IIRC the vertical bar (or was it the tilde) was in a totally nonstandard and awkward place too... didn't seem very smart considering it was still a UNIX machine.
The navigation keys were not such a big deal once you realized that all text fields accepted basic Emacs keystrokes for cursor movement.
Unless you like emacs. No Caps Lock taking up precious space, Control/meta/super keys in great position, and the emacs keybindings work not only in emacs, but system wide.
The navigation keys were not such a big deal once you realized that all text fields accepted basic Emacs keystrokes for cursor movement.