I have read over what the original post has stated, what Logitech has stated, and what the rest of the posts have stated, and I can say that this post went off topic by the post of Logitech.
First of all, I want to say I totally understand where JeremyH82 is coming from. I love using ergonomic keyboard designs with the split key format (I believe he references this with the "wave" term), and I have looked all over the cybersphere trying to find one that would suit my needs. What I came up with is that they simply don't exist, and that companies for some reason or another shoot themselves in the foot by trying to add some sort of spin on these keyboards, or they end up manufacturing them in such a cheap format that they are simply not built in a decent well to be used period.
CharlesB, the G13 is not an ergonomic keyboard. It is an ergonomic gaming controller with keys on it. While I do recognize that the solution that is being presented is to simply use this device in conjunction with another keyboard for one's gaming needs, it isn't meeting the request of what JeremyH82 or I want. I will say I congratualte Logitech's engineering for creating such a device. For me, I think this takes too much of a footprint on my desk and really just in general because a keyboard is used for general use !and! gaming, where as this device simply is a controller for such. That said, I would like to stress again to Logitech to reconsider investigating creating an ergonomic keyboard for gaming. To assist, I want to make sure what is being requested (at least from me) in this request so as to make sure what it is that is being asked. Additionally, I will list mistakes of other models of such keyboards (as this can be used for reference) so as to know what is really wanted and to dodge other mistakes/issues/problems of other models from other vendors.
CharlesB, note that Logitech has indeed made this design in the past. There were both PS/2 and USB models over the years. The model Logitech Y-RAU7 is a good example. However, it had two things working against it. It was wireless (hate using batteries for something that is going to be under heavy use) and its layout of the "HOME", "DELETE", "INSERT", "END", "PAGE UP", "PAGE DOWN" keys were non traditional. This is a bad choice. People who type on standard keyboards doing text editing and common use do not wish to relearn positions of these keys. On the gaming front, it is pain to relearn these key locations in games (such as in Subspace/Continuum) as this too makes the keyboard become cumbersome. Lastly, I can't speak from experience on this particular model, but gaming keyboards need to be able to read a larger number of keypresses for multiple keys that are pressed. A safe bet is ten (as one has ten fingers?) but I've seen numerous keyboards that would have a good design but fail in this area. (This covers every single Microsoft Natural Ergonomic keyboard ever made, including the 4000 series, and as such, these keyboards will never make good gaming keyboards as they simply don't have the guts to manage such....a true shame because the MS 4000 is truly one of the most comfortable keyboards made).
On the subject of keys that are re-arranged, I want to re-emphasize this. Do not move the arrow keys around like the Microsoft Natural Elite (with the bottom arrow key moved lower so that the left and right arrows can be moved together), do not make the Enter key oversized so that the "| \" key has to be moved somewhere else... just leave the classic design alone...it works.
Multiemedia keys are okay, but really, that is just a bell and whistle that we don't care about. Most of the time, we are so accustomed to using our operating system's controls for adjusting volume, double clicking an icon for our web browser or e-mail program of choice that we never use those keys anway. And I assure you, when I'm playing a first person shooter or real time strategy game, I'm not going to go "ooh, let me press my browser key" in a game....it's more of a distraction.
If you want a bell and whistle, the keyboard illumination may be a good idea if Logitech wants to do something of this nature. People like lights I suppose, granted they do not need to be so bright that they make us question replacing a light bulb in our house due to our keyboard performing like the Sun in front of our face.
I would also like to include other vendor models and explain why these fail so Logitech can get a better idea on how to get this correct:
Logitech Y-RAU7 (previously discussed, note this link will probably be bad, but simply Google this model and search images) YRAU7
Microsoft Natural 4000 (By far the best return to a design and most comfortable, but allows too small of keypresses so games such as Continuum/Subspace fail).
Adesso Tru Form (Keyboard is made extremely cheap. The keys constantly get stuck and the older models had the oversized Enter key that was moved)
Belkin ErgoKeyboard (Sorry, links are only from ebay, but there are vendors that still sell them, These suffered from keys being stuck, and one model had the over sized enter key )
Smartfish Reflex (Smartfish !had! the idea, then lost it. The original model was a standard layout, then somewhere along the way, they thought it would be a good idea to collapse the keys in closer and ruing the standard layout and make this junk instead. It has key press issues as well).
This being said, my current keyboard is a Logitech Wave keyboard (that's the model name, but it is not the split key format), and it has some issues in gaming as it has a low number of keys that can be pressed, but at least with most of the riff raff I have tried, this keyboard functions...granted its "HOME", "INSERT" ,etc keys have been rearranged, and I really hate that, but here again, I am sort of reaching out to Logitech to listen to its customers, and I would think noting there have been several customers who have posted on your forums requesting such, that an answer of "well we did this instead" would trigger someone to realize "hey, this is what they want". Hopefully, Logitech will really want to take my money because I have it to speed. Make the board $100 initially and I'll be one of your first buyers. Note that I've been in similar discussions with Kinesis and other vendors that truly focus on the ergo aspect instead of what the "customer wants", and in the end, I think this is what hurts this market. We are waiting Logitech.
