6 ms·

Aside from the fact that this guy has produced some decent software, I can't believe that hardware/software configurations of random people is interesting discu

Aside from the fact that this guy has produced some decent software, I can't believe that hardware/software configurations of random people is interesting discussion matter.

jacquesm 16y ago
People think that if they emulate successful people they will be more successful themselves. So it's about a form of fashion. 'X uses brand Y hardware, that must be a factor in his success, so if I buy brand Y as well I'll stand a better chance at success' Never mind that 'X' would probably make a go of it given nothing but a teletype and the people that emulate 'X' couldn't make good use of a cluster with 50 nodes and a wall sized display. It's not the hardware that matters, it's the guys & girls using it that make the difference.
- Kuytu 16y ago
  >People think that if they emulate successful people they will be more successful themselves. So it's about a form of fashion. That's true and there's really nothing wrong with that. Being a hobby guitarist I feel this is very similar to many guitarists and other musicians. A guitarist doesn't want a guitar that's just nice sounding and good quality, it has to look good. If you feel your instrument has a certain "mojo" it can help you get in an inspired mood more easily. If you have instrument you don't like you can't perform at your best. A jazz guitarist might not be happy about playing a guitar that looks like it's made for heavy metal no matter what it sounds like. Sometimes when you're passionate about something, tools are not just tools. No one needs Armani suit to protect themselves from cold, no one needs a ferrari to get from one place to another and no one needs a Gibson Les Paul to play guitar. If someone can be more productive because working on a Macbook Pro makes them feel more like a Rock Star Developer than working on a PC with Windows XP, I don't see anything wrong with that.
- DannoHung 16y ago
  I like learning about tools other people use because sometimes someone'll say, "I really love this tool", and I'll give it a try and, hey, what do you know? I love the tool too.
  - jseliger 16y ago
    Me too. And sometimes, if a lot of smart people are using a particular tool, there's a reason for it. An example: Kevin Kelly runs a blog called "Cool Tools" that is about, as the name implies, tools people use that are unusually good at what they do. When I read this: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004652.php http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004652.php , I immediately bought one, loved it, and wrote this post: http://jseliger.com/2010/09/04/highly-recommended-the-best-book-stand-jasmine http://jseliger.com/2010/09/04/highly-recommended-the-best-b... . I agree with the DP -- some of this stuff is fashion -- but not all of it is.
tezza 16y ago
I'm sorry, but I've found out about a couple of devices I had no knowledge of before on Wolfram's. (anybot) So it's clearly a knowledge sharing plus. It happens to be based around pseudo-famous people, but this makes it more readable than just a sample of coders with variances
davidw 16y ago
I'm a little bit curious about the setup that really productive developers (Linus Torvalds, for instance) use - if someone goes to find out, fine by me. I don't think Jason Fried is really a developer though - or is he?
- steveklabnik 16y ago
  Jason says in the article that he doesn't program. Also, Linus doesn't really code anymore; he just types `git merge` until his fingers fall off. (or at least that's my understanding, I'm nowhere near being on the kernel team)
  - xiongchiamiov 16y ago
    > Also, Linus doesn't really code anymore; he just types `git merge` until his fingers fall off. (or at least that's my understanding, I'm nowhere near being on the kernel team) Yeah, that's pretty accurate: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=search;s=Linus+Torvalds;st=author http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6...
cytzol 16y ago
There are some good articles on there - Andrew "bunnie" Huang[1] shows us how he can be handed a next-day plane ticket and not miss any work time, Jason Rohrer develops games on a seven-year-old laptop[2], Mark Pilgrim explains haw his writing setup isn't actually that important[3]. However, about half of the interviews on there are some variation on "Apple laptop, Apple monitor, standard Apple suite of applications + some others", which does wear thin after a while. [1] http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ [2] http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ [3] http://mark.pilgrim.usesthis.com/ http://mark.pilgrim.usesthis.com/
- loewenskind 16y ago
  >which does wear thin after a while. Why would successful people tending to choose a certain brand "wear thin"? What should they be using?
  - cytzol 16y ago
    You misunderstand - I don't mind what combination of tools people use to get work done, as long as they're happy with it. But on a site that tries to describe interesting setups, it eventually stops being so interesting.
    - loewenskind 16y ago
      Aha. Perhaps someone should make a site documenting exotic setups of famous tech people. I know of one Emacs user who has a foot peddle for the control key or something.
      - xiongchiamiov 16y ago
        Something like so: http://www.xkeys.com/xkeys/xkfoot.php http://www.xkeys.com/xkeys/xkfoot.php ? I seem to remember one of my friends saying that someone at their work uses a foot peddle for Esc (as a vim user).

