Responding to Chris Hollander
Chris Hollander took me to task about my live in one huge text file approach to my work. I've got some rejoinder comments to make, but I haven't got a .Net Passport so I can't post them on his site; nor can I find Chris' email address, otherwise I'd contact him directly. So, I'll post them here.
Chris says:
Sorry folks, but I can't imagine how this could be productive. In doing this, your essentially eschewing every productivity gain thats been made in the last ten to twenty years. your also confining all of the work you do to a single modality; a single way of thinking, a single means of organizing, a single perspective on your information.
Thing is, this is the modality that suits me best. Because of the job I do, and the particular list of clients I have, and the manner in which I work, my needs are very simple: for me, the most important aspect of getting my work done boils down to maintaining a list of things to write, and writing them. It really isn't more complicated than that.
I like having this single perspective on my information. It's the simplest way of storing it all, and viewing it all, and searching it all. It's quick.
Chris goes on:
The author explains that he also tried the notion of many text files instead of one big file; however, he found himself back at the big-ass-file approach once he had multiple machines, and was unable to synch his collection of files.
Well, what I actually said was: "I played about with a variety of sync methods and couldn't find anything that I felt really comfortable with." I was able to synch, just not in a manner that suited me or the way I work.
note to author: this is exactly why the "one big text file" approach fails! invariably, you are going to have multiple machines; even if somehow you find a way to survive with (gasp!) only one computer, you are going to have multiple applications on that one computer. even if you somehow get by with only one application (a text editor, in your case), there are many people/entities/companies/proccesses contributing to "your" information!
Well, that might be the case for many people but not for me. There's usually only one contributor of information, and that's me.
synchronizing your information with information provided by family/co-workers/customers/vendors
I simply don't need to do that. I'm lucky to have such a simplified existance, it seems.
synchronizing information across all of your devices: phone, home computer, portable computer, media devices, living room, car, network services.
More simplicity: I don't have any such devices. Just two computers. That's it.
Saying that your information is "organized" because its all in one big text file is like saying that my junk is organized because its all in the garage.
Ah, but I always know where to look when I need to get hold of some junk.
