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Screwdriver Narrowness Considered Harmful

Something I actually think about a lot just popped out in an email to an internet acquaintance who makes Mac software

Quote:
One thing to know about me (and probably a surprisingly large number of your customers and potential customers): there's very little mutual exclusivity in my software world. For example, I use TextEdit, Vim, and TextMate pretty much every day and for completely different things. To me it's like having several screwdrivers. I could be that guy who insists there's only One True and Good Screwdriver, but I prefer to keep them all handy and just grab the one I need for the job.

Does that make any sense?

I mean I hear these territorial pissing matches on `foo tool` vs. `bar tool`, and how the fate of the world turns on making the right decision one time, and then becoming some kind of viral evangelist. Meh.

There's stuff like Quicksilver and OS X in general where you inherently have to choose a platform. But what about text editors, graphics apps--jeez, even _notebooks_? Am I the only one who employs a stable of several different tools for a certain kind of task? Esp. where one is clearly better at one portion of the task than the others?

How about you?

edwardvielmetti's picture

I generally find that each...

I generally find that each new tool has its own affordances, and that by switching tools it exercises different parts of my brain. That is usually good news.

From time to time I get bored of new tools and leave behind a litter of half-done stuff, which is usually bad news.

monkey.org FAQ wrote:
Monkeys cause me to be both angry and happy.
It is much like a piece of metal stuck in your eye.
You like the metal because it is shiny,
but you also hate it because it is causing you a great deal of pain.

 
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