So, the office Walt, Sarah and I put together is filling up. We're delegating more and I'm spending most of my time in my home office, now - but it's got me to notice something...
I think I'm a cultural mutt.
See, I'm a writer. I don't do fic, I don't obsessively extend manuscripts - not because I don't want to, I just no longer have the time to. Tech is easier. Tech is faster. Being the Level 2-to-3 Helpdesk guy for my Small-to-Medium business takes up most of my time. I still write, though. I journal on my laptop, I obsessively jot down what seems relevant as soon as a keyboard's available, and I love the process of taking something that makes no fucking sense (e.g. "I did nothing and my Linux Mint is all screwed, now!") and turning it into something that's concise and coherent. Such as an employee coming clean and saying she might have deprecated her entire freaking kernel on her own through a scientific process known as "working from home, bored after work with no other PC, so I fucked around and found out".
I'm saying this because I've noticed something strange. Namely, that writers have old PCs. Why is that? Whenever an employee professes to being a bookworm or having manuscripts or even a history with fanzines, I end up learning that they're holding onto an ancient Celeron tower from the turn of the millennium and think technology peaked with the Frutiger Aero design language.
I mean, no criticism as far as aesthetics are concerned, you go all Bubbly Lettering and Embossed Metal all day long, if that's what you want - but why pair that with hardware that's holding on by a thread?! At least replace your CMOS battery, y'know?!
I'm reminded of an even more serious case. My World Lit teacher, back in college, was still working with a Macintosh 128K. He knew nothing about it, beyond how to turn it on, pull up a word processor and shut it off.
So he comes up to me in the halcyon days of 2003 and goes "My computer has a cartoon bomb on its screen... What do I do?"
I needed about twenty seconds to remember that was Apple's old design language. So, I asked him. "You do know you could get something that's several orders of magnitude more powerful and comfortable to use for a fraction of the original cost of that Macintosh, right?"
He blinked at me owlishly. "There's better computers, out there?!"
To be fair, he was a seventy-five year-old book nerd with tenure. Computers probably weren't much more than a more lenient expression of the Tormented Artist putting quill to paper for hours on end until The Masterpiece is delivered unto the hands of Thine Craven Publisher.
Of course, on the other hand, there's all the absolutely ridiculous gadgets that claim to foster a sense of digital minimalism, but fail to justify themselves. The Freewrite E-ink typewriters come to mind, for instance. If your laptop sleeve isn't bougie enough for you, get yourself a screen that has a refresh rate so low it doesn't pick up on your typing speed...
