Marco Arment in the latest ATP episode said something along the that the reality is that an indy iOS app can’t exist without people subscribing to it. The obvious reality is that software maintenance is not free, and if people expect free updates forever, companies will go out of business. We suddenly discovered this new way of life where we rent software and it never dies. Even version numbers are changing to something which looks like either a large counter or a date. But I tell you this, I’d rather buy applications 10 times, all over again when there’s a major update rather than subscribe to it. It is better for me because it gives me a choice – run the obsolete version or switch to the new version. I can even run both versions at the same time. It is so much better. Like it or not, Marco, being able to choose a version of software you want to run, means you own it. What the subscription model takes from us is this choice. We are forced to always be on the latest version. It especially doesn’t make sense when an app is not tied to any backend and works offline.

Subscriptions might work right now for some financially, but in the long term, I think this model corrupts the development process like money corrupts politicians who are too long in power. This is not a problem for all apps and depends on the developer, but for some, it makes development dependent on a continuous flow of subscribers’ money. Forces roadmap to serve features which transform application into a service, with non-necessary changes added and work to be shipped just for the sake of shipping. I mean come on, you don’t need to ship an update every 2 weeks. Maybe some apps need it, but most of them – don’t. What happened to the culture of shipping something great and then moving to a new thing? Why do we have to dwell on some projects to exist forever and capture more and more functionality? Subscriptions are to blame for what happened to Evernote which started to add more and more features, eventually, every app would want to be the only app you use and run all day. Becoming an ecosystem of its’ own. That’s not the world I want to be part of. 1Password – we have been friends since the start, but this year I am transitioning the entire family to iCloud Keychain.

Subscriptions are not good for consumers as well. If you agree that owning a property is better than renting, you know what I mean. Yes, I want to own hardware I buy, I don’t replace it every couple of years. I don’t use phone contracts, I use my phones for 5 to 7 years, Macs even longer. I treat software the same. Paid upfront with Free Trial is the best thing that happened to the software, and it is achievable on iOS with 1 time non-consumable In-App Purchase. Yes, we do need iOS paid upgrades badly. We shouldn’t give up. What’s changed? We became lazier and greedier. We want safety, we avoid risks. That’s not fun at all.

Today I spent some time with Visual Studio Code. Just started the app for the first time and it picked the wrong colour scheme¹, moreover, it doesn’t even offer the “Auto” mode for switching between Dak and Light appearances in macOS.

The menu bar

I admit the menu bar functionality is better than I expected. However, it fails the simple test of selecting a file and searching for “Finder”. Apps like BBEdit and even Music show the command “Revel in Finder”. In Visual Studio it’s in the context menu but not in the menu strip. They want you to use their command panel which only works with the keyboard. 🙄

Settings

Settings controls are also not accessible through the menu bar and look very much like Chrome settings. The more I use BBEdit settings, there more used I become, I can change most of my preferences without using the search. With Visual Studio settings, I won’t even try, I will only rely on search.

Conclusion

Visual Studio Code is popular right now and possibly is the most popular code editor to this day. I don’t have any problems with it. It’s just not for me. And I doubt it will survive 30 years mark. Does anyone remember Sublime Text?

A good watch with some issues:

• The Bitcoin crash theme is cut short, it looks like it was filmed just for the trailer and it has no impact on the story
• There’s no motivation for the parking lot fight between 2 brothers
• Danny acting not like himself, he chucked the university letter

The plot is decent and has some fun moments.

I have found this tweet, with some good phrases which can be used instead of “sorry”.

• Thanks for flagging!
• Good catch - I will make the updates/changes.
• Many thanks for noticing the error, (name), we will (verb)
• Thank you for bringing this to our attention. We will (verb)

I am journaling since primary school, running OmniFocus for 12 years, tracking every event in my life since the university, I am having dedicated time for email, I am using the most advance knowledge management apps and even working on my own, I bought Due and yet… Sometimes I don’t look into OmniFocus for weeks, and skip daily journaling and weekly review for months, I miss events and meetings, I keep forgetting, I am missing most important life-changing emails, I loose information and spend time looking for it, I am slacking on my chores.

Just when starting working on this blog post I caught myself.

• Thinking about changing my wallpaper
• Checking random Telegram channel
• Fiddling with the Music app
• Playing with CSS

I feel like for all the advantages tech gave us in the creative work field, there’s something it took, and we have zero gains, instead of a revolution similar to what other industries experienced – industrial revolution, advances in chemistry… We as knowledge workers continue to work with the same output our ancestors did, and even worse, Telegraph recently wrote an article about idleness at work became an epidemic that is wrecking Britain.

How can we fix this

I don’t want to sound pessimistic, because I think eventually there will be a revolution and progress, and we will triumph, we will lead by example, the rest of us will follow, and we will lead the way. I see people care about productivity, especially since I learned a lot from the the Focussed podcast. Here are some quick takes for you, something I found useful and something I would like you to share.

• Say no a lot, focus on fewer projects/tasks
• When you start working, do the hardest tasks first
• Do not send Slack messages or emails if the issue can’t be resolved with a single reply, that’s what meetings are for
• Every meeting needs agenda
• Default meeting duration should be 30 minutes, not 1 hour
• Dedicate separate time for messaging and social media
• Learn about gratitude journaling and meditation, whatever works

Adwise for developers

And here are some advice for programmers, I don’t know how it is useful for you, but here is something I need to do myself

• Reading code is hard, but it pays off, read every line and do not skim
• Trust no one
• Especially do not trust code, yours or someone elses
• Only trust your intuition, if peace of code makes you feel tingly, do not ignore it
• Make sure that solution you are building will make your team happy, communicate often and share your plans and work process early

I find the last point especially difficult, because different members of a team have different things which they prioritise, and it’s impossible to make everyone happy. But it’s possible to find communication gaps and bring the differences in opinions during meetings. Healthy teams work towards the same goals.

I keep coming back to this game, and it looks like I am going to finish it. It’s a long game, with no obvious story, rich in content and opportunities to explore and learn. It’s RPG but plays almost like a strategy game, units positioning and strategy are more important than your level and the items you have. I enjoy modern open-world aspects, you are free to choose your path and do quests in any order. Dialogues answers make a difference.

I learned that making mistakes is unavoidable, Quick Save is part of gameplay. I play on medium “Classic” difficulty but at some points needed to use the “Explorer” option. There’s also no shame in referring to walkthrough and tips, I consider research as part of the gameplay.

It runs well on my MacBookPro 16 M1 Max (32 GB, 24 GPU). It handles 60 FPS at native resolution, but I prefer to play at 1728 × 1117 because this gives much more battery life and the laptop doesn’t run hot or noisy. I also can’t play at native resolution because it makes the cursor size twice the size it should be.

Rarely I can find a recipe which is healthy, easy to cook, tasty and filling at the same time. This is one of them. I am recently cooking more pasta, and this dish especially shines with freshly made one. Yum! You can add more than one clove of garlic. I have replaced “Parma ham” with “Prosciutto crudo”.

The recipe page (Telegraph)
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