![]() ![]() Instead, it restructures and remediates the activity of writing, in much the same way that the introduction of fiberglass poles restructured and remediated the activity of polevaulting. In contrast, a reviewer at MacTalk who goes by the name “Pyrite” (2011) writes that his initial impression of OmmWriter’s audio-visual elements was that they were “a little tacky and gimmicky,” but that he was then surprised to find them “genuinely adding to the experience.” This reviewer was especially taken with the keyboard effects, which he describes as “simple, light and playful, and give you the feeling of being in a game.” The meaning of this software, then, extends beyond a simple means to an end, a way of producing text. Tina Sieber (2012) calls it “very calm and relaxing” and Whitson Gordon (2011) calls it “tranquil.” Robert Strohmeyer (2011) describes OmmWriter as “mind-clearing.” Of course, not all users appreciate this aspect of the application, with blogger Charlie Sorrel (2011) deriding it by saying that “OmmWriter is great for text-editing yoga hippies.” There are, for instance, eight backgrounds from which to choose, including this stark snow field, another that looks like a watercolor wash, and two that the developers refer to as “chromatherapy backgrounds” that change color over time.īloggers and reviewers mention affect when referring to OmmWriter more than they seem to when discussing other distraction-free writing environments. While it removes menu bars and other objects from the visual field, it actually introduces its own audio-visual sensory elements. Where most distraction-free writing environments might be thought of as sensory-deprivation tanks, OmmWriter is more like a Japanese meditation garden. The Zen aesthetic of OmmWriter extends to its approach to managing attention and distractions. In some ways, then, this is also a kind of nostalgia, not for the 1980s, but instead for a much more distant and undefined pre-technological age. ![]() We want to change this imbalance, and OmmWriter is our humble attempt to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate.Īgain, part of what is being communicated is a sense of loss (the “capacity to concentrate”), but here that loss is attributed not just to the features of mainstream word processors but more generally to technology itself. Incessantly swinging from branch to branch.” With multiple windows and applications all vying for our attention, we have sadly adapted to the working habits of the computer, and not the other way around. Promotional material for the application (since changed) began with this bit of wisdom:Ī wise man once said: “We are all at the mercy of our wild monkey minds. Instead of nostalgia for word processing in the 1980s, OmmWriter trades in spiritual metaphors rooted in some of the traditions of Zen Buddhism. However, both the features and the aesthetic are quite different. This software application takes the same basic approach as all distraction-free writing tools: a full-screen, stripped down interface for writing. ![]()
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