Technology fairies, free me from boredom

Sep 08

Every once in a while I notice some really silly behavior in myself, or just profound naivete, and I spend a little time reflecting on my own dumbassitude.

Take tonight, for example. I'm sitting around, too tired to get going on any of the four or five too-large projects that I've got on the permanent back burner, but I feel like being entertained in some way that doesn't require any effort besides clicking. I'm surfing around idly, and I notice that the Firefox 1.5 beta is out. WHOOPIE! Salvation! Something to do tonight! My whole life is going to change!

I download it, install it, runs great (in fact, I'm blogging from it right now). But — it's not any different, really. I mean it is, there's the faster forward/back behavior, apparently SVG* support, redesigned preferences tab — in other words, my day-to-day experience is the same as it ever was.

There's this disconnect in my mind between potential and reality. Every time I install a new piece of software, I expect that my life will change dramatically, which is obviously a really ridiculous bar to be setting. In looking back over the last few years, these are the only pieces of software that have really made much difference:

  1. Firefox 1.0
  2. Bloglines
  3. Thunderbird
  4. Rhapsody
  5. Eclipse
  6. The Cisco VPN* client.
And of those six, Bloglines is the only one that's really changed the way I do things. But for some reason, every point release of every app that comes out gets me all excited, and then — well, things are pretty much the same.

I'm even aware of this propensity in myself, and still it gets me every time. We're creatures of habit, I guess.