The Wireless Comfort Desktop 5000 keyboard is currently the closest thing in the product line, but is not a suitable alternative for many of us, because of the non-standard placement of system keys - in particular, the ESC key, which is sunk into the keyboard and difficult to reach.

The successor, the Comfort Curve 3000, is also not a suitable alternative for many of us - the upwards curve in the center is very hard for some of us to get used to, especially when switching between that and a flat keyboard. It also has non-standard key placement, in particular the INS/DEL keys are not located where you expect to find them on a standard keyboard.

Keyboards with "creative" key placement are a huge distraction, especially to programmers and others who use keyboards all day, every day.

In other words, the Comfort Curve 2000 was already perfect.

The Comfort Curve 2000 was a best-selling keyboard in many online stores, and received very high customer ratings - higher than either of the alternatives.

Moreover, a new, boxed Comfort Curve 2000 goes for $80-$200 on eBay and Amazon - used ones go for around $50-$100, while the Comfort Curve 3000 goes for about $15 in online stores.

Please, Microsoft, bring back the Comfort Curve 2000, or something very similar - if you need an excuse to bump up the price, you can make it wireless if you must, or bundle it with a mouse, whatever it takes, but leave the all-standard key placement and the original shape as-is, please!