I have been studying alt layouts for the past month. I thought I would respond to a few things here for others who might be considering changing to Dvorak.

"Useless though, because DVORAK is slower than QWERTY"

Where is the proof? Dvorak is based on 12 years of research

wereas qwerty was designed to reduce typewriter arm jams.

Just going off that alone, I would suspect Dvorak would be

easier to learn, and allow me to reach higher speeds.

"I'd credit the typist more than the keyboard for such a feat."

Perhaps in some cases, but it is interesting to note that she (212wpm record holder) flunked qwerty based typing class in high school prior

to learning on Dvorak, so in this case you really can't because she

had no skills prior to learning and reaching the fastest time on any

layout. Actually, her case supports looking into Dvorak, because

one has to ask, if the fastest typist flunked qwerty prior to typing

on a Dvorak, what does this say about Dvorak. A whole lot I think!

"plus you'd have to buy a special keyboard to even try it"

Incorrect. The software is included with most operating systems. You might like to pop the keys off and rearrange, or apply stickers, but you

don't have to buy a new keyboard