Keeping Customer Limitations to a Minimum

Most everybody has seen the famous original cinema version of the Wizard of Oz. Central to the theme of the movie was the sadness of the characters – the stupid Scarecrow, the heartless Tin Man and the cowardly Lion – in living with their seemingly unbearable deficiencies. Their journey to Oz was to see the great Wizard who could give them those qualities that they lacked.

If you had to make a choice, what limitations would you be willing to live with? Would you most desire to keep your sight – your hearing – your sense of touch? Would you miss listening to great music or the sound of your family if you lost your hearing? Would your life turn upside down if your legs couldn’t take you where you wanted to go or your hands were not at your disposal any more? The closest most of us probably have ever come to disability is that feeling of inability that lasts momentarily when we cause an arm or leg to “go to sleep”. That feeling of inability is uneasy at best. But loosing any one of our faculties permanently is not a pleasant option.

In much the same way as our bodies, keyboards are a mechanical interface between a human being and a machine. They are like the robotic arm – trying to duplicate as many natural human functionalities and responses as possible. In today’s marketplace the leaders of innovation and sales are companies who recognize that people need the maximum amount of versatility and range of motion out of their input devices.