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!

Thank you Cloudnet for sponsoring our VPS!

Comments, questions or tips? We are @kodsnack, @tobiashieta, @oferlund 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.

If you enjoy Kodsnack we would love a review in iTunes!

Links

• 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

Titles

• 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