When I was younger (so much younger than today), I wouldn’t hesitate to throw this old blog of mine upon the mercy of pre-release versions of WordPress just to see what would happen, but these days I seem to have lost that zest for living dangerously. At least as far as this here site is concerned. More to the point, I seem to have lost the zest for fixing what I’ve broken by throwing the blog upon the mercy of pre-release versions of WordPress which I find rather shocking. Have I reached the age where I (shudder)…
…just want things to work?!?
Oh perish the iThought.
But, it’s true nonetheless. I mean, consider the new version of WordPress coming up. Usually I would be torturing my poor site, plugins and theme with the first beta release the developers threw onto the street–but not this time. I’ve waited all the way to the second release candidate before taken the plunge this time around and I’m almost ashamed of myself–but not quite. Although I have another test site that I run bleeding edge versions of WordPress nightlies on, I breathed a deep sigh of relief when Just Thinkin’ updated to WP 3.4 RC2 without a problem. Such a wimp I’ve become.
Still, I have to wonder about this changing of attitudes I seem to be undergoing. For example, three years ago I switched from Windows 7 to a popular Linux distro and never looked back. Why? Because it just worked. Now I’m (almost) sticking with stable releases of WordPress for the same reason. No hassle upgrades and it just works–the majority of the time anyway. Same for using the default Twenty Eleven theme for this site now. It’s plain, you bet. Homely as all get out but it just works with no hassles. No worrying about 14 different widget areas or whether my old tried and true plugins will work with it or if it will be compatible with the TinyMCE editor, etc, etc. It might be drab, it might be dull but it’s SEO friendly and it just works.
And no, with all this “it just works” I’m spewing all over this post, I am not considering switching to any sort of Apple product. Pretty though they might be, I don’t think I could handle that kind of hardcore “it just works” mentality without some sort of melt down (no offense to those who use Apple products of course).
So, at this point I’m forced to assume that this creeping desire for no hassle technology is just a sign of impending old age. My old age that is, not someone else’s. For example I have a fine old friend who has a few years on me who still walks the line of cutting edge software in everything he does…maybe…I think. Well, I haven’t asked him about this recently come to think of it. Maybe he doesn’t now? I’ll have to ask him next time I get a chance.
And now this change of attitude appears to be extending to other things as well. For example, for my next vehicle…I want cruise control. I want power windows! I want power locks! I’ve spent my whole (driving) life having to stop at the side of the road to roll up the windows of my rig every time I drive into a rain storm on a summer’s day. I’ve similarly spent my whole life having to waltz around my vehicle locking all the doors manually every time I’m anywhere but the inside of my own garage. And in these days of people walking to the supermarket while pointing their car keys at their various automobiles to take care of the locking functions from afar, I beginning to see the advantage of having this kind of convenience.
Still, I’m not that far gone yet. I still love my old 1995 “non-power-anything” Jeep Cherokee and I have a beloved old 1968 Cub Cadet 104 lawn tractor in shed that has a manual 3 speed tranny and…oh…wait. It just occurred to me why I stick with these old machines…
…because they just work.
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