Dvorak Keyboard Users?

[Bridget]

I never learned to type properly, but I'm still pretty efficient with this lame 'pecking' method, often scoring 90-100+ words per minute on some tests at my peak. I have long wanted to learn to type properly to increase this speed among other things.

Anyway, I was doing some inspired reading about the QWERTY keyboard. It turns out, this common keyboard layout is super inefficient. This layout was devised to purposely space the most commonly used keys out from one another. What kind of stupid idea was this? Well, the layout was devised when typewriters were the most advanced means of writing. Spacing the most commonly used letters close together meant the hammers would get jammed or stuck on one another. So, the QWERTY keyboard was born. It did well for avoiding these mechanical errors, but it crippled everyone in every other respect, especially when we moved to computer input. We've grown accustomed to this terrible layout probably presuming it's optimal.

I didn't know this. I knew about the Dvorak keyboard for some time, but I didn't think there was anything to it. I thought it was just hipster bullshit. "Hey, guys, look at my keyboard layout. It's different. I'm cool." but it turns out, it was designed for efficiency. All the most used keys are on the home row. The vowels are on the left side of the keyboard and most of the consonants on the right. This means improved speed, accuracy, less movement, more safety, and so on. I am thinking about switching to this layout (whether physically, virtually, or both) while I learn to type properly. So, question is:

Anyone here use a Dvorak keyboard or the layout? What has been your experience? Do you notice any improvements? How easy was it to learn?