Anti-technology

When I was in college (in a galaxy far far away) I remember there was this new cool product; the cell phone. As more and more of my friends got one, I promised myself that I would never. It was a very insidious device; it would ring at the most inappropriate times. And every time it rang, the person had to answer right there. Even while they were doing their business right next to me! And it got worse. It seems that when you got a cell phone, people would except you to be accessible all the time. It wasn't like you could just have a home phone and people could leave a message on your answering machine (remember those)?

But after moving 4 times in 3 years, I finally broke down and got one. And, I'll admit, the cell phone has changed my life, for the better (I think). But that whole episode made me realize that I'm something of an anti-technologist. Which is ironic since I am (by training) a computer programmer and have a more refined insight into computer technology than the average person. I remember when the iPod came out and I was working at Apple, I was like "Who is going to buy this thing? It'll never sell." I only got one later because Apple offered all of its employees the chance to buy one at a steep discount. Good thing I wasn't a decision maker at Apple. Haha.

And when the iPhone came out, a number of people asked me when I was going to get one. Psh. I already have the iPhone nano, I don't need that. Or want it. I'm not on Facebook, I don't believe in Twitter. I'm not such a Luddite that I won't consider something new, but it's got to have real value. It can't just be one more thing that I have to add to my to-do list.

I think that's one thing about the Mac platform that really appeals to me. I feel like it has real value. There are a whole bunch of pragmatic reasons why you shouldn't by a Mac, but if those reasons aren't your reasons then I think a Mac is a great purchase. One of the things that I've noticed too is that there are more people passionate about the Mac than there are people passionate about Windows. Even percentage-wise I would say this is true (this is all anecdotal of course). But I think this is reflected in the kinds of software that are available. I remember doing a little googling a while ago to look for grade-A Windows developers and their products. Folks that really loved what they made and paid attention to detail to make their products awesome for XP or Vista. I really couldn't find any. Most Windows programs that I've seen don't seem to take a real disciplined look towards design and ease of use; compare SmartFTP to Panic's Transmit (screenshots at the bottom). And, I really haven't seen a program for Windows that was fun! And I'm not just talking about games. I'm just talking about a program where you just wonder, why hasn't it been this way the whole time?

That's why I love software on the Mac. And that's why I love trying out new software. There's very little obligation and it's really cool to see what kind of innovation people use to solve a problem. So one of my latest experiments in software is eschewing Firefox for Omniweb. It's been fun trying out something new, but we'll see if I got back to tried and true or not.