Law Technology

At First it Seems Like a Good Idea, But Then ?

By Ross

My good friend Nerino Petro, Jr. of Compujurist fame recently wrote a product view for the ABA LPM’s LawPractice.org - he reviewed the KeyScan keyboard scanners. Nerino gave the combination PC keyboard/built-in single-page-fed scanner a positive review. Technically, I agree - they work and the implementation is sound. And for anyone born with a complete lack of impulse control, it’s almost impossible to resist the compulsion to order one.

But actually I have one and don?t recommend it. Reason? The same reason I think these have been a bad idea since Visioneer first released one in the early 90?s. Break your keyboard and you?ve broken your scanner. How many of us trash keyboards quickly ? just wear them out? Likely sooner than the scanner dies. Then what? Then you have a new keyboard and a separate and now really clunky keyboard scanner sitting next to your PC.

Also, logistically, it doesn?t make sense. There?s no auto-feeder ? you insert a page a time. Then the paper path has it coming out under the front of the keyboard. This means you?re not going to get any work done while you?re scanning ? you?re going to be a ?human paper tray? collecting the pages so they don?t shoot out onto the floor.

It makes MUCH more sense for most people to have a dedicated sheet-fed scanner like those from the Fujitsu ScanSnap series where you can drop your pages to be scanned in the feeder, press the big green button and keep working and typing while your document scans to Acrobat.

There?s a reason that the keyboard scanner hasn?t appeared in droves on desks worldwide in the 15+ years the idea has been around . . . because it might look cool and seem cool, but in practice, it?s more of a pain and more impractical than it initially seems.

Full post as published by Ross Ipsa Loquitur on March 12, 2009 (boomark / email).