John Foust wrote:
>
> At 12:50 PM 7/23/98 GMT, Philip.Belben_at_powertech.co.uk wrote:
> >
> >123 789
> >456 vs. 456 ?
> >789 123
> > 0 0
> >
> >Which came first?
>
> I believe the calculator layout, and I remember hearing an
> explanation that Bell chose the *opposite* layout to prevent
> people from confusing the two devices, and/or that they
> did usability testing to choose the opposite layout.
> Makes no sense to me.
Adding machines used the "calculator" layout several decades before
there were push-button phones. For some reason I'll never understand
:-) the early desktop calculator manufacturers used the layout so
that they could sell them to the accountants who had been the single
largest market for adding machines. And handheld calculators wound
up following the pattern. Not unlike the continuing popularity of
the QWERTY keyboard.
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram_at_cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
They say that politics makes strange bedfellows.
Of course, the main reason they cuddle up is to screw somebody else.
Michael Flynn, _Rogue Star_
Received on Tue Aug 04 1998 - 23:12:18 BST