If you’ve been around, you may have noticed that our relationship with programs has changed.
The old shows were about what do you want: You can do this, do that, whatever you want, just tell me. You were in control, you were giving orders and the programs followed.
But recently (about a decade, more or less), this relationship has subtly changed. New programs (now called apps, yes, I know) start demanding things from you.
The most obvious example are user accounts. In most cases, as a user I don’t need an account. Yet the programs keep insisting that I “need” it, not them.
Not me. I already have more accounts than the population of a small town. this is something You Want to, I don’t.
And even if you give up and make one, they’ll never leave you alone: they’ll ask for 2FA, then for password rotation, then log you out for no good reason. Either way you’ll never see the end of it.
It’s gotten so bad that when a program doesn’t ask you to create an account, it looks like fresh,
“Okay, but accounts are still needed to sync stuff between machines.”
Wrong. Synthing is a secure, multi-machine distributed app and yet it requires no account.
“Okay, but if you pay for a subscription you will still need an account?”
Mullvad VPN accepts payments and yet it didn’t ask me for my email.
How can these apps run without an account, but not your code editor and your terminal?
Now every program has an update mechanism. Everyone is checking for updates all the time. Some really nasty people lock you out until you update. You are notified a few seconds after a new version is available.
And yet: do we, the users, really need these updates? Did we ask them?
I’m running the Nvidia drivers barebones without their bloated desktop app (partly because it asks for an account, hahaha).
As a result, there is no one to inform me about new drivers. And you know what? It’s okay. I can forget to update for months, and still everything works. This is the most relaxing experience I have ever felt.
Synthing has a new major release in August. How did I know about it? Accidentally; A friend told me. And you know what? I am happy with it. If I upgrade, nothing will change in my life. It works perfectly fine now. I actually do the same thing need an update? it is My need?
It’s really simple. If I need an update, I’ll know: I’ll encounter a bug or lack of functionality. Then I will go and update.
Until then, fuck politely.
Notifications are the ultimate example of a need: a program, a mechanical, inanimate thing, an inanimate object, bothering its owner about something its owner did not ask for. Hey, who is more important here, man or machine?
Notifications are like emails: actionable items that are thrust upon you by another party. Hey, it’s not my job to dismiss your information!
Sure, good information. Sometimes users need to be notified about something they care about, such as the end of a long-running process.
But the common pattern has been so badly abused that it is now difficult to justify. You can make the case that giving a child a gun can help him protect himself. But worse things will probably happen very quickly.
There is no good reason for this, for example the code editor needs a notification system. What is there to report about? Update? There is no information about sublime text. And you know what? It works perfectly fine. I never felt under-informed while using it.
The company needs to announce a new feature and create a popup window about it.
Read this again: Company. Requirements. It’s not even about the user. never have been.
Did I ask about the copilot? No, the company wants me to use it. Not me:
Do I care about Figma Make? Actually no, no.
Yet I still know about it against my will.
I read somewhere (sorry, link is lost):
lsNever asks you to create or update an account.
I agree. ls It is a good program. ls Is a tool. It does what I need it to do and is silent otherwise. I use it; It doesn’t use me. It’s a good, healthy relationship.
At the other end of the spectrum, we have services. Programs that are constantly updated. Programs that contain news that “keep you informed”. Programs that require something from you all the time. Programs that update their terms of service just to remind you.
Programs that have their own agenda and are trying to make it yours too. Programs that want you to think about them. Programs that think they deserve a share of your attention. “Pick Me” program.
And you know what? Fuck these programs. Give me back my computer.