Kodsnack 260 - Such a gangster name for a keyswitch

Tobias and Fredrik talk to Erez Zukerman, CEO and co-founder of Ergodox EZ, creators of the ergonomic mechanical keyboard of the same name. Tobias is a fan and user since a while back, and Erez tells us about why you decide to make a keyboard, how you manage to ship hardware on time the first time, how things are going and a little bit about what’s in store for the future of Ergodox EZ. We wrap up with a few listener questions. If you have more, just send them to Erez or us, we will grab any reasons to talk even more about keyboards! Thanks a lot for taking the time Erez!

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Comments, questions or tips? We are @kodsnack, @tobiashieta, @iskrig and @bjoreman on Twitter, have a page on Facebook and can be emailed at [email protected] if you want to write longer. We read everything we receive.

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• Ergodox EZ
• Erez Zukerman
• Dominic Beauchamp
• Dmitry Slepov
• Tibbo
• Massdrop
• Kinesis advantage
• Ortholinear keyboards - keys are in aligned lines, rather than offset
• Microsoft natural keyboard
• Kinesis advantage 2
• Colemak
• Dvorak
• Truly ergonomic
• Mathias ergo pro
• Keyboardio
• Ultimate hacking keyboard
• Shenzen
• OEM - original equipment manufacturer
• Indiegogo
• Cherry keyswitches
• Gateron - another manufacturer of keyswitches
• Key chatter
• Kailh switches
• Kailh bronze (thick gold)
• Typing, Ghost in the shell style
• MX speed silver
• TMK
• QMK
• Jack Humbert
• olkb.co
• The keyboard configurator web interface
• Maxim Gladkov
• Basecamp
• DHH
• pimpmykeyboard.com
• Signature plastics
• Florian Degran
• React
• Mobx
• State tree
• Graphql
• Ergodox EZ on Twitter

• Me wanting a keyboard
• A lot of money for me to pay for a box of parts
• Ortholinear and bowl-shaped
• Just because it was cool and expensive
• I went from being able to type 120 words per minute to being able to type 10
• The full strange experience
• My first foray into hardware
• We shipped on time
• Go with the right partner
• The interests are aligned
• Extreme transparency
• Each keyswitch is a moving part
• We’re sorry, we have an enormous lead time
• Thousands of keyswitches which we can’t use
• Big enough to get Cherry’s attention
• I’m still emotional about that
• Developing software is my refuge
• Such a gangster name for a keyswitch
• Like typing on popcorn
• The key pushed the socket out of the PCB
• Direct support from the plastic
• Just like you pull a tooth
• Be genuinely nice
• Favor-driven development
• A number of frantic pairing sessions
• I’m not looking for the hockey stick
• We’re not great for everyone
• We make it in an office building in Taiwan
• We pay models to hang out with the keyboard
• I don’t try to convince you
• I give you the facts and I trust you
• Geeking out with keyboards