May 2011

Seven long years ago we were having an artist vs programmer discussion and my friend Dave (who is both) asked:

How low level can one go in this contest...

... did the artist develop the "language" they used to write the program to produce the art...

... did the artist write the compiler which compiles the program into machine code which runs the program which displays the art....

... did the artist build the computer which was used to write the program and run the program...

... did the artist build the components for the computer which was used to write the program to ....

... did the artist manufacture the materials used to fabricate the components used for the computer....blah, blah, blah.

[...]

Pre-developed software is a tool, so are programming development languages. They both are tools which can be used as a means to do interesting things.

We are still discussing this, even after the camps of "hacking vs defaults" were identified in '07. I say "we"--that's people interested in so-called new media art who still have blogs. The gallery art world is all on Facebook swapping jpegs around under Mark Zuckerberg's watchful eye--not much investigation of the inherent nature of the medium is possible there, is there?

Recently upgraded to Windows 7; a few notes:

--The Apple-ization of Windows continues (hiding everything under the hood so you, the pitiful plebe, can't see it) but it's not as bad as it could be. The "run" button allowing you to dig under the main interface is no longer in the start menu but there is still a command line program buried in Windows folders. (I actually did use "run" occasionally, for minor tasks that geeks walk you through in forums.) Was able to load up the computer with various third party and/or open source programs (Irfanview, VLC, etc) without going to a "store" to buy "apps." What a concept. I can configure my music folders however I want and am using a program called Foobar (hat tip JS) that plays them right from the folder structure. No Orwellian iTunes scheme, no Windows Media Player sniffing through every nook and cranny in search of "media."

--My favorite vintage graphics program, MSPaintbrush, works better than it did on XP and I can save and print from it. (Shame about the new MSPaint, though.)

--Speaking of folders, Windows still wants you to use "My Documents" and a new one, "Libraries" for all your content files. I don't use those--I don't like their mysterious multiple entry points and ultimate nesting a couple of levels below the C drive. I make my own folders on the C but these are now pushed down the "folder tree" pane graphically--literally shoved, after a second or two hang as the system reasserts the priority of My Documents, Libraries, and their various subfolders at the top of the structure. You should be able to configure this but it seems "hard wired."

--Encountered a web surfing bug that is bedeviling many Windows users. On pages requiring sudden heavy loading of a lot of files, the Internet connection shuts off. You can re-connect using "troubleshoot," after which you see the message ""the default gateway is not available," but doing this a couple of times an hour is ridiculous. I fixed the problem (pretty sure) by going to Intel's website and loading the latest driver for the "network adapter" hardware. The bug is that Windows is otherwise telling you all drivers for that adapter are up to date.

--Do I "love Windows," as one twitterer wrote? Well, I "like" a system that allows me to do what I want with less pretense, mind control, and blatant commercialism than the competition. "Love" is a little strong for a multinational corporation.

Update: "Run" is still in the Start menu--it's just a couple of levels further down.

Update 2: As noted by Hypothete, Windows 7 Photo Viewer doesn't play GIFs. In the XP viewer you could page quickly through animations in GIF form. Now the viewer freezes the GIFs as a single frame and you have to open them in another program (e.g., Firefox). Let's add this to the evidence that our corporate overlords mean to phase out GIFs, with Microsoft joining Google, Apple, and Facebook in this scheme.