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I got rid of my cheap chair and got a Herman Miller Mirra. It is not as fancy as the Aeron, but it has all the adjustments I need, is very comfortable and is a few hundred dollars less.

The arms go up and down, in and out and pivot. The front lip of the seat is adjustable to make the seat deeper or shallower. Height of course. The recline has three stop settings from very upright to nearly nap with adjustable tension. There are two tilt settings. Lastly, the lumbar support can be positioned vertically and the tension adjusted.

My back used to hurt all of the time, now, not so much. I got mine with the upholstered back. I tried both at the dealer and it just felt a little better.

Neither the Mirra or the Aeron has a headrest. The chairs I saw with headrests that I liked, were in the $1500-$3000 range. Too much for me.

Aeron chairs come in three different sizes. You might have tried one that didn't fit you. I only found this out because I moved to a new job where everyone had Aerons and I hated mine at first. My desk came with a size A chair, and I needed a size C. Once I got fitted for the correct size chair, it was a lot better. There is a size chart on the right hand side of this page: http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,,a10-c440-p8,00.html

link

I own a Herman Miller Celle (http://www.hermanmiller.com/celle/) that I keep at the office. The company provided chairs are no match for the comfort/adjustability of this chair. The Herman Miller chairs are a bit spendy, but well worth it.

While it was often cited as a symbol of the dot-com bubble overspending, I've always sworn by the Herman Miller Aeron chair. I used to sit in it 8 hours a day while programming, and the comfort difference was worth every penny of its expense.

When I visit potential employers while considering job opportunities, I actually look for Aeron chairs. I want to know where I'll be parking my butt for a large portion of the day!

Details here, and here.

As owner of 3 Macs, let me tell you something: Apple HATES Java, always hated and that is why we are stuck on Java 5 while the people using platform which tried to kill Java are enjoying Java 6 final release.

As an architect in training ... But "interior designer" is just a newer word for interior decorator. Basically, an architect tells them to put a couch in the lobby, and the interior designer will suggest a brand and color.

You need some more training before you make a fool of yourself when it counts. I suggest talking to SteelCase, or HermanMiller or any other major office furniture company. Just about every Fortune 500 office is laid out by an Interior Designer working for a distributor for one of those companies. Say something like the above in front of an ASID or IIDA member and you'll promptly regret it.

Nah, Bill's bid to shore up the profitability of the perhipheral divisions of Microsoft consists of purchasing Herman Miller.

Steve goes through a few dozen chairs during the employee productivity review: profit.

Steve smashes a bookcase halfway through a product placement strategy meeting: profit.

Steve wipes out a patio set as the XBox branding summit heats up: profit.

They just can't lose.

Get your Aeron Chair orders in NOW and avoid the rush!

I have to wonder what exactly is the money spent on? Does anyone know?

I know. The answer is http://www.hermanmiller.com/aeron/

A lot of work on Babble was done by Appled Minds for Herman Miller. Here's a Wired article that describes the project:

http://wired.com/news/20050621_appliedminds.html?t w=wn_tophead_1

Here's Herman Miller's press release for the device:

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/News/Story/0,1 585,a9-c407-n350,00.html

--Pat

,dave

Get a Kickass-wide-monitor-laptop.

        Indulge on the best MOBILE processor known to mankind as of this writing (IMHO AMD-Turion, the only MOBILE processor that supports X-86 64). Add RAM as there is no tomorrow (That is, up to the maximum your laptop supports), and make sure that your laptop's chipset supports dual monitor. Get the Wide monitor breed of laptop, as that way you will be able to see all lines with no line breaks.

Buy a flat pannel monitor as your second monitor, a GOOD keyboard http://www.pckeyboard.com/ and a GREAT mouse.

Put your laptop in a stand, so that the LCD is at a convenient eye level, Plug the keyboard, mouse, and second monitor... presto, that is your platform. Get VMware, and your favourite IDE and OS(no comments here)...

The beauty of this setup is that it is a kick-ass platform, and you can take (most of) it with you, if needed.

