Re: In defense of Customize [was: Trying to right-align my window on startup]

[Emanuel Berg]

phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk (Phillip Lord) writes:

> Just because something works for you, does not mean
> that it would work for everyone. You probably have
> different working practices, different work, are a
> different age, and have a different mind and body
> from me.  Computers are personal (like opinions).
>
> I have about 5 computers, for different
> circumstances.

Of course, you may have as many computers as you like.

Two things:

First, it depends on the level of consistency you
want/need. I'm close to OCB when it comes to computers,
so for me to have many computers would just be OH times
OH.

You know if you use a multicore instead of a
uniprocessor, and then a microkernel instead of a
monolithic kernel, and then put virtualization and real
time upon than, and finally you program in C++... Each
time you chose the difficult path, difficulties are not
added, they are multiplied - they just sky rocket.

It would be the same for me with several computers. The
only way I could make that work is to consider them not
shafts of a hub, but all independent. And I don't want
that because then the benefits from all the time spent
mastering *one* computer would be gone, and I would be
aware of that, and that would be frustrating.

But more importantly, I don't believe in the "always
on" productivity way of thinking. Like in trains, I
don't believe in having a laptop, I believe in having a
book or mp3 player (with for example audio tracks from
"The Computer Chronicles"). In a cottage, I believe in
fishing and chopping wood, and if you feel like it, you
can apply your analytic skills acquired from computer
work to make it more efficient, like to make it blend
with your personality.

With the *hours* people spend using gadgets today -
after they play ice hockey, when they eat, in
libraries, even when drunk at bars - you would think
they, and not we, are the programmers.

Or, in the words of Dr. Jones, "To be a good
archaeologist, you need to get out of the library."

-- 
underground experts united:
http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573