Yes, I've been using Dvorak exclusively for a year or two. Vim was annoying at first, but it's really not too bad. Even if you don't remap the keys the new locations of hjkl make reasonable sense.
My question for you Dvorak users is how easily can you switch back and forth between it and qwerty? I can do it without much trouble, but I know another guy who has a very hard time switching. I'm curious what the general trend is.
I had a tough time initially. I basically lost the ability to type qwerty without looking at the keys for about 6 months. Then I started gaining it back on an OS-by-OS basis: I was conditioned so that if I was looking at a Gnome desktop (school computer labs) I'd type Qwerty, yet on a WinXP desktop I'd type Dvorak. Then it went to app-by-app: I'd type Dvorak on Word and AIM, but Qwerty on Eclipse and a few other Linux apps. And then I became fluent in both keyboard layout and can can basically touch type on either.
Still need to switch into Qwerty for some games, though, because their keybindings don't make any sense. It's also really annoying on typing tests that have you type "hjkl" over and over again. vi was never a problem, because I learned the keybindings on Dvorak first, though I might have trouble if I sat down at a Qwerty terminal with it.
As I said in another post, I've been using Dvorak for about five years. I actually haven't tried using QWERTY in about two years... so let's see how I do. (switches)
Well... this feels a bit awkward (especially "awkward", ironically, which is mostly on one hand), but I can type mostly fine. I find punctuation to be the biggest problem, followed the fact that my left hand feels overworked (is that normal?). I can type at about half my normal pace, but it's getting better. In fact, after typing this paragraph, I think I'm most the way back to full speed.
All in all, I'd say that switching isn't a big issue, especially if you just need to key in a few small things. This is completely anecdotal, mind you.
I learned Dvorak in high school, used it for about three months. Ultimately, I went back to qwerty because I, too, have an incredibly hard time switching between the two. I wasn't about to restrict myself to only using Dvorak-enabled computers.
I can switch back and forth quite easily. I use dvorak the vast majority of the time, but when I play games I use qwerty because remapping all the hotkeys just takes too long. (And it's hard to hit the right key when you glance down and see the wrong letter in a game.)
Since most online games require a lot of chatting, I have lots of practice actually typing real stuff in both fairly quickly.
My question for you Dvorak users is how easily can you switch back and forth between it and qwerty? I can do it without much trouble, but I know another guy who has a very hard time switching. I'm curious what the general trend is.