I mentioned in my last post that I am a big user of org-mode in Emacs. This is a full-featured mode which allows for easy note-taking, document writing, publishing, sharing, etc etc etc. It totally changed the way I work once I started using it. Like all things emacs it takes a bit of time to learn the keystrokes and capabilities but once you get about 1/3 of them down it becomes nearly impossible to replace. That’s largely due to the fact that there really is nothing else like it in the rest of softwaredom.
When it comes to note-taking, I must put them on paper first. Its essential to me if I am to remember anything that is being said. Its the two-step process which seals something in my memory. First, on paper – then into org-mode. If I follow that, I can remember just about anything that is said or displayed. If I don’t do it… its forgotten. Once its in org-mode it then becomes even easier for me to *use* (big difference between remembering something and actually doing something with it) if I also tag the idea with some useful tag. This is accomplished with the help of remember-mode, which I’ve wired into my org-mode workflow. Then when I am writing a spec or other such document and want to review things I’ve learned within a particular area, I check all entries in all org documents in a certain tag, and copy the ones I like.
What I am describing is a workflow which fits my particular deficiencies well (memory being the biggest). That, to me, is what smart computing should be about. Finding the right applications to aid your particular personality and manner of working.
My history with operating systems is fairly simple. When home computers
were new I started out with an Epson computer(!!) that had its own
operating system which was quirky by today’s standards but was quite
nice in its simplicity. I then moved to an intel-driven DOS machine and
had a love-hate relationship with it. I moved to UNIX/Linux in work and
home life sometime later and obviously concentrated fairly heavily on
that until OS X came along.
I got my first Apple mainly to accommodate my photography obsession
because (even still) using a linux machine with photos absolutely
blows. I enjoy OS X but I also enjoy linux/gnome. However, I have
noticed in the last few years that I have slowly moved away from
OS-dependence. Call it what you will – the Cloud, SAAS, whatev. All I
know is that it is incredibly convenient to be able to sit at any
computer and do all the things I would normally do at my home
computer. In fact, about the only apps I use that aren’t cloud-centric
are emacs and my photo-software. Even still, with emacs I mostly use
org-mode for my work and I keep all my org files online. As long as I
have emacs on a machine, I can do my work. But in a pinch, I could use
another editor on those files since they are simply text-files.
That still leaves photos. The only non-standard,
not-practical-in-the-cloud thing I do. I’ve seen the attempts at photo
editors online, I know that one can use online tools to store and
categorize their photos – but none of those services come close to how I
can do it at home with old-fashioned, closed-source, non-standard,
key-on-the-back-of-the package software. Maybe this means there is an
opportunity in the market or maybe it means that camera manufacturers
are behind-the-times… or maybe it means I am particular with my
photos – I’m not really sure.
I’m not sure what this means for Operating Systems – at least, OSes that
aren’t powering “the Cloud” – but it does feel like a trend that would
lend itself to devices that start quickly and get me online. I see this
progress in the direction the iPad has taken us. Whatever your opinion
is on the particular of that one device – the idea that I can have
a small, “instant-on” device that can get me online is incredibly
appealing. I think the future of such devices in grand.
Not long ago I ran across Charles Cave’s description of using emacs for gtd. That’s Getting Things Done by the way. I’ve co-opted that particular system and have quickly become a fan of it. Previously I used a similar method to Federico.
Emacs is particularly well suited to this sort of thing. If this interests you at all you should read through Charles’ workflow. I only use a subset of what he does (I don’t need to print it out, etc) and I’ve tweaked the org-mode settings just a tad to suit me. If you are interested:
;; Standard org stuff
(add-to-list ‘auto-mode-alist ‘(“\\.org$” . org-mode))
(define-key global-map “\C-cl” ‘org-store-link)
(define-key global-map “\C-ca” ‘org-agenda)
; I prefer return to activate a link
(setq org-return-follows-link t)
;;quickly open my gtd file – “M-x gtd ”
(defun gtd ()
(interactive)
(find-file “~/.org/mygtd.org”)
)
(custom-set-faces
‘(org-level-1))
‘(org-link))
)
;;make sure Done items are strikethrough
(setq org-fontify-done-headline t)
(custom-set-faces
‘(org-done))
‘(org-headline-done
(:foreground “grey” :strike-through t)))))
