I have to agree with you on one point though: the continued prevalence of the conventional 104-key row-staggered layout is baffling. Up to the mid-80s keyboards used to exhibit gradual evolution in the layout, (function keys on the left, arrow keys in a + shape, etc) then one design happened to take hold and everything else basically died out.

We can (and often do) come up with much better designs, but nothing seems to stick.