From what I understand, there is no hard proof that people type faster with Dvorak layouts vs. Qwerty. But people who do switch tend to find it a lot easier on the hands. I remember reading that Qwerty has one advantage over Dvorak in that there is better use of alternation between the hands, which speedwise makes up for the fact that the letters are in harder-to-reach places on the Qwerty layout.
That being said, I once saw a keyboard on eBay that had all the keys perfectly lined up in a grid pattern as opposed to the staggered format on conventional keyboards. The grid patter is purported to reduce strain on the hands, and it was available in both Qwerty and Dvorak labelling. If anyone has tried this keyboard, let me know.
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