I DON’T want to watch TV.

I DON’T want to browse the web.

I DON’T want to be distracted by messages and notifications while playing.

I DON’T want to be forced to connect to the internet.

I DON’T want to share gameplay videos.

I DON’T want to pay extra for multiplayer.

I DON’T want to see advertisements on the homescreen.

I DON’T want to miss out on key content because I chose to not pay extra for DLC.

I DON’T want to be punished for lending a game to a friend.

I DON’T want to type in a code before I’m allowed to play.

I DON’T want to have to wait for a game to install.

All I want is to insert a game, and press play.
Is that really too much to ask?

“Imagine waiting in line for three hours, paying $100 for a ticket to the Warped Tour to see your favorite bands, and waking on the day of the outdoor concert to find that it’s bitterly cold and rainy. If you go you’ll feel miserable. But you’ll go anyway, reasoning that you paid $100 for the ticket and the time you spent in line will have been waisted if you stay home.” - Psychology Text Book

Yep. Sounds like what most people I know would do. And it’s stupid. My textbook explains why:

“Notice that you have two choices:
1) Spend $100 and stay comfortably at home.
2) Spend $100 and endure many uncomfortable hours in the rain”

So WHY THE HECK WOULD YOU CHOOSE OPTION TWO?!?

The book goes on to explain that this is actually a problem with the way our minds work, called the sunk-cost fallacy. Please, everyone, let’s not let mental bugs stop us from using common sense, okay?

Event: Original Playstation begins outselling the N64.
Reaction: Nintendo has lost their dominance! They’re going to die!
Actuality: Nintendo survives.

Event: The Gamecube sells poorly.
Reaction: See? Nintendo is going to die!
Actuality: Nintendo survives, goes on to build money printer aka Wii.

Event: Original DS launches to poor sales.
Reaction: Now they’re losing the handheld market! They’re going to die!
Actuality: DS goes on to become best-selling handheld of all time.

Event: After a strong launch, Wii sales drop off.
Reaction: The Wii sucks! Nintendo sucks! They’re going to die!
Actuality: Nintendo doesn’t really care because the Wii has already made billions.

Event: 3DS launches to poor sales.
Reaction: Nintendo is DOOMED! They’re going to die!
Actuality: In Japan, 3DS currently sells more units than all other consoles combined.

Event: Wii U sells poorly.
Reaction: Nintendo is going to die…

…y’know, a friend once said, “If you can’t learn from history, you might as well ignore it!” Better get that copy of Smash Brothers while you still can!

(The aforementioned friend is now broke after betting all his money that Ralph Nader was going to win the election. He also isn’t real because it takes a rare person to be that stupid.)

“Have you any notion of how many books are written about women in the course of one year? Have you any notion how many are written by men?…Women do not write books about men…What could be the reason, then, of this curious disparity, I wondered…Why are women, judging for this catalogue, so much more interesting to men than men are to women?”
-Virginia Woolf, A Room of One’s Own

Well, see, it’s quite simple really. Males, me included, are generally more stupid than females.

The mind’s of men are unable to comprehend the minds of women, leaving them perplexed.
The women just recognize that the men are idiotic, and move on.

Understand now? It’s really not that complicated.

And, no, I don’t actually think this.
Yes I do. But you didn’t see anything.

“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants,” Isaac Newton famously wrote in a letter to a fellow scientist.

It’s a quote that applies to just about everything we do. Nothing exists in a vacuum. We are inspired by everything we see around us, and what we like, we try to mimic.

Think the iPhone was truly and completely 100% revolutionary? Where did the idea for an integrated contact list come from? It’s actually not all that obvious of an idea… it wasn’t all that long ago that you had to input the same person’s phone number every single time you wanted to call them. What about the idea of including a camera? Camera phones were also a pretty significant innovation, and Apple used it.

So while the iPhone brought plenty that was new to the table, it was built on the shoulders of giants.

So of course, just as Apple looked back on existing phones when building the iPhone, Google, and by extension Samsung, looked to the iPhone when building Android and the hardware it runs on.

