Ten Thumbs

I never learned to touch type properly; I improvised a fast hunt-and-peck method in grade school and have never managed to get my touch typing speed to exceed my hunt-and-peck.

Recently, I thought I'd give it another shot, and even bought Ten Thumbs for a little exta push. Unfortunately, despite the awards and the reviews, Runtime Resolution Ltd. simply got it wrong.

What you need most from a computer typing tutor is a combination of practice and pedagogy; you need exercises to improve your skill, and you need intelligent oversight to keep you from picking up dreadful habits or being swamped, or bored, because your progress is faster or slower than the program expects. That means the program needs to act like its paying attention; it should seem to be pacing you curriculum intelligently.

Ten Thumbs might be pacing me intelligently, but it constantly undermines its authority with silly, over-elaborate, and pointless illustrations and animations. There's this cartoon Viking fellow all over the place. Why? Does he convince me that the program knows what its doing? He does not. He convinces me that the product manager thought a cute Viking would sell the program to people who would inflict it on students, despite the evident waste of development hours and talent.