Coiled keyboard cords

[PeterNY]

Another thought about the possible reasons for the demise of coiled cords :
It may have something to do with the demise of horizontal form factor for computer cases in favor of towers.

Very plausible!

 

[Maverick1978]

I saw that transition. Curly chords are a fashion item. They were "modern". After years of only straights, we start to see curly chords as a "great idea" and people thought they were very "smart". What we might call "cool" nowadays. When I was young and curly chords were not so common, I too thought they were cool. You will also notice that electric guitarists used to use them despite the hassle. Most of them got smarter.

It's funny that you mention that. For me, my first experience with a coiled cord was in the early 90's, after years of seeing/using straight cords and never having seen a curly cord (my elementary school only had Apple II's and PCJr's - I can count on one hand how many times we were allowed to use them - I think the teachers were afraid of them!). By the time I entered Junior High in 1990/91, I finally got to lay eyes on the 5150/5160 for the first time - the computers at my high school's computer and typing labs were the original IBM 5150's with coiled keyboards, while the teacher had a 5160. I remember thinking "this is cool" and playing with the cord rather than listening to the teacher (couldn't type - the clicky noises would give me away immediately!). These were the computers in our labs from 1984 - 1995, my Junior year of HS, when we upgraded to 386's.

Interesting enough.. we had the 5150's in the computer/typing labs, and in every English classroom, we had 4 PS/2 Model 25's with a whopping 2x 3.5" floppy drives! I fell in love with both of these systems, which is why I have them now (well, I've a 5160 rather than a 5150, but only because to me they're virtually interchangeable!)

 

[Raven]

I think you're probably right, amigalynx.