I’m sure elements of the iPhone are used by Samsung. It would be stupid to argue otherwise. But Android and Samsung have brought plenty of their own innovations to the table, such as a better notification system and an integrated GPS capable of providing turn-by-turn navigation (both of which Apple “copied” in later iterations of the iPhone).

Just because Samsung copied Apple doesn’t mean they should be freaking sued for it. As of right now, it looks to me like the court isn’t going to agree. Why is beyond me.

I don’t like Windows.

There’s nothing inherently wrong with Windows 7. It’s stable, fast, and is compatible with just about anything, be it software or hardware. Sit down at a sufficiently-equipped computer, and Windows 7 will allow you to quickly and efficiently crank out documents, research the web, design logos, edit videos, or perform whatever other challenges life tasks you with. Windows 7 is a tool, and a well-constructed one at that. It gets the job done. It’s made for getting the job done.

But like a growing number of consumers, I view my computer as more than just a tool. It’s a hub for both work and recreation, somewhere I go to relax and have fun.

Despite its capabilities, Windows 7 just isn’t fun to use.

Make no mistake: An iPad is less capable than a Windows 7 PC. Even simple tasks like casually surfing the internet take longer on an iPad. Maneuvering a mouse is faster and easier than sliding and tapping your finger.

But no one cares, because those slides and taps just feel so good, so natural. Who cares if it’s capable. Screw capable! Using an iPad feels elegant and relaxing. Time can’t always be measured in numbers. Time is fluid, and it truly does fly when you’re having fun.

To compete with the iPad, and its slow encroachment of the traditional PC market, Microsoft needs to compete with fun. And Windows 7 just isn’t going to cut it.

So they bring out Windows 8, and in many ways, it’s everything it needs to be! It’s fluid, it’s pretty, it’s fun. You’re using it and exploring it and enjoying it and then you click on Microsoft Word and then BOOM! Desktop. No tiles. You’ve stepped into a different universe, with completely different rules.

But that’s okay, because humans can adjust, and you’ve probably used Windows 7 before, so you know how things work. In a few seconds your brain has switched over and you’re happily editing that document you’ve been working on when you realize that a visual supplement on page 3 would really make the entire paper easier to follow, so you try to start photoshop by opening the start menu and BOOM! You’ve stepped back through the wormhole, into that universe of tiles.

Oh, this place, you’d think, and after a few seconds, you’ve reopened that other portion of your mind, and recalled how everything behaves in the world of tiles. It’s sort of like remembering how to walk on the moon. At first, the lack of gravity throws you off, but it doesn’t take too long to get back on your feet. So you move your mouse over to the Photoshop tile and click on it and BOOM AGAIN back through the wormhole you go.

Imagine taking a stroll across the moon, after it’s been visited by Chell and her Portal Gun. There’s an orange portal on the moon, and a blue one on earth. With Windows 8, Microsoft expects its users to just stroll right through the portals, completely unperturbed by the change in gravity.

We can handle transitions, but they aren’t pleasant, or natural, or fun. And that’s the entire point of Windows 8.

Microsoft, you’re attempting to compete with the iPad, yes? Y’know what Apple is all about? Unification. Windows 8 is anything but unified.

I understand why Microsoft is making Windows 8. In order to remain relevant, Windows must become something pleasant, elegant, and fun. But Microsoft also doesn’t want Windows to lose its power and versatility. The solution they’ve come up with– create two separate versions and stick them together with Duct Tape– is a cop-out, and it won’t work.

Microsoft will have to address this, either through a service pack or in Windows 9, depending on how long they choose to ignore reality. Once they wake up, they’ll have to make some tough choices.

How can they fix it? Microsoft has to kill the desktop. It isn’t fun, and it isn’t fluid. It’s outdated.

Instead, Microsoft needs to evolve metro, to make it as capable as the desktop is now. It will be costly and difficult, but it can be done.

This won’t require killing off support for legacy apps. That would be stupid, as app compatibility is Windows’s biggest strength. Instead, Microsoft should force legacy applications to open in full screen, and then give the icons and buttons a Metro-esque theme. They’ll look somewhat out of place, but not terrible, and less jarring than the alternative. Since developers won’t want their applications to look ugly, most will eventually update them to fix any inconsistencies.

