Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

QWERTY
     
         /kwer'tee/ (From the top left row of letter keys of
        most keyboards) Pertaining to a standard English-language
        typewriter keyboard (sometimes called the Sholes keyboard
        after its inventor), as opposed to {Dvorak} or
        foreign-language layouts (e.g. "keyboard AZERTY" in
        french-speaking countries) or a {space-cadet keyboard} or {APL
        keyboard}.
     
        The QWERTY layout is a fine example of a {fossil}.  It is
        sometimes said that it was designed to slow down the typist,
        but this is wrong; it was designed to allow *faster* typing -
        under a constraint now long obsolete.  In early typewriters,
        fast typing using nearby type-bars jammed the mechanism.  So
        Sholes fiddled the layout to separate the letters of many
        common digraphs (he did a far from perfect job, though; "th",
        "tr", "ed", and "er", for example, each use two nearby keys).
        Also, putting the letters of "typewriter" on one line allowed
        it to be typed with particular speed and accuracy for {demos}.
        The jamming problem was essentially solved soon afterward by a
        suitable use of springs, but the keyboard layout lives on.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1998-01-15)