Breaking newsQUOTE
I have some exciting news to share. As some of you know, the SideWinder X4 is unlike any other keyboard on the market. It features extreme anti-ghosting - basically 17KRO - at an unprecedented price point. This is made possible by a resistive multitouch technology developed by Microsoft's Applied Sciences Group. It allows the internal electronics to read any combination of keys, without the use of diodes, at high speed and with low power. This is a fundamental breakthrough in keyboard technology, and solves a long standing problem in the industry.
Not surprisingly, we have been receiving requests from other keyboard manufacturers to license the basic technology. Initially, we were hesitant to do this, wanting to keep this proprietary advantage to ourselves. However, we soon realized that this viewpoint was counterproductive. Game developers need to know that they can count on this capability before they make serious use of it. And as the makers of Windows, it is clearly in our interest to see a robust and evolving PC gaming market.
As such, we are creating a licensing program for our keyboard technologies. This will include both extreme anti-ghosting, as well as pressure sensitivity. Since our goal is to encourage wide adoption of these technologies, license costs will be purposefully modest.
I know that many of you are big fans of "mechanical" keyboards. This technology can be applied there to save some cost. However, a major benefit of this technology is that it works with inexpensive membrane-based keyboards, and adds minimal additional cost. My hope is that in a few years, virtually every desktop and laptop keyboard will have this technology.
The licensing program should be launching very soon. Stay tuned for the official announcement. In the meantime, I'd love to hear your thoughts!
Thanks!
--- Paul
P.S. Full disclosure: In case it wasn't obvious, I work for Microsoft as a researcher in the Applied Sciences Group...
P.P.S. In case you're curious, I got special permission to post this here before the official announcement. I argued that this forum was filled with people that understand, and are passionate about keyboards and that you would get the significance of this...
Source:
http://geekhack.org/showthread.php?t=15318
Layman translation:
So what this means is, Microsoft is going to license their side winder keyboard technology to other keyboard manufacturers.
You may be asking, so whats the friggin deal.
Well here are some points
1. Microsoft's Side Winder keyboard has USB NKRO (well it's technically 17KRO but since you only have 10 fingers anyway, people won't be able to make any distinction between the 2)
2. their tech will be licensed very cheaply meaning other keyboard manufacturers are very likely to up take this tech.
3. cheap rubberdome keyboards may now have the means for 17kro + features with very little extra cost to get it. I still opt for mechanical keyboards, but most people want to first invest in other components such as CPU, graphics card, monitor etc before finally getting a fancy mechanical keyboard, so until then, a cheap rubberdome with Microsoft's side winder technology might be very good indeed for the meantime especially if you are a gamer
4. microsoft's side winder usb nkro has been proven to work both on PC and MAC as well. Other keyboard USB NKRO implementations such as Ducky G2 and Choc Mini both didn't work well on Apple MAC computers.
5. If the uptake for this technology reaches mechanical keyboard, it's good bye NKRO via USB to PS2 Adapters, and hello to USB NKRO
6. This will make mechanical keyboards cheaper because they won't need SMD or DIP diodes to implement NKRO. They can just use Microsoft's tech to add the NKRO (17KRO) feature cheaply.
This post has been edited by Moogle Stiltzkin: Feb 16 2011, 06:12 PM 
Feb 13 2011, 01:44 PM
pew pew pew pew pew pew pew pew...bang....bang... *headshot
I'm using a normal Logiech keyboard. I average around 75-85. I got around 100 once in a typing comp. Is that due to the keyboard used in the competition being a mechanical one?
unless you don't mind supplementing with blank key caps.
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