Kinesis (keyboard)

Kinesis is a company based near Seattle that offers computer keyboards with ergonomic designs as alternatives to the traditional keyboard design. Most widely known among these are the contoured Advantage line, which features recessed keys in two bucket-like hollows to allow the user's fingers to reach keys with less effort. Moreover, the keys are laid out in perfect vertical rows to avoid the need for lateral movements during typing. In addition, the modifiers such as enter, alt, backspace, control, etc. are moved to a central location so they can be pressed with the stronger thumbs rather than the pinky fingers. Kinesis was founded in 1991 with its headquarters in Bothell, Washington, a suburb of Seattle. The company released its first keyboard, the Model 100 (first in the long-running Contoured/Advantage line), in 1992. Kinesis's first adjustable keyboard, the Maxim, was released in 1997. In 2000, Kinesis entered a strategic alliance with Cramer, Inc. of Kansas City, which manufactured ergonomic seating. Kinesis took over production for the Cramer Interfaces chair arm-mounted split keyboard, releasing a revised version as the Kinesis Evolution in 2001. The original Model 100, released in 1992, featured a single-piece contoured design similar to the Maltron keyboard, with the keys laid out in a traditional QWERTY arrangement, separated into two clusters for the left and right hands. A 1993 article in PC Magazine described the keyboard's arrangement as having "the alphabet keys in precisely vertical (not diagonal) columns in two concave depressions. The Kinesis Keyboard also puts the Backspace, Delete, Enter, Space, Ctrl, Alt, Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys under your thumbs in the middle". The top row of keys, including the escape key and function keys, are small soft-touch keys with membrane dome switches. The remaining keys are standard size and each has its own Cherry MX brown key switch, providing a tactile feel, but no click. A piezo buzzer provides optional key click.