Ray Kurzweil?s Blio E-Book Launch Met With Confusion, Controversy | Gadget Lab | Wired.com

[Bill Campbell]

On Thu, Sep 30, 2010, Fairlight wrote:
>Yo, homey, in case you don' be listenin', Bill Campbell done said:
>> More on the Blio from wired.com
>> 
>> I like to see that they're working on versions for non-Windows platforms.
>
>You know what surprises me is that you totally defy the classic Mac
>demographic, Bill.  I've never wrapped my head around that.
>
>Ususally Macs are favoured by creative types...artists, authors, musicians,
>etc.  Technical people usually go Windows, or all the way to *nix.

I'm only partly technical.  Two words I think apply and sound good are
polymath and autodidact as I have a wide variety of interests, and am self-
taught in most things.

I played solo trumpet in our high-school band for three years, and I
seriously considered being a professional trumpeter until I figured out
that for every Louis Armstrong, there were a few thousand unemployed
musicians.  I also played guitar, banjo, piano, and a tiny bit of tenor sax
at one time or another.

My paternal grandmother, Fay, was an artist, poet, author, and very
independent, free-thinker (much to the chagrin of my mother and maternal
grandmother who were much proper Southern Ladies :-).  Fay taught me to
paint a bit, but I was never very good.  I did some metal sculpture when I
had my race shop with a pretty good selection of welding and metal working
tools.

>It's not a 100% rule, of course, but that is how it -usually- breaks down.
>But I definitely have always thought it kind of odd that someone with your
>excellent technical skills would choose a platform that's known for being
>distinctly non-technical and hiding most vestiges of technicality unless
>you dig deep to access them.  (Which wasn't a lot until OS/X.)

I love good design, and Apple excels at that.  A great book on the subject
of human/computer interaction is Alan Cooper's ``The Inmates Are Running
the Asylum : Why High Tech Products Drive Us Crazy and How To Restore The
Sanity''.

>Did you used to work on NeXTStep systems or something?  :)

When I first saw the NeXT systems in the mid '80s, they fascinated me.
Unfortunately I couldn't figure out how they would fit in for any of my
clients.

Bill
-- 
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