For the last several years, I've found computing less fun than in the past. One reason is that I still like basically the same things as I did in my youth: smallish programs running on smallish machines. I've been fortunate enough to make a career out of writing this sort of thing. But by their success, computers became, first, ubiquitous, and then, larger. Nowadays most people are building largish programs running on largish (collections of) machines. We do less manual craftsman-style work and more semi-automated orchestration. This is absolutely a success for the industry, and I celebrate it! Still not as fun for me.

Another reason I've found computing less fun is due to another success. Linux, a flavor of my dearly beloved Unix, has gotten easy enough to install and use for normal things (not just programming) that many more people are using it. Hooray! I now interview candidates at my job who tell me they've been using it for five or more years, or that they have several Linux machines at home. Unfortunately for their job prospects, they only know it about as well as I know Windows--I can find that little X button on most windows and also that bigger Start button in the corner of the screen. I can't program Windows, though. As Linux has become more available to plain-old-users, it has also gotten more and more like Windows or MacOS: a "desktop" and GUI apps for everything. I celebrate this too, but eh. I prefer the command line.

I recently installed Omarchy, and suddenly I found myself celebrating my computer and wanting to spend time with it. Before that, I would sometimes play a game called "pretend I love my laptop," where I would take only my laptop with me on trips and see how I got along with it. It dual booted Windows and Fedora Linux during that period. Lately, I'm no longer pretending. I really do like just tinkering with the machine again.

Another change has been AI assistants. As Linux moved more and more into the mainstream, I lost track of some of its trajectory, including Wayland vs. X11 and systemd vs init scripts. So when I was fiddling around with my computer, I didn't feel oriented, and thus stuck to superficial things. AI assistants are wonderful for learning, especially for nerdy computer stuff because of who built them out of what.

Turns out that this fun has a downside too. I keep adding new projects to my list, and spending more time with my computer means I'm spending less time on other things I care about. It feels like I've gotten over the initial manic rush and have settled into a calmer relationship with my computer play. Still takes away from other things, but, on the whole, color me glad.