Need to see multiple windows at the same time? Microsoft should be able to adapt Metro for this as well. Windows 8’s current Metro UI can already show multiple apps simultaneously, but like so many other aspects of the UI, Microsoft was afraid (or too lazy) to take the concept far enough. Screen real-estate will always be split 30-70 between the two apps, and displaying more than two simultaneous applications is impossible. You should be able to adjust the bar between the two applications with your mouse, so you can decide exactly how much screen real-estate each application receives. It isn’t hard to imagine an extended version of this system where users can snap three or four applications into the various corners of their screens.

These are just some examples of how Microsoft could improve Metro’s capabilities. Metro may never be quite as powerful as the desktop was, but that’s okay! As long as Metro is fun to use, most people won’t notice, because time flies when your having fun.

tl;dr: Portal for Windows 8 will take place on the moon.

Apple is a hardware company. They make money by selling computers, cell phones, and tablets to consumers.

Google is an advertising company. They make money by selling advertising space to other corporations.

Microsoft is a software company. They make money by selling software to both consumers as well as the enterprise.

And yet, all three are competing with each other.
What a strange world we live in.

My blog is a great way to organize my thoughts. And maybe I’ll read it myself some day, after time has obscured the memory. And while these aren’t things I’d just walk around and tell people about, it’s not because they’re private. It’s just more information than anyone would ask me for, and certainly more than I’d force upon them.

* * * * * * *

It was a day in early March. I was walking down the ramp outside our school library, when:

“Hey, Jonathan, are you going to Prom?”

“No, I don’t think so…”

The entire thing, I think, came REALLY close to just ending there and then. But at that moment, a thought occurred to me. I didn’t think it was true, but…

“…why?”

“I was wondering if you’d want… to go with me.”

Oh my god, it WAS true. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, processing everything. Normally, I would NEVER go to Prom. A big, formal party, with dancing. Not my thing.

But she’d just made the situation very much abnormal.

I had a crush on Alex, at one point. We both went to a small private school in Chatham (When I write her name here, I feel sort of like I’m talking about her behind her back. But I’m not- I’d never do that- and I can’t really keep avoiding it). The 7th and 8th grades were so small that they combined us into one class, so I saw Alex a lot despite being a year older.

I loved that school, but it ended in 8th grade, so I had to leave. I applied and was accepted to Gill St. Bernards, where I’ve gone all of high school. I… knew… Alex would like GSB. I tried to convince her to apply, and she ended up there as well. Wow. The chances of that happening were unimaginably slim.

But ultimately, it didn’t do much. She was a grade below me, so we had no classes together. I never really saw her much, beyond the casual wave in the hallway. But now…

I opened my eyes.

“Okay.”

* * * * * * *

I couldn’t believe it. I’d just agreed to go to Prom with someone! I couldn’t imagine it.

As the end of the school year approached, I was nervous about a lot of things. Contrary to what I’ve said before, I do care about my score, as I want the college credit… I’m legitimately annoyed at how little I actually learned in those AP courses, but I was largely blowing off nervous energy. So I was worried about my AP tests, as well as my final projects, and, especially, the thought of leaving high school. I couldn’t- still can’t- actually imagine myself actually leaving home, and going to live up in Saratoga Springs, in a dorm at Skidmore.

But imagining myself actually going to Prom was even harder.

And since Prom was after all my other worries- after my classes were over, and after I’d taken all my AP tests- it stood out in my mind as the final climax, of sorts, to my immediate life. The last part of my life, or at least the part of it I could actually see approaching.

* * * * * * *

Prom ended up being a ton of fun. I love excitement, and the atmosphere at Prom was full of it. The chance to see Alex again was equally great.

The thing I’ll remember most though, was the conversation we had over dessert, eating cookies as everyone around us danced to the music.

“Have you liked being at Gill?”
“It’s been… okay.”
“I like it a lot.”

Silence. Then:

“Thanks for inviting me. I never would have come.”
“I probably wouldn’t have either.”

Again there was a pause, but this time, she broke the silence.

“I wouldn’t have come to Gill, if you hadn’t told me about it. It wasn’t a place I was thinking about at all. You convinced me to apply. Thank you.”

