I must admit, development goes slower than I imagined - the desire to build everything solid is quite contrary to "go fast and break things"!
Same goes for posts, I guess I should make them shorter and think less, not more %)
Plus, life still happens, dayjob happens, but I persist.
So, what I’m trying to achieve with Cortex?
As I previously wrote, it’s far from the first attempt at making tools. Back then, I believed that the potential is unlimited, that with the right tool you can empower anybody to do anything.
Experiment after experiment, I became disillusioned with this idea. You can't “fix” or replace the attitude, and no tool can implant a skill like Neo does in the Matrix.
Still, there's plenty of areas you can target:
enhance the senses (data visualization, filtering, grouping, etc.)
communication, of course (from whiteboards to skype, zoom, and github)
comfort and safety (undo, backups, encryption)
enhance the memory (quick notes, search, etc.)
routine automation (from ifttt to spell checkers and math proof assistants)
and much more
There’s an app for that, already!
Meanwhile, advertising as the dominant business model for a "content website" turned the web into a specialist arms race for the traffic, leaving most of the individual authors far behind.
For apps, startups+SaaS as the dominant business model, and the desire for rapid growth created a fragmented ecosystem of isolated "feature-as-a-service" apps. Make onboarding as easy as possible, capture as many users as you can, decide later, profit!
Professional tools become associated with bloated legacy monsters.
And every other consumer app became real-time and social while trying to avoid falling out of fashion. The original promise of the computer as the "digital assistant" was lost.
For users, when everything is a service, it's easy to start, but also easy to lose—you can get banned from gmail, lose your twitter followers, kindle books, google music, etc. Blockchain community learned this the hard way when exchanges got hacked with users' funds, too.
What's the niche, then? Who's left out? Who are you?
I see a curious, independent thinker, looking for a reliable workbench to work with their own thoughts and nurture their own, independent view of the world.
One who wants to observe, take notes, analyze data, build and present narratives, conduct experiments, challenge assumptions, verify hypotheses. Who wants to understand the world deeper. Collaborate, too, but focus on deep work first.
And what does “reliable tool” mean?
Speed. The tool should never make you wait; it's a productivity tool, after all!
Peace of mind. You can be sure your data is safe, and that you won't be suddenly cut off from the service either;
Not simplicity, but clarity. Better have some rough edges instead of pretending it's magic. Your tools of thought should be understandable and learnable, to the point they become your second nature over time;
Versatility. So you can pursue your ideas everywhere, on your desk, on the airplane, during a commute, and even while hiking. I actually wrote a lot of code while hiking. It's really inconvenient to type on a 4" touchscreen, sure, but your mind gets so much clearer when you replace facebook with forest air and mountain views!
Meanwhile, you probably know it's impossible to focus on everything at once, so we also have to make some sacrifices:
Cortex won't be simple. Predictable, yes, learnable, yes, and I'll do my best to eradicate every bit of accidental complexity—but expect a learning curve. And to discover you can do things that previously looked impossible!
Won't be cheap, either, because the said learning curve means far fewer users, unfortunately;
Not every feature or integration. I would love to enable people to seamlessly work with other tools they use, but this one is impossible without a large team. Eventually, sure, but not from day one.
The “cut off” part needs some research—some sort of blockchain distribution in addition to app stores? Ideas welcome.
...wow, did I really wrote this far already? Is it the same for you? Do you also have a hard time starting, and then the words just flow out of your fingers, and you can't type fast enough?
Anyway, thank you for reading, for all your attention, have to go to sleep now. Can't wait to see Cortex live and for us to have fun!