A little over a decade ago, the patents expired on the MX switch design. The first clones (mostly from China) were cheap and terrible. Then came the ones which were cheap and almost as good. Then came the ones which were better than the originals, and eventually the ones which were more innovative too.

Meanwhile, Cherry kept making the same product line which they had since the 1980s, with relatively minor improvements.

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stockresearcher 2 hours ago | parent | next [-]

> Cherry kept making the same product line which they had since the 1980s, with relatively minor improvements.

Cherry was an American company that manufactured in the US until the automotive division was sold to a German company with keyboard switches thrown in. They moved production to Germany to capitalize on the perception of German quality. So, it’s not really surprising that it stagnated - it was a somewhat unwanted portion of a company and all the original folks got left behind.

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Phelinofist 41 minutes ago | parent [-]

> was sold to a German company... So, it’s not really surprising that it stagnated

As a German I _really_ feel this

	▲	riedel a few seconds ago \| parent [-]
		Same here. Minor iterative engineering innovation has been the main theme for years in Germany. Somehow hoping for a wakeup call, but it is hard to be optimistic these days.

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donquichotte 2 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Interesting, do you have any examples of the latter two categories? Looking for a replacement for my Cherry-Keyboard.

	▲	ch_123 an hour ago \| parent \| next [-]
		In this case, I'm talking specifically about the switches. There are various options from Gateron, Kailh and Outemu (including switches made by these companies but sold under different brands) which are widely regarded as superior to Cherry's options. In terms of keyboards, a good all-rounder suggestion is to take a look at some options from Keychron.
	▲	chasil 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I found a mini-keyboard from dealnews.com for $20 with multicolor LEDs, that seems reliable. I found another at Best Buy with red LEDs, but otherwise similar, and I gave it to my coworker. He wore all the letters off the keycaps before he retired and took it home, but it was otherwise reliable. I think these were both blue switch-based. Several genuine Cherry keyboards were in the e-waste pile at work, so I rescued them. I am using one on a test PC with rhel8. https://www.dealnews.com/Redragon-S107-BA-Gaming-Keyboard-an... https://www.dealnews.com/Aula-F75-Gaming-Mechanical-Keyboard... https://www.dealnews.com/K4-RGB-Tenkeyless-Mechanical-Gaming... I wish that Cherry could get a cut of these.
	▲	Ekaros 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		I think magnetic hall-effect switches in standard keyboard are interesting innovation. Basically allows you to tune at what point of key press they activate.
	▲	TheChaplain 2 hours ago \| parent \| prev \| next [-]
		Well, there's Gateron and Keychron.. But from what I gather Cherry still are considered the choice if you want longevity.
	▲	amyjess an hour ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		IMO Outemu blues are better than Cherry's. They're actually clickier.

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Ekaros 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Bought first board with swappable switches this month. And bit later about 70 different samples from Ali. Just the cheer quantity of that number is crazy to me.

Have to figure out if there is anything there when they arrive. But I think that is not even inclusive of some more expensive chinese brands.

Still, it is another interesting example how something can end up standard. That is the pin layout and the stem for keycap.

	▲	jsheard 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		> Just the cheer quantity of that number is crazy to me. The count is a bit inflated because different colorways of the same design by the same manufacturer are often sold as "different" switches, but even if you filter those duplicates out there's still a ton of distinct ones out there.