Many would consider switching from Qwerty to Dvorak a bicycle skill.
Are you sure? I'd consider typing in Dvorak a non-standard skill that would make me less productive with ~99% of keyboards in existence!
This strikes me as about as worthwhile as learning to ride a non-standard dual-wheel vehicle, as a consequence of which it becomes much harder to ride regular bicycles.
I'm just one data point of course but after the switch I actually type much faster in qwerty as well. No looking, somehow when I need to I just switch without thinking. It's especially helpful when running a VM or when the bootscreen is tied to qwerty only.
Huh. That's interesting. I guess it's akin to learning a second language...? Thank you for posting this -- it's changed the way I feel about learning Dvorak.
I had similar results, and I never even learned to type very fast on Dvorak. I think the key detail is that it forced me to break all of my bad habits I'd developed, and that carried over to qwerty.
After using Dvorak exclusively for two months I can't touch type Qwerty at all. I think you have to use Qwerty occasionally while learning Dvorak if you want to use both (I don't).
While I concede that I have become slower on qwertz keyboards over years of not using them, your bicycle example is wrong.
I'm an avid fan (and rider) of unicycles and recumbent bikes like the Flevo Racer. The Flevo Racer's pivotal steering makes you have to learn biking again from the ground up. It takes a few afternoons (or faster, if you aren't that clumsy). Riding a unicycle took me two weeks to learn.
Nevertheless, I can still ride a standard upright bike without any problems. And after all this crazy wheeled stuff, even bipedal locomotion still works fine.
Are you sure? I'd consider typing in Dvorak a non-standard skill that would make me less productive with ~99% of keyboards in existence!
This strikes me as about as worthwhile as learning to ride a non-standard dual-wheel vehicle, as a consequence of which it becomes much harder to ride regular bicycles.