Comments on: Question 21 of 365: What is “wrong” with Widgets and App Stores?

By: Ben Wilkoff

Ben Wilkoff — Mon, 22 Mar 2010 18:01:39 +0000

I think we are losing the really special moments that happen at a live show
where one band member takes up an instrument and plays with one of the other
bands on tour. I think that we are missing the ability to have "guest
appearances" on projects because we have insulated ourselves within the
niches we have carved out.

As for The West Wing, I believe it is a myth that Aaron Sorkin put those
words together all on his own for 4 seasons. It is a falsehood to think that
the other collaborators were any less responsible for being vigilant to the
words as they were presented. They bought into the vision of doing The West
Wing like that. They were all playing from that "songbook" and those were
the chords but they all played it their own way. I think that metaphor is a
bit mixed, but hopefully still makes sense.

By: Zac Chase

Zac Chase — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 19:37:57 +0000

Ok, I think I dig this.

What is it that you think gets lost in the process? What are we missing that
we would otherwise have without the niche-carving you see?

I agree with you on the musician point. The thing I don't know how to jive
is people like Aaron Sorkin who was famous on the set for making certain
each actor said the exact words on the script. That was how we got *The West
Wing*. If Sorkin had allowed divergence, if he'd let the actors play with
the text he'd composed, we would have had something else. I'm not sure what
point, if any, I'm making with this. I think it's more of a question of what
to make of it.

By: Ben Wilkoff

Ben Wilkoff — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 13:14:19 +0000

This is the one post that I believe the least out of any of them. While I
agree with everything that I said, it is hard to imagine actually biting off
all of what I meant by trying to change the world rather than working on a
iPhone app.

I really do value small pieces of creation much more than overarching goals
that seem to get very little done. I really do admire everyone who is making
an application that fixes a problem that someone else has. This kind of
economy makes a lot of sense to me.

And yet, it is the community that is weird to me. If everyone is trying to
carve out their own niche, there is something that gets lost in the process.
They may talk to one another and learn from one another, but the goal
remains the same: creating a single serving life (a la fight club).

I like that everyone is using the new platforms to create, I'm just not sure
that the distribution methods are quite right for true inspiration. I think
that perhaps what I was driving at was musically based. I would make the
case that no true musician is trying to be a silo or offering their own
version that is "better" than another version. They are creating music to be
distributed in a thousand different ways, and each experience with it is
unique. Then the music can be taken apart and remixed with other music.

Until we can have building blocks like chords or remixing tools like
audacity, I don't really see App Stores solving the biggest problems. I
could be wrong, though.

By: Zac Chase

Zac Chase — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 21:41:51 +0000

Without apps and widgets, are the Droids and iPhones world-changing? Without the little pieces, is the main tool what it strives to be?
Prior to the platforms for these tools, programmers were still building these kinds of programs. They existed in online communities, they were traded amongst other programmers and recommended to friends of programmers (raise of hand) and it was quaint. Now, there's an audience – a real, live built-in audience for these little programs.
If the logic holds, this means those people originally tied to the world-changing endeavors now have more space to play. Apple programmers don't need to worry about building apps for the iPhone, the community is doing that. From that community, also, I've got to believe the programmers are drawing inspiration and knowledge. This is to say nothing of the farm league of idea creation that now abounds.
If anything, the odds of thinking big turning to doing big have greatly improved.