I'm interested in using Debian on my next laptop. The releases are slow, of course, but not much slower than Ubuntu long-term support (LTS) releases. For a few years now, I've been using Ubuntu LTS, anyway. I've found that many non-LTS releases introduce problems on my machine. Besides, these days, it's not hard to install newer desktop applications using Flatpak and newer CLI programs using… I don't know, Homebrew and language-specific package managers?

Debian's commitment to free software would have appealed to me more as a younger person, but these days, I want a laptop that just works, and I do see the value of proprietary software. Apple creates great software, for example, and it very often has higher usability and user experience standards than open-source software does. (Liquid Glass and the iPhone setup process are notable exceptions over at Apple. Signal, WordPress, and GNOME, among others, are notable exceptions in the open-source community. Also, I really hate the way Apple behaves as a company, but I think that's largely a separate issue.) Thankfully, with Debian, it's easy to work around the free software guardrails and install proprietary software. So easy, in fact, that the FSF faults Debian for it.

What's wrong with Ubuntu LTS? Not much. I like it, and my gripes are pretty minor. Ubuntu does have a habit of force-feeding their users unpopular software that was built in-house, however, like Unity, Snap, and lots of other stuff. I would prefer a pure GNOME experience. Plus, I think it would be fun to learn Debian. That's probably the main reason I'm interested in switching.

Maybe some additional thinking will change my mind, but at the moment, I'm interested in giving Debian a shot. I probably don't have enough energy or interest to do it now, though. I'll wait until I buy a new laptop. (I remember installing Arch Linux mid-way through courses at RIT and being unable to use my laptop for one week while I figured out how to properly configure full-disk encryption with LUKS and dm-crypt. Yeah, those days are gone.)

#Technology #Usability #UserExperience

Liquid Glass is bad for cybersecurity. Millions of people have learned the hard way never to update their devices, because if they do, everything might change for the worse. Of course, this isn't the first software update to annoy users with seemingly pointless changes, but it may be the worst case of it.

#Technology #Usability #UserExperience

The Nielsen Norman Group doesn't like iOS 26, the new iPhone operating system with Liquid Glass, and why should they? The user interface makes many, many elementary mistakes. Few if any would have been made had the designers read Donald Norman's seminal book on usability—yes, the same Norman from the Nielsen Norman Group—The Design of Everyday Things. Like Windows 8 and sadly many elements of iOS before this, iOS 26 applies the book's principles in reverse. User confusion and frustration is therefore no surprise. The real question is, what in the world happened to Apple's organization to allow this, when it previously blazed a trail for usable technology and made The Design of Everyday Things required reading?

#Technology #Business #Usability #UserExperience

As part of my ongoing effort to share techniques for making modern devices less addictive and manipulative, here's another trick I use in addition to perpetually using Do Not Disturb on my smartphone:

My smartwatch is always in Do Not Disturb mode. It only makes noise when an alarm or timer goes off, and it never vibrates. There are no other exceptions because Wear OS apparently doesn't allow them. (I wouldn't mind getting a buzz from FitBit when it's time to move, but configuring that does not appear to be possible.)

Some might wonder why I have a smartwatch at all. It's a good question. Aside from knowing the time, I mostly use it to track my sleep. I honestly don't care about most of the other features.

edit (2025-12-14): Some time after writing this blog post, I sold the smartwatch and got a mechanical watch, which I recommend! I track my sleep using another app, and I honestly don't even need to do that. I don't need sleep tracking to know what worsens or improves my sleep.

#Technology #Usability #UserExperience #Wellbeing

I can become absorbed by technology like anyone else, but the nature of my absorption sometimes looks different because I work hard to make my gadgets less addictive. Over time, I'd like to share some of the techniques I use. Here's the first one, which I've mentioned before:

My phone is always in Do Not Disturb mode. I don't get any beeps or buzzes, except for emergency alerts, alarms, calendar reminders, phone calls within certain parameters (close contacts, repeat callers, etc.), and Slack messages from colleagues. I almost never need to be immediately alerted about anything else; I check my phone often enough already.

Interestingly, this isn't very easy to configure. Modern devices mostly require that we opt out of distractions, rather than opt in. Put another way, if the mode that respects our attention is called Do Not Disturb, what is the ordinary mode called?

#Communication #Technology #Usability #UserExperience #Wellbeing

In researching alternative shells, I came across zx, a JavaScript runtime for shell scripting. It looks great! Perhaps I'll use it some time.

#SoftwareDevelopment #Technology #Usability #UserExperience

Bash has always felt like a programming language designed by someone who sleeps upside down and eats soup with a fork. I kind of love it, though.

#SoftwareDevelopment #Technology #Usability #UserExperience

Here's something I never expected would happen. Apple says it plans to support RCS. Does this mean Apple is done with its dirty tricks in messaging and elsewhere? Of course not. It's a baby step in the right direction, though.

Don't get me wrong. I have a love-hate relationship with Apple. They build great products, but they also refuse to play nice with others, even admitting it's for their own selfish gain. As the article explains, software executive Craig Federighi once wrote in a private email that publishing iMessage on Android, let alone supporting an open standard, would “remove obstacle [sic] to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.”

#Business #Communication #Technology #Usability #UserExperience

Here's something I never expected would happen. Apple says it plans to support RCS. Does this mean Apple is done with its dirty tricks in messaging and elsewhere? Of course not. It's a baby step in the right direction, though.

Don't get me wrong. I have a love-hate relationship with Apple. They build great products, but they also refuse to play nice with others, even admitting it's for their own selfish gain. As the article explains, software executive Craig Federighi once wrote in a private email that publishing iMessage on Android, let alone supporting an open standard, would “remove obstacle [sic] to iPhone families giving their kids Android phones.”

#Business #Communication #Technology #Usability #UserExperience