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> why have mechanical keyboards become so damn popular and not "keyboards on screens?" I mean... have you ever used a phone?

dandellion 1y ago
My phone has so far replaced zero of my keyboards.
- paxys 1y ago
  The vast majority of the planet uses a touchscreen phone or tablet as their primary (and sometimes only) computing device. The tech audience on HN is very far removed from how the rest of the world uses technology.
  - dandellion 1y ago
    You're kinda missing the point here. Yes, mobile phones use touchscreens, and billions of people have smartphones, that is correct. Yes the audience of HN is far removed, not gonna argue that. Because that's not what we're talking about. Grandparent very correctly points out that mobile phones haven't replaced traditional keyboards, in fact there's probably more keyboards being sold now than at any point in history before, that's because phone touchscreen haven't replaced keyboards, they're just a new interface for a new device. 15 years later other devices are still using other interfaces, and the actual places where it has been replaced are not that many. Only point of sale machines and cars come to mind having replaced keyboards (and I'm being very generous, honestly I wouldn't even call that keyboards) with touchscreens, and some car brands are even starting to walk it back.
- hombre_fatal 1y ago
  I doubt that. It has replaced all of your keyboards every time you ever input text on your phone.
  - dandellion 1y ago
    On the contrary, I have more keyboards now than I had before I had a smartphone or tablet, they have multiplied my keyboards.
- 542354234235 1y ago
  You said it wouldn't "blow up". You didn't say it would replace mechanical keyboards. It wouldn't. Noone said people were going to switch from using a mechanical keyboard to that. WE are talking about its usefulness for phones/tablets. Also, a phone's on-screen keyboard replaces a mechanical keyboard in that phones dont have a mechanical keyboard and people dont use a mechanical keyboard as their input device for that phone. If my car doesn't have a mechanical key, it has been replaced by a digital key. It doesn't matter if I make 5 copies of my house key.

dandellion 1y ago

My phone has so far replaced zero of my keyboards.

paxys 1y ago
The vast majority of the planet uses a touchscreen phone or tablet as their primary (and sometimes only) computing device. The tech audience on HN is very far removed from how the rest of the world uses technology.
- dandellion 1y ago
  You're kinda missing the point here. Yes, mobile phones use touchscreens, and billions of people have smartphones, that is correct. Yes the audience of HN is far removed, not gonna argue that. Because that's not what we're talking about. Grandparent very correctly points out that mobile phones haven't replaced traditional keyboards, in fact there's probably more keyboards being sold now than at any point in history before, that's because phone touchscreen haven't replaced keyboards, they're just a new interface for a new device. 15 years later other devices are still using other interfaces, and the actual places where it has been replaced are not that many. Only point of sale machines and cars come to mind having replaced keyboards (and I'm being very generous, honestly I wouldn't even call that keyboards) with touchscreens, and some car brands are even starting to walk it back.
hombre_fatal 1y ago
I doubt that. It has replaced all of your keyboards every time you ever input text on your phone.
- dandellion 1y ago
  On the contrary, I have more keyboards now than I had before I had a smartphone or tablet, they have multiplied my keyboards.
542354234235 1y ago
You said it wouldn't "blow up". You didn't say it would replace mechanical keyboards. It wouldn't. Noone said people were going to switch from using a mechanical keyboard to that. WE are talking about its usefulness for phones/tablets. Also, a phone's on-screen keyboard replaces a mechanical keyboard in that phones dont have a mechanical keyboard and people dont use a mechanical keyboard as their input device for that phone. If my car doesn't have a mechanical key, it has been replaced by a digital key. It doesn't matter if I make 5 copies of my house key.