You're right that Framework is exactly where I would expect flexibility on this: I mean, just looking at their landing page - you see a laptop without the keyboard and ports. Framework offers 176 (!) kinds of "keyboards":
(Answer: it's basically just keyboard covers, and the many options are due to variations of colors and languages. But I would take a hot pink / toxic green keyboard with ancient tibetan labels if the keys were non-chicklet, with decent travel, sizes, and feedback. 7 rows if possible.)
Overhead of small volume manufacturing. If they make all those variations and intend to continue existing as a company that makes money selling things, it would have to be at a price where no one's going to buy one. But if I start an Etsy store selling one-offs at $399 each, people can grumble about my price, but it's not on Framework.
https://frame.work/marketplace/keyboards
but not one decent keyboard. Why?
(Answer: it's basically just keyboard covers, and the many options are due to variations of colors and languages. But I would take a hot pink / toxic green keyboard with ancient tibetan labels if the keys were non-chicklet, with decent travel, sizes, and feedback. 7 rows if possible.)