Other things that help, a HUGE "L" shaped desk, with your machine in the corner of the "L", plenty of shelfs and a black/white board. Also a nice aeron chair http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,1592 ,a10-c440-p8,00.html/. Also, have around some good CDs for relaxation.

Try to set all this up in a place with a window with some sunlight and a nice view. Work for like 45~90 minutes, stopping every now and the to enjoy the view for 1 minute. After that get up and for 10~20 min, stretch your legs, get some water, go to the bathroom, eat a snack, chat a little, et cetera. Lather, rinse, repeat.

I should know, as I am describing the corporate setting in which I spent my time from Jul 2001 til March 2004, with a very similar setup, and it worked great. And no, it was not a cube, but an office, with a real door, overlooking the Avila mountain. Left as a consultant, and now I am about to begin my MBA. I'll get back to you to tell you how my setting is after I finish my studies. With any luck I'll be able to replicate that setting, but in a corner office ;-). Hope to be able to get that for my employees as well....

• herman miller aeron - nice chair, comfortable for many hours
• datahand proII split keyboard/mouse - nice ergo keyboard, no arm strain moving to mouse and back. mouse fine for programming use, but for extended image work/CAD, would not be sensitive enough. They take a while to learn. Personal has most of the required features, and costs less. Pricing is very good right now. A bit sensitive to dust, nobody can operate your computer.
• chair arm mounts for datahands - split keyboard mounted on arms is very nice. Always in fine ergo position, even with feet up on desk.
• dual opteron 246HE, 3G RAM, tyan k8we, with newer nvidia vidcard. nice board after the week of configuration.
• gentoo gnu/linux - excellent footing, great pkg mgmt, fine community.. requires a bit of initial configuration
• eclipse - best IDE there is, with plugins, even better. Need a beast of a box to run it well.
• video
  1. current - nv twinview (2560x1024) over 17"crt and 19" lcd. LCD is Samsung 191T+. Nice, but low resolution (1280x1024)
  2. future - 19" LCD with WUXGA (1920x1200) LCD based homebrew projector on good screen in dimmed room. Should be fine for coding and good for movies/sdtv/hdtv.

All the above are no substitute for hard work, research and forethought, of course. But you'll go better for longer.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,,a10 -c440-p8,00.html That simple.

I've never understood why people are unwilling to shell out money for a good keyboard, but will cheerfully plop down money for the hottest CPU or latest video card.

Owning a Herman Miller Aeron chair, purchased new from Herman Miller before the dot-com bust caused a flood of them on eBay, I feel somewhat qualified to insert my CAD 0.02.

Even though my Aeron has the older lumbar support (the chair on the right in the second photo at the link above), instead of the newer Y-shape one (can you purchase that part by itself to upgrade the older ones?), it is an incredibly supportive and comfortable chair, even when spending continuous 8+ hour periods in it. The Aeron's mesh is far superior to that of the cheaper imitations available at Staples etc; it prevents your back, butt, or thighs from getting sweaty even if the room you're working in is sunny or hot, and causes a very even distribution of support throughout.

Yes, I spent C$1,000 on it. However, two of the options on the chair, the tilt-five-degrees-forward control and the lock-recline-angle control, which I never and rarely use, respectively, could have been omitted for a savings of C$100 per option. (Hindsight was apparently C$200 at the time.)

Even at C$800 for the chair (which has a 12-year parts-and-labour warranty if bought new from them), if you spend any appreciable amount of time in a chair, it is money very well spent. Your back (and therefore the rest of your body, since it's all pretty much connected to that at one point or another) will thank you.

I do software development for a living and a hobby (no t.v.). So I spend a lot of time on a keyboard.

I've been interested in Dvorak for awhile, and I keep a printout of the layout and hotkeys active to flip between QWERTY and Dvorak for practice. I do 100 WPM on the former (measured) and about 20-30 WPM om the latter (guesstimate). I did some typing practice with Dvorak, similar to what one does for QWERTY in typing class, but only got as far as the home row and never got around to doing the rest. I'm still a dabbler in Dvorak.

