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Re: [microsound] software usability



>i won't reproduce it in all its detail here, but there is a fascinating 
>   dicsussion about the usability, flexibility and accessibility of 
>music softeware going on over at the [PD] list right now. the basic idea 
>is to go over the pros and cons of making a visual programming 
>environment like PD [here i paraphrase various positions] "more user 
>friendly", "more of a 'product'", "more accessible to Mac users/ 
>non-programers/ non-linux people/ etc", "prettier" or simply "functional".=

>
>my favorite story so far has been from Marc Lavall=E9e, who ended up 
>quitting his job at a university over the fact that his students and 
>administration wanted expensive, but "easier" tools like Max/MSP/Jitter 

Not all painters need to make their own paints, and I don't know of any pho=
tographers who make their own cameras (aside from simple pinhole cameras). =
Some people just want to create art and don't want or need to be involved i=
n the creation of the tools that are needed to create that art.

This argument is similar to when people who write html without the use of a=
 WYSIWYG program like Dreamweaver or GoLive (does anybody do that anymore?)=
 think that their methods are superior to people who do use easy-to-use sof=
tware. Yet, these people would never think of writing the raw postscript co=
de that is contained in a document that Quark Xpress or Adobe Illustrator c=
reates.

If you're going to say that it's better to use PD than Max/MSP, then isn't =
it better to write your _own_ PD, and then isn't it even better for you to =
write your own operating system to run your own version of PD? And if that'=
s still not good enough, will you have to start designing your own ICs? At =
what point does it become "acceptable" to use pre-existing tools?

It seems like there should be (and is) room for both types in the world: th=
ose who prefer to create their own tools, and those who prefer to use pre-e=
xisting tools which are probably a bit easier to use.

Also, the idea of quitting's one job because the people you work with don't=
 share the same concept of how one should interact with one's tools seems c=
ondescending, short-sighted, and just plain childish.

Jonathan

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