There was a time when I really, really cared about how people used computers. It was a side effect of my time with Free software. The community and the ideals around the freedom to use one\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s hardware in any way one chooses is intoxicating in a way that only die-hard nerds can appreciate. It feeds into that need that some<\/em> nerds (me) have to be right. Technically right. The best kind of right.<\/p>\n The desire to spread the gospel of Free software led me to try and convince everyone and their dog to abandon the way that they work in favor of an idealistically cleaner solution. I managed to create a few converts and did my small part to help along the adoption of all things Free. To this day, I believe that there are places where Free software is the best option. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not going to tell you about it.<\/p>\n Somewhere along the line, about the time my buddy El Jeffe got me hooked on OS X, something inside of me changed. The purpose of these machines was highlighted for me. I can trace it back to the first time that I used GarageBand to record a song. Upon starting up the app, I created a new project and it was ready for me to record. That was it. No entering sample rates or file types – just press the big red button and play something into the microphone. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t think about using the application. I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even think about the computer. Everything was reduced to the bare minimum: the task at hand and me.<\/p>\n For someone who tweaks hardware and software for fun, this experience in anathema. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s never a time that thought is eliminated from the equation. We have to consider interrupts, kernel settings, available memory, and a host of things that have acronyms longer than the URLs of most web sites. To simply use<\/em> the computer made no sense at all.<\/p>\n But it made me serious.<\/p>\n Without the computer to screw around with, The Work was laid bare. There were no more excuses about the bit box. All that was left was me and my ideas – or apparent lack thereof. I had cleared the table of my unnecessary motion and made room for doing what everyone is afraid of doing: getting down to The Work.<\/p>\n I was pretty badly broken down when I was in my first year at NYU. My creative well ran dry. I was a scared little fish in the biggest ocean on Earth. I couldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t string together two phrases to save my life and it really did fell like my life depended on it. But I was a Music Technology student. There were so many gadgets and formulae in which to lose myself, I could completely ignore the elephant on the table: what are you gonna do with all of these toys?<\/em><\/p>\n I spent hours every day writing code. I sampled rooms for my reverb program. I made a library of sound effects. I created environments for improvisation in Max and any other program I could get my hands on. Hell, I learned Lingo in Director! I covered myself with a blanket of software and hardware in such a way as to create the illusion of getting things done.<\/p>\n This was unhealthy. While I learned things that I use every day, I did it at the expense of my creative work. There was nothing in this game that enhanced what I was doing and while it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not entirely fair to say that it was an act of avoidance, there is certainly a trace of that in there. And that little seed grew to chew up all of the time I would give it. Let\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s face it, every hour spent jerking around and compiling a kernel was an hour lost for The Work. How many rabbit holes did I jump down in the endless search for a way to string applications together to…um…just because I should be able to?<\/p>\n When one is up to all hours figuring out what modules need to be loaded for the kernel to recognize a USB device, there really isn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t a need for a way to get things done. After all, nothing is getting done. But once the non-work falls away and it becomes obvious that there are other things that can be done with the tools at hand, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s good to find some kind of process.<\/p>\n This is where the Free software evangelist exits.<\/p>\n My experience with the Mac showed me that everything on a system should inter-operate without my dropping to the system level. Less thinking, more doing. The applications that I selected at first were based on a few features that they had and not necessarily on how well they got along with others.<\/p>\n It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not obvious at first, but the thing is, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s rare that a single piece of software will take one all the way from capturing an idea to a finished product. Many try. Most fail. There\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s always something that the monolithic program doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t do well. And what\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s missing in all of the preceding sentences, class? The implicit \u00e2\u20ac\u0153for me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n As I developed my most basic workflow, I began to understand that my right way and someone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s right way might not match. I had to respect that. And in respecting that, my ability to say to someone that they absolutely must do something in the way that I prescribe, disappeared. The more I came to appreciate the differences between how two minds work, the less I wanted to be so full of myself as to tell someone else how to do something. Especially if that person was producing their Work.<\/p>\n Interesting tidbit: the number one reason that I use a MacBook Pro instead of another flavor of laptop is that the time it takes for the machine to wake up is exactly as long as it takes me to open the lid and put my fingers on the home row of the keyboard. At first, that was really, really neat. Now, it is a requirement. The difference between then and now? Kids.<\/p>\n I have two children. They are at the center of my life. My creative work finds its way into the cracks and fills any extra air bubbles that develop in my life. This means the 20 or even 10 minute breaks that I have are used in the pursuit of something surrounding The Work. If it takes 30 seconds for my computer to reach a usable state, that is a significant loss for me. I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m not willing to sacrifice that time. And I am not tolerant of failure. My Mac has yet to disappoint me. I open it and it works. And all of the applications that I use work. All the time.<\/p>\n Wait. What?