Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro

I am a longtime user of Microsoft’s ergonomic “split” keyboards. I’ve gone through three so far: I use them until the letter wear off the keys (my “touch typing” style, although it’s pretty fast, requires an occasional glance at the keyboard, which requires letters on the keys to work).

The latest model in the fleet is the “Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro,” and I’ve been banging hard on it for two or three years. It’s a USB-PS/2 hybrid keyboard (it has two plugs at the computer end of its cable), it’s got a good feel, OS X drivers, a set of extra function buttons that I can program to do whatever I like, and it’s got two USB ports that I can use to plug in a bluetooth adapter, digital camera or my phone.

I decided that I needed a twin keyboard for my visits to Yankee, and so on the way up to Dublin last week I stopped in at both Computer City and then Staples to pick one up. Much to my chagrin, I found that Microsoft no longer makes the Natural Keyboard Pro: it’s been replaced by the Natural Multimedia Keyboard (which is nice looking, but PS/2 only, which means it won’t work with my Mac), and the tiny Natural Keyboard Elite (which is missing the extra function keys, has a compressed Insert/Delete, Home/End key cluster, and an “arrow key” arrangement that’s in a “cross” rather than the “T” I’m used to).

A quick search of the web shows everyone sold out of the old Natural Keyboard Pro; eBay has just four on offer. Obviously I need to identify an alternative, or start stockpiling.