&gt; “pop software” as Alan Kay calls it. There was a natural trend in the PC era to make computing devices available to everyone, which I think was a positive thing; this necessitated moving away from software that needed training or methodologies, for example. It also required software that many people would use, as opposed to more niche applications, in order to make the profit necessary to support a company. Unfortunately this has made it harder to create the more expert-oriented applications that could co-evolve with users via training and methodology that would be akin to calculus or music notation, or “bicycles of the mind” as Steve Jobs said;<p>The greatest productivity boost I have yet found, and the closest I&#x27;ve been able to come to a mind-machine interface is debian linux + tiling window manager + command line proficiency + customization of text files for creating shortcuts, tailoring work environment.<p>It has a learning curve, but the payoff is immense. I think we should be teaching linux and the command line in schools, even if we don&#x27;t teach kids to code.<p>The computer is the most powerful and important tool we have, and we all use it daily. Not teaching expert level proficiency is the same as sending kids into the world handicapped.