Even a company with reknown designers and engineers, and an R&D budget in the Billions, is not immune to making a mistake of epic proportions:

(song by Jonathan Mann: I’m pressing the space bar)

Jonathan is no troll! He wrote a song about the iPhone 4 during the time of “Antennagate” that said the tech media was blowing it all out of proportion - because it was! It was so good Steve Jobs showed it before he got on stage.

The Outline The new MacBook keyboard is ruining my life It’s so bad

(for those who prefer a detailed article)

It might have been caught with a long-running TREG program.

Anyway, if people are writing articles and making videos for a keyboard fiasco (that is still under warranty), WayTools won’t be able to do damage control if the TextBlade doesn’t work perfectly. Hence they are working nonstop to get it right.

The premise (of TextBlade) checks out. The architecture checks out. They use thrust sensors instead of dome switches, and a very robust butterfly mechanism, was reengineered for greater longevity and resilience against contamination. It’s user serviceable. Every physical aspect was considered, planned, and revised. Even the magnetic force on the charge port was carefully balanced to prevent maghesion when working on a steel surface. And so on. I haven’t a clue about magnetism compared to WayTools.

The TextBlade has proven to be incredibly robust. Mine survived everything except the washing machine. When you get yours, be sure to double check your pockets being doing laundry.

But software issues are harder to catch compared to physical problems. Broken (drowned) keyboards can be sent back, and TREGgers can see and report on issues. Sometimes even field fix them.

Software is invisible, so the sleuthing skills are that much greater.

I am sure everyone’s patience will be rewarded.

Traditional keyboards are bulky. But maybe the crazy-thin MacBook keyboard isn’t the way to deal with the bulk. Maybe the iPad, with it’s blank slate with regard to keyboards (bring your own, or buy theirs, or do without) is Apple’s way of evaluating whether there is a better way forward. It must be so hard for them. On one hand delivering a “traditional” experience with their notebooks and first-party accessories. People expect to be fully productive on day 1 with a new Mac. They can’t just say, ‘oh hey, take a few weeks to get used to this.’ I mean, that’s how long it took for me to go 100% trackpad and ditch the mouse. But there are many who bought mice with their Mac portables.