I love Japanese stationery. I prefer my Mitsubishi Hi-Uni pencils to even my Blackwings, which are also great pencils. I also love Kokuyo Campus notebooks, which I first started using 15 years ago when I was a research intern at Fujitsu Labs in Kawasaki, Japan. Every time I travel to Japan, I stock up on stationery.
On a related note, I wish there were software companies that put as much attention to their software as companies like Mitsubishi and Kokuyo put into their stationery. There was some well-crafted software in the past; I have fond memories of ClarisWorks, and I also enjoyed using The Omni Group’s software, particularly OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle. I also love the classic Mac OS and Jobs-era Mac OS X. Unfortunately, most software these days do not “spark joy” for me. In fact, I often have to deal with software that gets in my way, that nags me instead of gets out of my way.
It’s unfortunate that the economics of software makes it difficult to create Omni Group’s-style companies. “Enshittification” seems to be the end result of successful large software companies. Also, it’s hard for smaller proprietary software companies to compete against free, whether it’s free-as-in-beer or FOSS. I love FOSS, but it’s hard for developers to make a living writing FOSS unless they have strategies for monetizing the software, which sometimes leads to compromises that threaten to “enshittify” the software.
I’d love to find a solution to this problem. I’d love to see more craftsmanship in software, but the economic incentives make pursuing such craftsmanship hard.
> I wish there were software companies that put as much attention to their software as companies like Mitsubishi and Kokuyo put into their stationery.
Mitsubishi refined its process by selling the same basic product for half a century. The software equivalent would be closer to the 'cat' command than Omni. We could go with curl or vi, or Notepad if we give more credit to Mitsubishi pencils on keeping up with modern materials.
You'll note that Mitsubishi Pencils isn't producing a highly crafted extremely precise and delightful to use 3D mouse. They stuck to pens and pencils and the day pencil demand will die the company will also die.
Omni Group, Panic, and Cultured Code produced and still maintain great software. But I also feel that Mac software stopped sparking joy around the mid 2010s.
On a related note, I wish there were software companies that put as much attention to their software as companies like Mitsubishi and Kokuyo put into their stationery. There was some well-crafted software in the past; I have fond memories of ClarisWorks, and I also enjoyed using The Omni Group’s software, particularly OmniOutliner and OmniGraffle. I also love the classic Mac OS and Jobs-era Mac OS X. Unfortunately, most software these days do not “spark joy” for me. In fact, I often have to deal with software that gets in my way, that nags me instead of gets out of my way.
It’s unfortunate that the economics of software makes it difficult to create Omni Group’s-style companies. “Enshittification” seems to be the end result of successful large software companies. Also, it’s hard for smaller proprietary software companies to compete against free, whether it’s free-as-in-beer or FOSS. I love FOSS, but it’s hard for developers to make a living writing FOSS unless they have strategies for monetizing the software, which sometimes leads to compromises that threaten to “enshittify” the software.
I’d love to find a solution to this problem. I’d love to see more craftsmanship in software, but the economic incentives make pursuing such craftsmanship hard.