Hi Dark,
Grin. I think you hit the nail on the head so to speak. Your friend and
I are quite a lot alike because that's actually one of the reasons why I
became interested in programming. I get a satisfaction from being given
a task, and then trying to create that piece of software from scratch
and seeing the results of my work becoming reality.
Its for that reason I often create experimental programs for myself just
to see if I can figure out how to make the computer do something, and it
challenges me to learn new things along the way. Not only does it make
me a better programmer there are often benefits to writing custom
programs for my computer.
For example, writing SQL databases and then writing a GUI for it is
about as boring as you can get. Yet if I create a database to keep track
of my music collection it is both fun and satisfying because there is a
purpose to the madness. Once I add all my music discs to the database I
could look up a song like Magic Man by Heart and have a nice little
report come back that it is on Dreamboat Annie (1976), Heart Greatest
Hits Vol 1 (1994), These Dreams (1996), Heart Essentials (2004), etc.
Figuring out how to create that program gives me as much satisfaction as
being able to use it.
As you probably have guessed by now its not just programming that gets
me excited. A lot of times beta testing new operating systems, software,
etc is often like Christmas come early. I can't tell you why, but I
really enjoy playing with new software and seeing what it can do. Even
if it doesn't offer me anything really new in terms of actual benefits I
enjoy trying it out.
For example, Microsoft just released the Windows 8 consumer beta just a
few days ago. I litterally downloaded it and installed it on a machine
practically the minute it was released. I was as excited as a kid on
Christmas morning to get it and try it out. To put NVDA on it, and
explore the new user interface firsthand.
In terms of advantages I don't really see it as having a lot of
advantages for me over Windows 7. About the only thing I found with
Windows 8 that might be a reason to upgrade is startup and shutdown
times are much much faster than Windows 7, and it seems to use less ram.
Both are good things, but to quote your own reasons for not upgrading it
won't help me play movies, listen to mp3s, check my e-mails, etc any
better than I do on Windows 7. However, all of that is beside the point
to me.
What has me excited is simply that Windows 8 is new. It has a radically
new user interface, new hot keys to learn, and I guess I just like the
ability to explore it. To wander around the new user interface finding
out what has changed, what new apps are available, what new features
there are, and see what I can do with it. Rather than thinking of it as
a tool I guess I think of it more like a toy that gives me pleasure
simply by playing around with it.
As an end user I think the new start menu screen is terrible. They
have all these program groups tiled in columns and rows across the
screen which is not intuitive for a blind user at all. I'll be the first
to say it sucks. However, its a trend thanks to smart phones, and if I
am going to stay in the technical support and software development field
its something I'll have to know how to use in order to keep up with my
sighted peers. So its a learning experience as much as having fun
playing around with the OS.
Of course, I have an advantage over many blind computer users and that
is that Windows isn't my primary OS anyway. I use Linux for most of my
day today computing so even if I get Windows 8 my personal interaction
with it will probably be limited to games, software development, and/or
using it to help people in my area troubleshoot problems with their new
Windows 8 PCs. Regardless of what Microsoft does with the UI it won't
impact me as much as someone who uses Windos exclusively because Windows
is a secondary OS for me.
To be honest Windows Vista is what pushed me towards Linux in the first
place. I had used Linux on a part time up until Vista came out, but
thanks to changes in the UI, a product activation, etc I began using
Linux full time and found out I liked it better. One reason is that
Linux has a lot more customization than Windows that allows me to
configure the OS to suit my needs and likes rather than being stuck with
whatever interface Microsoft has decided to force upon their customers.
It is things like Windos 8 where we have a totally visual interface with
no ability to use a classic Windows interface that makes me more likely
to use Linux as my primary OS.
For example, when I installed the Ubuntu 12 beta I was not happy with
the latest version of Unity at all. Besides the broken accessibility
which is being worked on right now Unity has a lot of stuff on the main
screen with a launcher bar docked to one side of the screen and a menu
bar running across the top of the desktop with options for doing this
and that. Well, I don't have to keep it. I used apt-get, downloaded and
installed the classic Gnome desktop, reconfigured the system and more or
less have the same interface I've always had. There are changes but not
like having to use Unity. Which is one huge advantage I think Linux has
for blind users in terms of accessibility over say Windows 8.
Cheers!
On 3/14/2012 7:52 PM, dark wrote:
Hi Tom.
this makes perfect sense, and indeed is also the reason why I have
never investigated mac or lynux in further detail, simply because,
while I know there are probably technical advantages to either os,
those advantages don't matter a bit to me if they won't help me do
what I do, part of which obviously includes a great many games.
it's like the betamax vhs debate. Betamax was actually a more
efficient tape system, less worn out, and technically clearer, however
sinse fewer video companies secured betamax contracts, the system went
down rapidly, however technically good it was.
This is indeed another problem of competative capitalism, that the
most prophitable and universal solution is the one that wins, not
necessarily the best, but until there is another regulating standard
on which to judge these things there's not a lot we can do.
Less politically though, another point I've noticed is that many
people who work routinely with computers have an intrinsic liking for
the subject in themselves.
For instance, a close friend of mine is a professional programm
designer. When discussing his job, he stated that he gained
satisfaction through the process of being given a task to write a
program to fulfill and then going off and creatively writing one,
irrispective of what that task was.
For instance, he recently had to write a program to log and regulate
all the pay slips and online reciets issued by a company, and track
these to the employees taxes. To me, i can imagine nothing quite so
dull, but for my friend, the fact that he! got to design the program
to work with this information, calculate the numbers involve and
display it securely and relevantly was the important thing, ---- ie,
it was the process he enjoyed.
The same goes with game design.
if (as I hope), in september of this year I write that text rpg I've
always wanted to, for me the fun process will be the actual writing
and designing and the fact that I'm creating a world and story for
people to interact with. The programming will just bhe the process of
making that thing happen, and as such I'll look around for a
programming method that is easiest for me to use in doing that, rather
than worry about a hole lot of programming concerns, such as for
instance cross platform compatibility.
yes, I want people to be able to play it, but sinse the process of
writing the world and story is to me more interesting, I'd rather
spend my time on creating something good in windows, than learning a
lot of what is to me comparatively less interesting stuff to create
something to run on mac or lynux.
Of course, if the option I choose is something like Python (which
seems likely given how easy python code looks to understand), it might
come with cross compatibility anyway, but if not, I'm not going to
worry about it.
Selfish? ---- just slightly, though I could also make a reasonable
arguement that I'm simply focusing on the things I know! I can do,
namely write convincing and interesting pros and come up with some
balanced game mechanics, rather than the things I probably cannot such
as memory management, worry about libraries, garbage checking and all
the other weerd alchemical stuff that programmers need to do.
in fact if I could just write in near to plane english I'd gladly do
that, even if someone had to download something in order to play it.
indeed I might just skip the programming altogether and carry on
writing gamebooks with darkgrue, ---- though inf airness there are
matters of random description and combat rules that would need a
little dice work behind the scenes which darkgrue couldn't handle, and
the system I had in mind for a text rpg was rather more complex than
just a basic gamebook.
Beware the Grue!
Dark.
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