It was something I’d long suspected, but didn’t really believe. Once, back when I kept a diary, I wrote that if Alex came to Gill and she didn’t like it, I would feel responsible. But I also wrote that the notion behind it was silly… too self-centered. I couldn’t have really influenced a decision like that.

But I did.

And she really has loved Gill. I’ve passed her so many times between classes, talking and laughing with her friends. Did I give her this? She says I did. Wow.

* * * * * * *

So here I am, two days after the Prom. And, oh, yeah, today was my 18th birthday. I’m an adult now. If you’re one of the 10+ people that wished me happy birthday on Skype, thank you, and I’m sorry for not responding… I just don’t know… how to feel about it yet.

I’m past the climax, the last event that I could predict. What happens next? I still can’t imagine myself in college, and I’m definitely nervous.

But somehow, life works out. Alex comes to my school, I go with her to Prom… if crazy things like that are possible, who knows what else is in store?

I’ve never believed in the concept of fate. I choose the path of my life. What amazes me though, is how much of an impact my actions can have on the lives of others. Just how much power do I have? In many ways, its scary. I mean, if I do something stupid and screw up my own life, that’s my fault. But someone else’s? Alex could have hated Gill.

But that’s just it. She didn’t, and I’d known she wouldn’t. As much as I’d wanted her to be at the same school as I was, I wouldn’t have told her to come if I hadn’t thought she’d like it. And she knew that.

As long as I trust my instincts going forward, I should be alright. Who knows what else is in store.

Is it worry I feel?
Or is it something more?
I feel time passing by,
and it can’t be ignored…

I’m struggling.
But I’ll try:
To explain the reason why,
I feel the,
rush of time,
passing by…

Picture, for a second, a mosquito.

Consider the significance of that mosquito.

It’s not exactly something you can completely ignore. After all, it’s probably going to bite you. But ultimately? It’s just a mosquito.

That pretty much sums up my thoughts on the AP test.

I’m a high school senior. A lot of my fellow seniors have simply turned their brains off this past semester. After all, their already accepted into college, so their grades don’t matter, right? And if their grades don’t matter, why bother learning anything?

WHAT STUPID LOGIC!

Has schooling really devolved this far? Why are you in school at all? So you can get good grades? So you can get into college? Just for a few minutes, turn your brains back on and consider the logic in this mentality. Why are you going to college? To get some diploma? Why do you want that freaking diploma? So you can get a better job? Okay, well that’s all well and good, but why do you think employers care about a diploma? What about it makes you more valuable? Could it be because, oh I don’t know, you’re more knowledgable? That you actually know stuff about the world, and can make suggestions and come up with ideas without sounding like an idiot?

I’ve approached this semester of my senior year as an opportunity. I don’t know about you, but I actually LIKE learning stuff. This was my chance- possibly the only chance I’m ever going to get- to just go through and concentrate on learning cool new perspectives about the world. I don’t have to concern myself with grades and projects and quizzes and tests. I can just go to school, and learn things, and concentrate on nothing but learning things. It’s great.

My AP courses are the complete antithesis to this mindset. The goal of an AP course isn’t to learn about a subject. The goal is to get a good grade on the AP test. And all year, we’ve been striving for this goal at the expense of everything else.

So no, I’m not all that concerned about tomorrow’s AP test. Because my AP tests have about as much significance as a couple of mosquitos.

Oh, what’s this about college credit? Screw college credit. I’m actually going to college to learn things, not to accumulate some arbitrary amount of credits. I’ll get credits from classes that actually focus on teaching stuff.

Oh, and to the people at the college board: You are running the biggest scam operation ever, and yet everyone’s letting you get away with it. They have to. It’s gotten to the point where if you DON’T take AP courses, colleges won’t even consider you. It’s a scam everyone is forced to participate in. Honestly college board, you weren’t satisfied with all the application fees you get from SAT-test takers? You need to institute AP tests to collect even MORE money than you’re already getting? Please, please don’t try to fool yourself into thinking your improving education. You’re not. You’re destroying it. You’re taking all the worst aspects of our education system and amplifying them many times. Good job.

Do I sound pissed? I am pissed. I have reason to be. Good riddance college board, and screw you.