Like most Microsoft products, the keyboards have "lock-in". Once you get used to the split, you can't go back to a regular keyboard and have to keep buying new keyboards from Microsoft. I got one of these in June 2006 and used it a few hours a day until January 2007, by which time a few of the keys were no longer reliable. It is a great keyboard if you don't mind having to buy one for every computer that you use and keep buying replacements every six months.