, one that does not connect to a bluetooth keyboard or provide a virtual keyboard? I think the answer is a cautious 'yes', as there are several challenges.

We need keyboards on our current tablets to provide information for identity and configuration. A user name, or authentication with a server, as with the initial set-up of an Android tablet or iPad. One needs a keyboard to authenticate apps with their servers (Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo mail, etc.).

But authentication could be handled through other mechanisms. Assuming that we "solve" the authentication "problem", where else do we need keyboards?

A number of places, as it turns out. Tagging friends in Facebook. Generating content for Facebook and Twitter status updates. Recommending people on LinkedIn. Specifying transaction amounts in banking apps. (Dates for transaction, however, can be handled with calendars, which are merely custom-shaped keyboards.)

Not to mention the challenge of changing people's expectations. Moving from keyboard to keyboard-less is no small change, and many will (probably) resist.

So I think keyboards will be with us for a while.

But not necessarily forever.

Keeping our keyboards

Tablets are quite different from desktop PCs and laptop PCs. (Obviously.)

PCs have large displays, keyboards, mice, and wired network connections. They often have CD or DVD drives. Tablets, in contrast, have small displays, virtual keyboards, a touch screen (so no mice), no wired network connection, and media storage (if any) is limited to memory cards.

So we can view the transition from PC to tablet as a shift in peripherals. The "old school" PC used physical keyboards, mice, and disks; the "new school" tablets use touch screens, virtual keyboards, and no mice tor disks.

Except for one small detail.

Tablet users are using keyboards.

Not mice.

Not printers.

Keyboards.

I do understand that some people are using tablets with mice and printers. A small minority of people, but nowhere near the sizable number of people are using physical keyboards.

The appeal of keyboards is such that people continue to use them as an input device. They carry a keyboard with their tablet. They buy tablet covers that have built-in keyboards.

I think this tells us something about keyboards.

Any keyboard you like

For a programmer, the most important aspect of a computer may be the keyboard. It is through the keyboard that we write code, that we control the text editor (or IDE), and issue most commands.

Being of a certain age, my first experience with keyboards was not with a computer but with a typewriter. It was my parents' portable, manual typewriter; I have forgotten the brand. It was hard to use and it smelled of ink and machine oil. Yet it was a fun introduction to the keyboard.

Typewriters were fun, and computers were more fun. The keyboards were more modern, and had more keys (some of which made little sense to me).

I have used several keyboards, and the most enjoyable were the DEC keyboards. DEC keyboards were sleek and sophisticated compared to the other keyboards (Teletype ASR-33, Lear-Siegler ADM-3A, and IBM 3270). I also enjoyed the Zenith Z-100 keyboard (sculpted like an IBM Selectric typewriter) and the IBM Type M keyboard.

Typing on a good keyboard is a joy. Typing on a mediocre keyboard is not.

Sadly, today's PCs cannot use these venerable keyboards. Desktop PCs want to talk to a keyboard through USB, and tablets want bluetooth.

Yet all is not lost. Virtual keyboards may help.

Not the on-screen virtual keyboards of smart phones and tablets, but a different form of virtual keyboard. A keyboard that is drawn (usually with lasers) on a surface, with an accompanying scanner to detect "keypresses".

It strikes me that these keyboards can be used on a variety of surfaces. I'm hoping that some will be programmable (or at least configurable) so that I can create my own layout. (For example, I want the "Control" key on the ASDF home row.) I also have preferences for the arrow, HOME, and END keys. A virtual keyboard should allow for re-positioning of the keys.

Re-positioning the keys is nice, but it doesn't let me use the old keyboard. The surface is still a flat, unyielding surface with no feedback.

But do scanners really care about a flat surface? Can they be used on a lumpy surface? (I'm sure that some are quite fussy, and require a flat surface. But perhaps some are less fussy.)

If a virtual keyboard can be used on a flat surface, and I can re-program the key layouts... then perhaps I can configure the virtual keyboard to emulate an old-style keyboard (say, the DEC VT-52). And perhaps I can use the virtual keyboard on a lumpy surface... say, a DEC VT-52 keyboard.

Such an arrangement would let me use any keyboard I wanted with my computer. The virtual keyboard would do the work, and wouldn't care that I happened to rest my fingers on an old, outdated keyboard.

I would like that arrangement. It would give me the layout and feel of the keyboard of my choice. I wouldn't have to compromise with the current set of keyboards. All I need is a programmable virtual keyboard and a real keyboard that I enjoy.

Now, where is that old Zenith Z-100?

Keyboards and buggy whips

Various folks have railed against Apple for the UI of some recent programs on Mac OSX. These changes violate conventions of MacOSX and bring the programs in line with iPhone/iPod/iPad UI. While the changes are irritating, I think that they make sense for Apple.

Think about it: The iMac is nothing more than a large, thick, non-portable, touchscreen-less iPad -- equipped with a keypad and DVD drive. Why should it be denied the ease of the iOS interface?

I think that Apple's vision is to bring the goodness of the iPad to larger computers. In this vision, the iMac mutates into an iOS device, better suited to the needs consumers than the old Mac OSX version. The new iMac will sport the large screen for watching movies and playing games. It won't be portable, but then doesn't need to be. (For portable computing, Apple has the iPad and iPod.)

Just about everyone wins in this arrangement. Consumers get computers that are easy to use -- even easier than OSX iMac computers and certainly easier than Windows or Linux PCs. Apple gets revenue. The only ones left out are creators (that is, programmers, authors, and composers of creative works).

The consumer world of iOS, with its mouseless, keyboardless interaction, works for the consumption of computing services. And it works very well.

But the interaction for creatives, those people building the content and programs that make the magic, more is needed than screen swipes and taps. The virtual keyboard is not suitable to high-volume input. Creatives will insist on old-style keyboards -- for a while.

The short term will see a cry for the "classic" interface to computers of keyboards and mice. The long term has a different picture. I see a new form of programming and high-volume data entry, a form that uses no keyboard. It might be voice recognition, it might be iOS swipes and taps, or it might be something else. I expect Apple to introduce this new technology and techniques. (And it may take them a few tries.)

Once the technology is established and proven to be effective, I expect Microsoft to jump on board and implement similar tech for Windows, and then the open source folks to implement equivalent tech for Linux. Both implementations will make modest improvements.

And when the dust settles, keyboards and mice will become things of the past, suitable only for museums and the dark corners of a hobbyist's attic.