I find it's not particuarly hard to switch if you don't think about the layout too much. Just like when I type QWERTY, it works better if I think about the words and the fingers and letters take care of themselves. I find that for both Dvorak and QWERTY, if I start thinking about the keyboard layout, I confuse myself. Of course, it's much more pronounced with Dvorak.

Dvorak and vim don't mix well for me. Mentally, vim is more like another keyboard layout that I've learned, rather than atop QWERTY. I think even if I get good at Dvorak, I'll have to use QWERTY for vim. So Dvorak will be more useful for "mass" typing, like a Word document. Relearning hotkeys will also be a pain, so I'll probably always keep a really easy and fast hotkey (e.g. Ctrl-Shift-1) to toggle keyboard layouts.

Expanding into the broader RSI topic, I've done some research and experimentation in that area, too. My original wakeup call was shooting pains from my elbow to the pinkie, while just walking around far away from any computer.

Originally, I found that a split keyboard (original Microsoft) helped. Then pain started coming back (just the wrist area).

I tried out the Smart Glove (http://www.imakproducts.com/products/smart_glove. htm) and got good results from that (it also helps with using laptops, where other ergo products can't be used).

I've tried various wrist support products, and I found the best one I've used is a gel-like product that deforms from your pressure on it and stays mostly deformed when you take your hand off. (http://www.gaylainc.com/WristRst.html)

Once I had the money to, I decided that just for the chance of improvement, it was worth sinking the money into possible hoopla. So I bought a couple Kinesis Maxim keyboards (http://www.kinesis-ergo.com/max-spec.htm) and an Aeron chair (http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/SSA/Product/0,159 2,a10-c440-p8,00.html), as well as a keyboard tray from Kinesis (I also have a contoured Logitech mouse, if that makes a difference).

My current opinion is that the Aeron chair is good but pricey, the Maxim keyboard is excellent, and the keyboard tray is a necessity.

The Aeron chair is unusual, because you need to sit "just so" for it to feel comfortable. "Just so" happens to be good for you, so it's like continuously being encouraged to sit properly. If you're stubborn, it won't ever feel comfortable (I often still don't sit properly). The mesh fabric is quite nice for keeping your backside cool.

The Maxim keyboard is very comfortable. The adjustable split isn't a big deal, once you get what you want (they recommend a certain setting anyway). However, the keys have a short depth (discourages the habit of killing a key and having the excess force bounce back on you through your fingers) and are quite sensitive (I've tried without success to depress it gently without actually registering a keystroke). The key layout is still familiar (unlike some other keyboards which shrink the backspace, align the key columns differently, etc.). Best keyboard I've used (out of about a half dozen Microsoft and Logitech keyboards personally, as well as old cheap ones at university computer labs).

You forgot one thing, the chair.

Get one and your back will love you for it.

Just because your company went with the lowest bidder for your office system doesn't mean that its all has to look like that. A lot of planning and esthetic design goes into office systems.. Check out some real office systems manufacturers ..

Not All cubes look like the cookie cutter cubes that your're used to...

KNOLL

Herman Miller

STEELCASE

Haworth

This company has some products that will REALLY impress the suites. Round the setup out with a few 1337 dvorak gesture keyboards, comfortable chairs, and a network camera outside the door. Did I miss anything?

There are things you can do which keep your performance on track. Lots of houseplants is great. Increased oxygen supply is fantastic. Engineer your lifestyle to best integrate your entire life, eliminating the artificial polarization of work and non-work. Excercise is good, either outside or inside (ie a stationary bike during the winters). Look after your body, especially the rough bits that have to interact with the computer. Optimize your interactions with the box and eliminate potential problems for years to come. A good keyboard, chair, multi monitor setup and good audio help out. Rituals should come naturally. If dissatisfied, change slightly and approach your goal. Expecting to hit it right on the first time is counter productive (even counter biological). Don't forget to breathe. Eat well. Suppliment with good array of vitamins+minerals. Drink lots of water. Take time off liberally (your doing so much more with your time). Get yourself a zaurus or a laptop and go to a park for reading.

