If I had to make a wild guess as to why it’s designed that way? Cleaning flat buttons seems way easier than cleaning knobs. And no moving parts. Maybe more resilient (can be made with cheaper parts) considering the flimsy electronics that would be underneath the knobs compared to the more industrial (robust?) kind under an electric range.

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The next upgrade is Synergy (the software) so you can run both systems side by side with the same keyboard and mouse. Been using it for probably well over ten years now and it’s become something I can’t live without.