2023-12-14

I noticed something yesterday while I was working on something with my Pinebook. I had an itch, somewhere between the front and the back of my brain. Not a real itch, obviously, but there was this feeling of buzzing. An uneasiness.

I shook it off. It had been a long day, surely there was nothing to worry about. I kept on doing what I was doing.

Going to bed, I had a thought pop into my mind.

"You haven't used your Windows 11 laptop at all today."

Mind, I use Windows Server, 10 and 11 all the time at work. I have for multiple jobs, for multiple years, this is nothing new. But obviously, my brain's in a different spot at work than it is at home.

Regardless, something clicked.

I walked back to my desk, cracked open the Windows laptop, messed with it for less than five minutes. I don't really do anything different on my Pinebook than I do on my Win11 machine. They're both mobile devices that travel with me sometimes depending on the need. Especially if I'm doing official paperwork or need to have access to some kind of x86, proprietary software, I'll take the Win11. Anyway...

The buzzing stopped after using the Windows machine for a bit.

And that disturbed me.

I literally caught myself in the goings-on of what I can only either describe as some kind of weird, ephemeral anxiety about how stable my Pinebook is or isn't - which is silly, because it's meant to be my simple tool device that doesn't NEED to always work right.

That, or it was actually an addictive response pattern, formulated over time and playing out in my brain. That thought actually disgusted me. I felt this pit in my gut. How could I be so silly? How could I be so naive?

... why was it just **now** that such a response pattern was playing out in my head? I've been using this system for years!

I don't really have an answer to any of those directly. But I DO have a point to make.

Modern operating systems are designed to encourage and reward regular usage.

What it says on the tin.

The colors, the lights, the sounds, the tactile and auditory feedback, the language, the usage patterns and pathways. All of it. It's designed to be pleasurable and useful, in such a way that your brain hooks onto it and realizes "yeah, I really like this!"

This is stuff I used to be a lot more educated and experienced on. But as soon as I saw where the industry of UI / product design (and indeed, most of modern commercial web development) was going, I did a quick about-face and did a different kind of thing. It didn't sit well with me that I was already being taught on how to create systems which were not only useful, but _enticing_ to interact with repeatedly.

And for whatever reason, be it fatigue, boredom, pure dumb luck, my brain drew the winning ticket to the loser's lottery yesterday and wound up craving using a damn computer.

I'm getting ahold of some parts and doodads for that machine, I'll be ripping off whatever relevant data lives on it which hasn't already been backed up somewhere(s), and I'll be putting a basic Linux on it. Honestly, probably Alpine. I really like Alpine. In fact, I'm running PostmarketOS (based on Alpine) as I type this on my Pinebook. And last time I checked, my mentality around Linux is more "dammit, that package broke", or "why the hell isn't my audio working right again", not "I literally am going stir crazy that I'm not using it right now."

For business use? Windows is still second to none. It just is. Shaking the weight of decades of market dominance is... not a thing Linux can even hold a candle to in the desktop space. Probably never will, the community and projects are too divided and opinionated.

For home use? Man. I think I just saw the rise and fall of my last Windows device that receives regular use.

Either way, in regard to Microsoft's flagship.. It perturbs me that the design of the system has a lot of those same cues as I saw in coursework years ago. It offends me on a personal level that I almost fell victim to that same kind of habit-forming behavior pattern, when I'm genuinely just trying to surf the internet, edit text, manage photos and write some code.

That's not how computers should be.

**I firmly believe that computers are tools, not toys.**

If you'll allow me a metaphor: I want to use a good hand saw. Fits my hand well, saws wood well, teeth are sharp and don't bite what I'm cutting. I do NOT want to be sitting on my lunch break, or at home, thinking "man.. I can't wait to use that hand saw again!"

Tools versus toys.

Stay safe out there folks. "Zoomers are addicted to their phones" is blase. The desktop OS will sneak up on you too, if you're uncareful or unlucky.

Later!

wholesomedonut(at)ctrl(dash)c(dot)club