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I dislike subscriptions. I rage-quit everything Adobe a few years ago in a huff about subscriptions and, well, I don't love Adobe. However, I'm once again paying a subscription to Lightroom Classic and Photoshop.

Why? First, because the product is, overall, more appropriate for me than the alternatives. And second, in seven years of subscribing to the Adobe "Photography" plan, none of the things Andreas mentioned have happened. The price is the same (I'd happily pay double). They've only ever added features (I don't remember a single feature being removed. Has there been any?) If I cancel my subscription, I still have 100% access to my files (I just can't make additional edits).

I'm not trying to single out Andreas. His post just reminded me that these "What if...?!" doomsday scenarios have guided way too many of my decisions. What if [SOME APP] stops being developed? What if Apple behaves even more badly? What if some "proprietary" (usually sqlite, so not really) database becomes corrupted? What if I can't read [FILETYPE] in 50 years?

Of course these things can happen, but how often do they? Basically never, has been my personal experience. And if they do happen, there's almost always a reasonable way out.

Why suffer using something we don't love, on a just-in-case, instead of something we do love and find immediately more useful, because "what if!?"

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I still keep an actual calculator on my desk, and use it regularly. I find it easier and more "stable" than using either a calculator app or even the built-in calculator in Raycast.

I bought the Casio shown above years ago because it had a large screen and doesn't use batteries. It's fine, but there are a couple of things about it that bother me.

First, there's no "On" button. Ok, there is, but it's buried under the AC button. Bugs me.

The On button issue is bad enough, but that's not why I hate the Casio. I hate the Casio because when I turn it off, the screen reads "CASIO" for a few seconds before actually turning off. It's like watching a little ad each time. I hate it, so I bought a new calculator.

This is the re-issued version of the iconic, Dieter Rams designed Braun ET66 (1987). I recently watched the Dieter Rams documentary, "Rams" (2018), which reminded me of the Braun, so I thought this model would be a fine choice.

I like it. It's simple, clear, does what I need, and looks good doing it. And it doesn't shout its own name every time I turn it off. Much better.

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Problem solved! Not really.

What about daily notes? What about templates? What about complex exports? Why is folding so cumbersome? Where are the backlinks displayed again?

Sigh. I really appreciate Bear, but can I live in it? Probably not. I love simplicity, but can't abide constraints. I'm screwed, I guess.

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Look what I found in the garage:

It's my old Apple Extended Keyboard II from 1990 or 91. I last used this one in 2015.

The AEKII uses an ADB port, so I had to dig out my ADB->USB-A adapter (save everything!). I'm typing this post on the keyboard right now. The Alps switches are as great as I remember, and might be my all-time favorite switches.

Beyond the great switches and nostalgia, using the keyboard leaves a bit to be desired. First off, it's enormous. It takes nearly all of my felt deskpad and leaves barely enough room for a mouse. And speaking of the mouse, the size of the keyboard means that the mouse is over 12 inches away from my right hand. Reaching for it is a whole thing.

Another quirk is that the little home row nubbins are on the D and K keys. On newer Apple keyboards, they are on the F and J keys. I can't tell you how many times I've had to delete a bunch of gibberish and reorient my hands while typing this.

I could get used to the size, but the AEKII's Caps Lock key can't be mapped to Control because it physically locks down when pressed. It thinks it's a manual typewriter, I guess. This is a deal-breaker.

Even though it'll probably end up back in the box soon, it's fun using a 34-year-old keyboard that still works and is, in many ways, better than anything made today.

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