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Baby Duck Syndrome denotes the tendency for computer users to "imprint" on the first system they learn, then judge other systems by their similarity to that first system. The result is that "users generally prefer systems similar to those they learned on and dislike unfamiliar systems."1 It is most commonly seen in a person moving from a Windows operating system to a free Unix-like operating system, especially Linux and BSD.citation needed It is also common, but less prominent, amongst Macintosh users.citation needed The term may have been inspired by the work, experiences, and observations of Konrad Lorenz.
Keyboards
A common example of Baby Duck Syndrome is users who prefer the keyboard layout of the first computer they used, leading manufacturers to produce keyboards with discontinued layouts.2 Baby Duck Syndrome also has been invoked to explain the preference of many users for QWERTY keyboards despite the widespread belief that the Dvorak layout is superior,1 although this is by no means the only explanation which has been offered for this phenomenon (see for example Path dependence).
Footnotes
- ^ a b "Baby duck syndrome: Imprinting on your first system makes change a very hard thing", Peter Seebach, developerWorks, 2 March 2005
- ^ Happy Hacking Keyboard product description (no longer manufactured)
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 27 November 2008, at 19:10.
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