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Monday, June 12, 2017

Backpedaling

Every once in a while I sit back and take stock in some of the things I've popped off about that irked me. The last one I posted about in my blog was about apps. I wasn't going to use apps anymore. they distracted me from what I perceived as a pure internet experience. I was going to do everything through my browser. Yeah, right. That lasted about two weeks. I'd find something, and I was encouraged to use my app. It turns out I needed the apps more than I realized. Most are back in my daily routine.

Another rant I did that was posted on my Facebook page. That concerned my use of the Steam platform. I felt it was becoming more of a nuisance than I cared for. Then I read an article about how Valve was allegedly ripping it's player/members/partners off. So I uninstalled it. Sorry I don't have a link. You'll have to do a search. I'm now seriously reconsidering reinstalling Steam. There are some things on it that I'm discovering that are becoming increasingly necessary to me, in terms of social interaction.

I equate these actions to the last century's dilemmas with railroads as they expanded across the continents. You knew the industrialists were taking excessive liberties against cultures and resources in order to achieve their goals. But that stopped no one from continuing to use the railroads, because it was something that had woven itself into the very fabric of society quickly. If you stopped using the railroads, you were missing out on opportunities. And outright sabotage was met with heavy handed justice in both the courts, and public opinion.

Apps are at the stage now that the railroads were at in the 1960s. Still quite necessary, but increasingly irrelevant as newer technology and concepts surge forward. Insiders are starting to whisper about how immersive computing is changing the way of the app economy. Which I feel it is as well. As for social networking? We are a social species. People used to gather around a communal fire in caves. We gathered in outdoor forums to spout off our opinions about senator's excesses. And now we are fully absorbed in our social apps. But apps are going to take a back seat in our lives, They will never go away. They are just computer programs, after all. Just like the railroads, ribbons of steel crisscrossing the globe was expected to evaporate as ribbons of asphalt took over. Railroads still serve an essential function, running in our background, and still annoying us when we need to wait for a train to go past.

I'm sure I'll discover something that I dislike about immersive computing in the future. Some smarmy app will break the immersion. Or a specific standard to get everything to play nice together will stall in committee. But accept that I'll rant and fuss. It's who I am. It's who we all are.

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