Aside from the fact that this guy has produced some decent software, I can't believe that hardware/software configurations of random people is interesting discussion matter.

jacquesm 16y ago

People think that if they emulate successful people they will be more successful themselves. So it's about a form of fashion. 'X uses brand Y hardware, that must be a factor in his success, so if I buy brand Y as well I'll stand a better chance at success' Never mind that 'X' would probably make a go of it given nothing but a teletype and the people that emulate 'X' couldn't make good use of a cluster with 50 nodes and a wall sized display. It's not the hardware that matters, it's the guys & girls using it that make the difference.

Kuytu 16y ago
>People think that if they emulate successful people they will be more successful themselves. So it's about a form of fashion. That's true and there's really nothing wrong with that. Being a hobby guitarist I feel this is very similar to many guitarists and other musicians. A guitarist doesn't want a guitar that's just nice sounding and good quality, it has to look good. If you feel your instrument has a certain "mojo" it can help you get in an inspired mood more easily. If you have instrument you don't like you can't perform at your best. A jazz guitarist might not be happy about playing a guitar that looks like it's made for heavy metal no matter what it sounds like. Sometimes when you're passionate about something, tools are not just tools. No one needs Armani suit to protect themselves from cold, no one needs a ferrari to get from one place to another and no one needs a Gibson Les Paul to play guitar. If someone can be more productive because working on a Macbook Pro makes them feel more like a Rock Star Developer than working on a PC with Windows XP, I don't see anything wrong with that.
DannoHung 16y ago
I like learning about tools other people use because sometimes someone'll say, "I really love this tool", and I'll give it a try and, hey, what do you know? I love the tool too.
- jseliger 16y ago
  Me too. And sometimes, if a lot of smart people are using a particular tool, there's a reason for it. An example: Kevin Kelly runs a blog called "Cool Tools" that is about, as the name implies, tools people use that are unusually good at what they do. When I read this: http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004652.php http://www.kk.org/cooltools/archives/004652.php , I immediately bought one, loved it, and wrote this post: http://jseliger.com/2010/09/04/highly-recommended-the-best-book-stand-jasmine http://jseliger.com/2010/09/04/highly-recommended-the-best-b... . I agree with the DP -- some of this stuff is fashion -- but not all of it is.

tezza 16y ago

I'm sorry, but I've found out about a couple of devices I had no knowledge of before on Wolfram's. (anybot) So it's clearly a knowledge sharing plus. It happens to be based around pseudo-famous people, but this makes it more readable than just a sample of coders with variances

davidw 16y ago

I'm a little bit curious about the setup that really productive developers (Linus Torvalds, for instance) use - if someone goes to find out, fine by me. I don't think Jason Fried is really a developer though - or is he?

steveklabnik 16y ago
Jason says in the article that he doesn't program. Also, Linus doesn't really code anymore; he just types `git merge` until his fingers fall off. (or at least that's my understanding, I'm nowhere near being on the kernel team)
- xiongchiamiov 16y ago
  > Also, Linus doesn't really code anymore; he just types `git merge` until his fingers fall off. (or at least that's my understanding, I'm nowhere near being on the kernel team) Yeah, that's pretty accurate: http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6.git;a=search;s=Linus+Torvalds;st=author http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux-2.6...

cytzol 16y ago

There are some good articles on there - Andrew "bunnie" Huang[1] shows us how he can be handed a next-day plane ticket and not miss any work time, Jason Rohrer develops games on a seven-year-old laptop[2], Mark Pilgrim explains haw his writing setup isn't actually that important[3]. However, about half of the interviews on there are some variation on "Apple laptop, Apple monitor, standard Apple suite of applications + some others", which does wear thin after a while. [1] http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ http://andrew.huang.usesthis.com/ [2] http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ http://jason.rohrer.usesthis.com/ [3] http://mark.pilgrim.usesthis.com/ http://mark.pilgrim.usesthis.com/

loewenskind 16y ago
>which does wear thin after a while. Why would successful people tending to choose a certain brand "wear thin"? What should they be using?
- cytzol 16y ago
  You misunderstand - I don't mind what combination of tools people use to get work done, as long as they're happy with it. But on a site that tries to describe interesting setups, it eventually stops being so interesting.
  - loewenskind 16y ago
    Aha. Perhaps someone should make a site documenting exotic setups of famous tech people. I know of one Emacs user who has a foot peddle for the control key or something.
    - xiongchiamiov 16y ago
      Something like so: http://www.xkeys.com/xkeys/xkfoot.php http://www.xkeys.com/xkeys/xkfoot.php ? I seem to remember one of my friends saying that someone at their work uses a foot peddle for Esc (as a vim user).