Chris: I mentioned in another post or something about how I was all set to host our blog locally, since I have the server space and the IP addresses to spare. Shel preferred going the Blogger route, and in retrospect (read: After trying it her way) I decided she was right. It's indicative of a number of discussions/debates/whatever that we have about technology and what we as individuals feel about its applications (or lack thereof). I'm an IT geek. I have degrees and certifications and I'm convinced that most of the world's problems could be solved by a series of neatly-written shell scripts or a well-tuned database. I try not to be the kid in Goonies whose dad was an inventor, concocting a Rube Goldberg mousetrap solution for everything, but if I can make it easier and thorough, well that's just tons better than just being easier.
Shel: Take our ongoing debate (all in good fun) about Chris's Droid X vs. my iPhone. Chris's phone will do everything except the dishes, and he could probably program it to do those, and probably do them from 40 miles away, if only the hardware was waterproof. On my side, I don't necessarily want my phone to be a miniature version of my computer. I want it to just be a phone with benefits. When I was trying to explain why I wanted to trade my own Droid X in for an iPhone, the only explanation I came up with that actually made sense to Chris's mind was that of, "But the Droid does too much! " This neatly sums up our views on technology. As long as it does what I want it to do and what it was designed to do, I'm usually pretty happy with it. Chris, on the other hand, expects his technology to push the limits of what it was designed to do and be happy about it.
Chris: It does come down to needs. I just shoot for the value-added thing. Both phones cost the same when new, I would expect them to have comparable abilities. When I first got my last Blackberry (a Tour, which I thought was a great if technologically outclassed phone, contrary to a lot of other people apparently) I had every expectation that it would SSH into my home machine, possibly do VNC, be my mobile media player, etc. It was a bleepin' Blackberry, for cryin' out loud...they were supposed to be all that, as far as I'm concerned. I just believe in the Power-Tool Rule: Better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it™.
Shel: Another instance of us agreeing, (gee, who woulda thunk?) It really does come down to what an individual needs the technology to do. For me, the iPhone meets my needs in the manner I want them met. I don't have to dig around in the depths of the operating system to make it do it, I don't have to worry about remembering how to get to stuff, it's all right there. Yeah I can see the whole objection to Apple's "walled garden", but since everything I want is in there with me, I don't let it bother me too much. I don't drink the Apple kool-aid, and I don't think of myself as an Apple fangirl. I can definitely see where more technologically (and independent) minded people would find Apple's idea of protecting their users from themselves highly objectionable. It just doesn't happen to apply to me because that device meets this user's needs better than anything else currently on the market.
Chris: Linux is just put together differently. So are the people who use it. It's not exactly "digging around in the depths of the operating system". You don't have to be a genius to use something Linux-based; the genius lies in understanding its simplicity. I on the other hand don't find it objectionable that Apple would "[protect] their users from themselves"...have you seen some of those people? So anyway, we have a mostly live-and-let-live approach about it with each other. I came up with the idea of getting an iPad, and now Shel's selling it. I set up a Mac for her to use, and she went back to Windows. So when she says she's not a fangirl, it's not exactly denial.
Shel: I have a live-and-yet-live attitude about most things, actually. If you're surgically attached to your BlackBerry, who am I to tell you you should hate it instead? If you've used a Mac and loved it for 20 years and don't ever see yourself using another brand of computer, who am I to tell you that a machine running Windows or Linux or anything else would be SO MUCH better? It's all about the personal preference, and respecting other people's preferences. However, there's a flip side to that attitude of mine, and that is that I expect my own personal preferences to be respected as well.
Chris: That's not to be confused with wondering "why", is it?
Shel: No, but there is a line there. I can look at a system and the user and wonder why they chose that path, and I might even ask them about it. But if they seem devoted to whatever that system is, I mostly just leave it alone. They probably have their own reasons, even if they can't articulate them to me. This also applies to just about any other thing people have preferences about. I might wonder how anyone can eat sushi, for example, but I'm not going to criticize someone because they love it.
Chris: Erm, well, I was thinking more like someone asking you why. It took me months of asking why you wanted a Jesus-phone before you could articulate it. Normally that's not a problem for you, so you can see why I had a hard time with it? With me I boil almost everything down to logic and reason, so everything comes with its own pros-and-cons list.
Shel: Yes, but you'd make a hell of a good trial attorney.... *grin*.
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