thanks to all who read that missive and responded, very interesting. lest you all think that i was complaining about the state of linux audio, i assure you i was not. i had interpreted earlier posts to be asking why more people weren't using linux audio tools, so i gave an example of somebody who had been working in another world and was moving into linux. i love the process of learning new things, gotta keep the old dog young, so for me learning more about how the hardware really interacts with the software is an interesting puzzle to work through --i feel the same way about writing code for supercollider. i don't come from a background of writing code so the process of learning how to do it is both frustrating and exciting --logic puzzles. though not necessary, i should clarify my statements about film and music industry media moving through macs, i meant mostly in terms of recording (audio), editing and mixing (both video and audio). certainly all the major visual-effect rendering has been cgi -moving to almost all linux now. (though my friends at pixar imply that there's some "upper management" pressure to sell renderman for mac g5s...but then they'd actually have to man the phones for tech support.. heh.) the one thing that i can't reconcile yet is mr shirkey's post about the other perspective: if you can't hack the pace then you shouldn't be in the driver's seat. i am definitely of two minds on this. one side says that, yes, no compromise should be made by those who know how to make a thing do what they want it to do simply to allow others do it as well. in this way there can be major forward momentum in the growth of a system, but it also makes an elite group of experts that must be deferred to in order to be able to use their wisdom. this can have deleterious effects upon the culture of the users, besides just making some cache of coolness that comes with being "in the know" (while appearing to be snobs from those that wish they could be in the know themselves!) that is completely irrelevant to the real situations, yet completely within human nature, wherein the development must take long and winding routes to reach the majority of the users who cannot "hack the pace", pun intended. for myself, i see the allure of learning to stay on the bleeding edge of technology and to make music from software that is coming into being daily from a group of people who are likewise inclined. i am one of those people who has to take a preset apart to make something of their own before thinking that they are making their own music. and while i would love to believe i am special somehow for being that way, politically i think i am far too populist to allow it to become elitism. so that part of me wants to make the hard things get easier, perhaps. ok, enough of this - -- _________________________________________________________________ Jonathan Segel -- MAGNETIC -- PO Box 460816 S.F. CA. 94146-0816 4014 Brookdale Ave. Oakland, CA 94619 jsegel(a)magneticmotorworks.com <-----> magsatellite(a)yahoo.com http://www.MagneticMotorworks.com tel (510) 534 7825 cell (510) 484 7415 fax (425) 955 4495

i am definitely of two minds on this. one side says that, yes, no compromise should be made by those who know how to make a thing do what they want it to do simply to allow others do it as well. in this way there can be major forward momentum in the growth of a system, but it also makes an elite group of experts that must be deferred to in order to be able to use their wisdom.

this can have deleterious effects upon the culture of the users, besides just making some cache of coolness that comes with being "in the know" (while appearing to be snobs from those that wish they could be in the know themselves!) that is completely irrelevant to the real situations, yet completely within human nature, wherein the development must take long and winding routes to reach the majority of the users who cannot "hack the pace", pun intended.

for myself, i see the allure of learning to stay on the bleeding edge of technology and to make music from software that is coming into being daily from a group of people who are likewise inclined. i am one of those people who has to take a preset apart to make something of their own before thinking that they are making their own music. and while i would love to believe i am special somehow for being that way, politically i think i am far too populist to allow it to become elitism. so that part of me wants to make the hard things get easier, perhaps.