Awesome rant!! I want to set this to music.
This is a GREAT question. I'm currently chewing nails trying to get my loverly new @#$#&%* crap-shit evil Windows 10 upgrade to swallow the stuff I need for a certain semi-day job of mine. I'm kinda busy, so the only time I can dedicate to it is from 11pm
to 6am. I'll just PAY somebody to sleep for me, I guess. But, before the pitchforks and torches, I think it's important to find out WHAT drives this. It looks to be an almost... unique, creepy FORCE of it's own. CIRCULAR.... I mean, everybody involved acknowledges
that it's happening, that "feature creep" is constantly evolving stuff WAY past anything most of us want or need - I get SO SICK of stuff popping up "Do you want to...?" NO I DON'T!!! SHUT UP, don't call me, I'll call you... etc. I don't know for SURE why
bright young programmers keep ladening down programs with more and more curlicues, thereby forcing hardware to "greater" heights, thereby allowing bright young programmers more "room" to fill up with yet more bizarre useless features - but I STRONGLY SUSPECT
it has to do with the capitalist need to KEEP selling more products. Like, lead pencils have kinda settle down, right? Cedar wood, graphite, yellow paint, eraser. Hoo-ray, win-win scenario. But Bill Gates can't really tell the staff "the program we made last
year is so great I'll pay you to do nothing for a few years!" Push, push, push... I had REALLY wanted to stick with Windows XP for a few more years, but they just CANCELLED out replacement PRINTER CARTRIDGES for XP-compatible PRINTERS! And more importantly,
STOPPED SECURITY UPGRADES. If this isn't just raw T. Rex-emulating capitalism - munch, munch - it MAY BE SATAN!!! Which is probably easier, but you STILL have to figure WHEN to jam the stick in the wheel spokes so he falls off his tricycle and skins his knee
and $TOP$ DICKING WITH U$ FOR A LITTLE WHILE. $igh.
Folks --
This thread on Mobius problems with the new system is interesting. I use Mobius in my performances; my musical career is absolutely dependent on it. It works consistently well on the old system I am running, which I cannot upgrade until I get a new mixer/interface,
because the one I have used to create my current repertoire requires MLAN software that Yamaha stopped making several years ago. Porting my songs over to a different technology (say a MIDI fader box and all effects in software), could easily take months, so
I plan to take time off from performing next year in order to do nothing but that.
That kind of sucks.
Later this month I am giving a talk at Project BBQ (a yearly think tank of audio professionals -- http://www.projectbarbq.com) on the topic of how the pressure to constantly upgrade software, forcing one to often
upgrade hardware, causing one to have to re-program, re-think and sometimes abandon one's compositions… affects the life of a working artist, or really anyone dependent on uninterrupted use of these products.
At the same time, clearly advances in technology have been stunning, and it's great to be able to take advantage of them.
I'm looking for:
a) any interesting stories you might have about how upgrades have caused disruption to your art, and
b) any constructive suggestions for this group of professionals. How might they support artists who are dependent on their products? How might they continue to develop new products but keep us happy as well, and make this profitable? What about trying
harder to keep upgrades compatible with older software/hardware? Are there options to having to purchase new laptops every few years?
Thanks all! I welcome your input on this ever-prevalent topic. I want to be helpful to artists in this talk -- it's an opportunity to speak directly to the folks who actually make the stuff…. what would you like to tell them or ask them?
xx
Yes indeed. My question nowadays is, Who's serving who?
And it's a question that can range very wide - and reach into the deepest changes and most important elements in our culture. Tell you the Truth? I'm a little worried. And I'm not the worrying kind.
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