<\/p>\n Let me say that again. All of the applications that I use<\/em>, work all of the time<\/em>. But how can that be? Simple. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t use applications that fail.<\/p>\n One more time?<\/p>\n Here is how that works. The first thing I do is make sure that I play with a new app for a while before I become dependent upon it. If it crashes or requires me to shudder<\/strong> reboot, then it goes away. And if I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve paid for that application? Well, we\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ll get to that in a minute.<\/p>\n If it works out, then I will slowly start to integrate the app into the things that I do. Hopefully, it accomplishes something so well that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s there. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the best ending to the story. The application becomes such a seamless part of what I do that it disappears. That\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the way Logic is for me. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t even know that I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m using it anymore. And that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s GREAT for me. The same can be said for Scrivener<\/a>. Or Notebooks<\/a> on the iPhone and iPad. Or Dropbox<\/a>.<\/p>\n I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stress enough that the only way that things work for me is if I am firm with the things that fail. They go away. For good. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t check for updates or email the developer. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t read forums. I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t tweak settings or drop to the command line. It just dies. The end.<\/p>\n To be absolutely clear, if I paid for your software, I paid for it with the implicit understanding that it would do what you said it would do. If I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t try the free version first (assuming it exists) then shame on me, but if your FTP app fails to move files, well, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not doing what you said it would despite the really awesome interface and gnarly profile settings. I asked it to move my files and it didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t. It goes away.<\/p>\n This sounds kind of harsh and to be completely honest I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m much more tolerant of Free software to this day. But regardless of the source, if it doesn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t work, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s out. And yes, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very anti-community and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s not seen as a nice way to behave by most software developers, but turn it around for a minute. If you paid for car insurance and when you got into an accident they said, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Hey, sorry about that but we can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t pay up. Maybe wait until our release next quarter?\u00e2\u20ac\u009d See where I’m going?<\/p>\n Software is at a point now where it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a part of most everything we do. It mediates our communication. It informs our world. It is essential to The Work. When software fails me, it wastes my time. And I can\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t get any more of that so I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t feel that I owe anyone more of my time than I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122ve already wasted.<\/p>\n Man, no matter how I say it, it comes out harsh. Maybe that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s because the effect of failing software is pretty harsh. It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the nature of the beast.<\/p>\n So at the end of this rant we come back around to how other people use software. What platform is chosen and the reasons that feed into that decision. The thing is, they aren\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t my choices. You\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re free to make the choice and you are free to support it.<\/p>\n I used to debug computers for people. I used to install operating systems and waste hours figuring out why Word wouldn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t open a document that I didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t create for a project that wasn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t mine. I made suggestions. I lobbied for other platforms and software, but in the end, I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t control anyone else\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decisions or workflows. So along with my desire to change the way someone works goes my desire to apply effort to repair the failures of his tools.<\/p>\n Does this mean I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help my mom with her email? Nope. I do. Because she made me and it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s in the contract. Does it mean that I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t help my dad load his iPod? Nope. See above. But I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m certainly not going to roll into someone\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s space and get sucked down the hole of \u00e2\u20ac\u0153How should I do…\u00e2\u20ac\u009d The world is too big. Software is too mature. People should be too savvy for that now. Many still aren’t, but that doesn’t change my stance. If you didn’t make me or my kids, no support for you.<\/p>\n The funny thing is that I go looking for people who do what I won’t. I love hearing people who are passionate about their software and systems. I pick up a lot of great information that way. I learn a hell of a lot from the freaks over at Mac Power Users<\/a> and Back to Work<\/a> but my urge to share is tempered by my desire to do The Work.<\/p>\n That said, my next little ditty will be all about my experimentation with the iPad as a musical device and what I have discovered over the last month or so.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… There was a time when I really, really cared about how people used computers. It was a side effect of my time with Free software. The community and the ideals …<\/p>\nI got serious…<\/h2>\n
Nerdery can hide The Fear…<\/h2>\n
What\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s a \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Workflow\u00e2\u20ac\u009d?<\/h2>\n
I don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t have applications that fail…<\/h2>\n
And speaking of support…<\/h2>\n
Coda<\/h2>\n