I'm thankful daily that I'm not in the dry, torturous, stupid communinal blather-pots others call places of work.

Andy

• 2x Athlon MP 2k+ (on Tyan Tiger MB)
• GeForce 2 with tv out (and 2 other vid cards)
• ATI TV Wonder
• ZapWay IR Receiver
• Sony el-cheapo multi function universal remote control
• Herman Miller Aeron
• Datahand chair mounted split keyboard
• SBLive 5.1
• MSB-Tech Link II DAC
• Good home stereo powering a set of Magnepan MGIIa's (quasi-planar speaker)
• and soon: a SXGA LCD Projector (NEC MT1030+)

• gentoo GNU/Linux
• ALSA audio drivers
• lirc
• mplayer
• xmms
• mldonkey, video store, cable for media acquisition

I hope to eventually suspend a THX acoustically transparant screen across the magnaplanars and use a LCD projector for a 6' x 5' HD image.

Overall the experience has been quite good, tho having it all setup on a workstation requires much maintenance to keep all the apps communicating... a dedicated shuttle box to feed the projector/DAC would be a little nicer, tho I'd still want a central media server. Wireless is not needed here, as the few cables (spdif/video/etc) pose only a problem to the vacuum cleaner. Of course, the setup costs as much as a nice used car (which I don't own) and I find myself dreaming of 6'x5' trees rendered in imax style 3d (cow's can fly in caves, but require awkward polarized glass or expensive eye surgery for 3d flight experience).

Andy
http://benow.ca

The desk layout shown in the document on thecampbeln's website is very much like what I am using; although mine wasn't DIY.

About 18 months ago I moved my office into a room in my basement. At work, I had been using a HermanMiller Passage Suite and had been very satisfied with it. While brand new HermanMiller furniture was out of my price range, the local HM dealer did have some old show room components that I was able to purchase for a much more reasonable price.

-_-_-

I think the symbol of the dot-com is the Aeron chair. When these companies started to go belly up, and auction off all their assets, Aeron chair were the common factor.

SOMEONE must have gotten rich off of the dot-com craze and subsequent bust... was it hardware manufacturers who provided all of the infrastructure for the failed-from-the start companies?

A lot of it went to Herman Miller. A lot more went on advertising, and on subsidizing products to undercut offline retailers. Also, a lot went on salaries, hiring people for much more than they were worth, and buying more equipment that was necessary. And a lot went to bankers arranging IPOs and M&A. It wasn't any one thing, the money just sloshed around and a lot of it got spilled. In the final analysis, it was lots of little things, a restaurant meal on expenses here, an extra web server there, a plane ticket where a conference call would have done, a bigger office for room to expand, that just kept adding up.

Essentially, what happened was that money that would have existed in the future if money in the present was invested in productive activity, was shifted into the present and spent in non-productive ways. The reason there is a recession is because the money that should be there now (now that we are in the future) had already been spent.

Seems that the Aeron chair is the hallmark of a failed dot com. It was like some ridiculous checkmark on the over the top checklist.

1. 20 year old w/no business experience running the company? Check.
2. Massive outgoing cash flow? Check.
3. Aerons for all of the employees? Check.
4. Unrelenting belief that a business model which will even give you a chance at being profitable will emerge out of the ether? Check.

Well,
They got better chairs !

If you sit a lot during the day, the body heat stored up in the cushions causes you to sweat into the chair. Eventually the chair gets moldy and that's a bummer because it will transfer to your carseat.

The Aeron is very comfy and it's like sitting on curved trampoline. Nothing to absorb heat and sweat.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/product/0,1469,c21 1-pss2-p8,00.html

Whitepapers on seating:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/Whitepaper/index/0 ,1254,c75-k12,00.html

If you sit a lot during the day, the body heat stored up in the cushions causes you to sweat into the chair. Eventually the chair gets moldy and that's a bummer because it will transfer to your carseat.

