The Dvorak experiment is still going slowly but steadily. Those first few days were tough and there were moments when I just wanted to throw in the towel and stick exclusively with qwerty. At this point, I can comfortably switch between the two layouts (qwerty or dvorak) when I really need to and the only situation I’ve found where I really needed my speed back right away was while using instant messenger.
I can type around 20 words per minute with dvorak, down from a comfortable 45 in qwerty. So I am close to half my speed after really only a total time of three or four hours of straight typing. That isn’t very bad at all. The conservative rule of thumb I’ve read is to tack on an extra hour of practice for every word per minute speed gain. You do the math.
