Who turned the slots in knife blocks?

I was looking through the new Chef's Catalog this morning and all of a sudden I realized something had changed, something I'd taken for granted as a given: the slots in the knife blocks are now horizontal instead of vertical.

I went to the kitchen to make sure I wasn't any more confused than usual: nope, the slots in my knife block, purchased many years ago, are indeed vertical (below).

And without any question the problem with vertical slots — the fact that no matter how carefully you replace and remove the knives, you're bound to touch the blade against the bottom of the slot, with a resulting gradual, if inexorable, wearing away of the flat bottom of the slot into a groove as, like a river carving a canyon, steel has its way with wood — is solved by turning them 90°.

But that also turns tradition on its head.

Or to be more precise: on its side.

Who thought that this was a good idea, and when did it happen?

I could not find a single knife block on the Chef's Catalog website that featured the old–style vertical openings.

Are they now collectibles?