The Aeron is very comfy and it's like sitting on curved trampoline. Nothing to absorb heat and sweat.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/product/0,1469,c21 1-pss2-p8,00.html

Whitepapers on seating:
http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/Whitepaper/index/0 ,1254,c75-k12,00.html

Now, all I can find is this sad example. ~$1000 for fabric upholstery, ~$1500 for leather... but that's just one site I found on a Google search.

It's a shame the site is buried under the load, I'd like to see that chair. I've had the same idea for some time... I used to own a VW Corrado (which came with Recaro seats), and I often thought about mounting one of those on a swivel base for non-car use. That thing was comfy! However, looking at the prices for a new Recaro, I think I'll just search ebay for an Aeron.

My favorite. Plus it's attractive. I guess it depends though whether you're at a desk or not.

Our bodies definitely weren't designed to sit for 8 hours. But perhaps more importantly, they weren't designed to sit still for 8 hours (that's just awful for circulation). That's the design philosophy behind Humanscale's Freedom Chair. It encourages you to move around and change your position. I've had this chair for a year now, and I'm very sad when I have to sit in anything else.

I tried the Aeron, but didn't really like it. Yes, the mesh was nice in terms of support and ventilation, but it took endless tweaking to adjust, and I never could quite get it to fit me properly. (On second thought, the endless tweaking just might endear it to most /. readers...)

I also tried out the Leap (by Steelcase). The flexible back was interesting, but still too hard to adjust.

In contrast, the Freedom is incredibly simple. There are three settings to make it fit your size: seat height, seat depth, and back height. These controls are intuitively placed and easy to reach without looking while seated.

The only other two adjustable bits (back tilt and armrest height) don't have 'controls' per se. They just move with you. Push back a little bit, and the seat back tilts back until you stop pushing. When you stop pushing, it supports you. It's really uncanny. (They did some very clever counterweight thing so that this provides the proper support and control regardless of your weight.) The left and right armrests always adjust to the same height, no thought or effort required. You just pull either armrest (or both) up or down, they both move, and then they stay in position. (They also drop lower than your lap, if you want to get rid of them effectively.)

The ease of adjustability is what makes this chair encourage you to move. You don't have to think at all to change your sitting position. You just move.

I have no affiliation with Humanscale other than being very happy with my chair.

If you want pure comfort and support, you still can't beat Herman Miller's Aeron's.

Some complain about the cost, but for me, not having pain in my back and shoulders are well worth it. (I'm 6'6" so finding comfortable furniture is often a challenge for me too.) They last forever, allow you to customize just about every aspect you care about (height/tilt/recline/arm height/optional lumbar), and fade transparently into the background, like a good working enviroment should. The only time you'll even notice the chair is if it's missing, or someone tried to replace it with something lesser (i.e. just about any other chair).

If it's coming out of your pocket look around for a good price. With the dot com bust, I was able to pick up a used one for home use for about $200.

-Bill

No offense, but not all couches are made in your hometown. They have to be shipped at some time, probably in a large truck that still can't fit very many couches within it. That's why there a companies making a lot of money by selling furniture online or, more commonly, through catalogs.

If anyone can get me a Aeron chair for under $100, I'll give'm $150 for one!

Dotcom bust has really helped the Herman Miller company....

Why is it made for people under 6 feet tall only?

um, they do make 3 different sizes...A,B,C

so, what they're saying is the only company to actually make money on the dot economy last year was Herman Miller?

cool. we've got a slew of aerons here, as well as their Resolve system. it's so sweet... replace cubicles with honeycombs...

i'd just hate to see the company that made our office system go out of business, just when i had my eye on a bunch of cool accessories

so, what they're saying is the only company to actually make money on the dot economy last year was Herman Miller?

cool. we've got a slew of aerons here, as well as their Resolve system. it's so sweet... replace cubicles with honeycombs...

i'd just hate to see the company that made our office system go out of business, just when i had my eye on a bunch of cool accessories

BTW: If you have tendonitis, a lot of doctors will tell you to take Advil (or a generic version of it). That's because Advil is an anti-inflamitory drug that actually reduces the swelling in your wrist. Since the swolen tendons is what is causign all the friction (which causes more pain and more swelling), reducing it is a Good Thing. Other pain killers will 1: not reduce the swelling, and 2: ease the pain, allowing you to cheerfully type away and hurt yourself more.

