Editing IBM PC keyboard (section)

==Reception==
Although ''[[PC Magazine]]'' praised most aspects of the 1981 IBM PC keyboard's hardware design, it questioned "how IBM, that ultimate pro of keyboard manufacture, could put the left-hand shift key at the awkward reach they did".<ref name= "edlinbunnell19820203">{{cite news | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=w_OhaFDePS4C&pg=PA42 | title=IBM's New Personal Computer: Taking the Measure / Part One | work=PC Magazine | date= February–March 1982 | access-date=20 October 2013 | last1 =Edlin | first1 = Jim | last2 = Bunnell | first2 = David | page = 42}}</ref> The magazine reported in 1982 that it received more letters to its "Wish List" column asking for the ability to determine the status of the three lock keys than on any other topic.<ref name= "edlin198211">{{cite news | url= https://books.google.com/books?id=vy3cBZkjbZgC&pg=PA175 | title=The PC's Keys | work=PC Magazine | date= November 1982 | access-date=21 October 2013 |  last =Edlin | first = Jim | page = 175}}</ref> ''[[Byte (magazine)|Byte]]'' columnist [[Jerry Pournelle]] described the keyboard as "infuriatingly excellent". He praised its feel but complained that the Shift and other keys' locations were "enough to make a saint weep", and denounced the trend of [[PC compatible]] computers to emulate the layout but not the feel.<ref name= "pournelle198411">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1984-11/1984_11_BYTE_09-12_New_Chips#page/n359/mode/2up | title=NCC Reflections | work=BYTE | date= November 1984 | access-date=23 October 2013 |last =Pournelle, Jerry | page = 361}}</ref> He reported that the layout "nearly drove" science-fiction editor [[Jim Baen]] "crazy", and that "many of [Baen's] authors refused to work with that keyboard" so could not submit manuscripts in a compatible format.<ref name="pournelle198306">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-06/1983_06_BYTE_08-06_16-Bit_Designs#page/n411/mode/2up | title=Zenith Z-100, Epson QX-10, Software Licensing, and the Software Piracy Problem | work=BYTE | date=June 1983 | access-date=20 October 2013 | author=Pournelle, Jerry | volume=8 | issue=6 | pages=411}}</ref> The magazine's official review was more sanguine. It praised the keyboard as "bar none, the best ... on any microcomputer" and  described the unusual Shift key locations as "minor [problems] compared to some of the gigantic mistakes made on almost every other microcomputer keyboard".<ref name="williams198201">{{cite news | url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1982-01/1982_01_BYTE_07-01_The_IBM_Personal_Computer#page/n37/mode/2up | title=A Closer Look at the IBM Personal Computer | work=BYTE | date=January 1982 | access-date=19 October 2013 | author=Williams, Gregg | pages=36}}</ref>

"I wasn't thrilled with the placement of [the left Shift and Return] keys, either", IBM's [[Don Estridge]] stated in 1983. He defended the layout, however, stating that "every place you pick to put them is not a good place for somebody ... there's no consensus", and claimed that "if we were to change it now we would be in hot water".<ref name="byte198311">{{cite news|author=Curran, Lawrence J.|url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1983-11/1983_11_BYTE_08-11_Inside_the_IBM_PC#page/n89/mode/2up|title=IBM's Estridge|date=November 1983|work=BYTE|access-date=19 March 2016|last2=Shuford, Richard S.|pages=88–97}}</ref>