Yep! Advil is an NSAID (Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drug). Any NSAID will have the same (or similar) effect.

However, be warned that NSAIDs are not a magic bullet; constant use of them has been shown to cause stomach ulcers/bleeding.

If you type a lot, get an ergonomic keyboard (the Microsoft Natural Keyboard Pro is a great piece of hardware) and a decent chair (I highly recommend the Aeron Chair if you can afford it -- it's like floating on air, even after sitting it for hours on end!). Your body will thank you!

--

For a mere 720$ (retail) a pop the place where I work, bought all the employees Herman-Miller Aeron
seating. If you have never tried one of these thing then you are missing out if you have to sit all day at a keyboard. My neck used to kill me at the end of the day, even after 5 years of at the desk. One day in one of these puppies and I am almost as comfortable when I am in bed.

http://www.hermanmiller.com/CDA/product/0,1469,c20 1-pss1-p8,00.html

Check them out,
R_V_Winkle

Herman Miller Aeron Chair

I work out of the house, and bought one of these a few years ago. It really is amazing.

Nah...forget Star Trek...forget the couch potato crap...if you want a really cool chair, you'd get an Aeron chair from Herman Miller. Best chair ever.

Those Herman Miller Aeron chairs are the most comfortable chairs I've ever used... it's like sitting on a cloud, or some sort of force field.

These days they're priced at up to $850-900, but every time I sit in one at work, that price seems a little bit cheaper to me. Considering the chair in front of my computer is probably the most-often-occupied seat in my home, I think it will be money well spent.

As funny as it was to see a link to "cheap Herman Miller," Aerons kick ass. It's the official chair of Office Hockey. Strange website, though. Rather than embed a 3d viewer, they give you the object model to run in 3dStudio. That's a new one.

I hope this won't start as big of a flame-war as vi vs. emacs. AskSlashdot is a strange category: it either gets like 12 posts or 500+.

I know of at least two firms who have kitted their entire office (all employees) with Aerons. They're worth it in the long run.

However, not all is peachy... it's developed a wobble. Luckily, Herman Miller engineers are going to come and service it for me. =)

Aeron. At a grand a pop they support some serious ass!
Seriously though, these chairs rock. Mesh support to allow the body to breath, tilt at the hip, full support, extra wide arm rests, and the list goes on and on.

For those of you who are interested in being as ergonomically correct as possible, you might want to check out the Typing Injury FAQ Home Page.
There's information there about furniture, keyboards, mice, etc., as well reasons why you want an ergonomically correct environment

My department just got the Aeron Chair from Herman Miller, and they are not only very comfortable, but easy to configure and reconfigure, so that you don't keep the same posture throughout the day. I highly recommend them, although they run about $750 per chair.

For those of you who are interested in being as ergonomically correct as possible, you might want to check out the Typing Injury FAQ Home Page.
There's information there about furniture, keyboards, mice, etc., as well reasons why you want an ergonomically correct environment

My department just got the Aeron Chair from Herman Miller, and they are not only very comfortable, but easy to configure and reconfigure, so that you don't keep the same posture throughout the day. I highly recommend them, although they run about $750 per chair.

In the cheap class: Sifl n Olly box set from ebay. First and only show on MTV starring sock puppets.
In the medium class: an aeron chair from Herman Miller. If you don't know, try one. Best $1000 chair in the country.
In the unlimited, my own record label to screw with the RIAA.
And in my own category, priceless, I want Stephen King to finish the Dark Tower series.