First enter, Then think
The best way (for me!) to enter something into computer (digitize :) is just open notepad-like-editor and just enter it as text. All other programs always force me decide what kind of information I'd like to enter, and what should be done with it further. Without this decision I'm not allowed to do anything.
For example, I've know a birthday date of my friend. I just want to store it probably somehow together with friends name. Now it's time for redundant decisions:
Fist and most simple: store it within a note (i.e. simple text file)? Not that simple: I must choose a note name, or even worser - note size and position on the screen. Otherwise I will never find this information again. I can use a separate note for all birthdays. I can name a note with my friends' name and collect friends info within the separate note. I must decide what I will do with these dates further.
Anyway, note means - I've decided to store the information temporarily and I must return to it to store it again in another way.
I don't want to decide now
If I postpone my decision, I either not allowed to enter something, or everything I have entered I must reenter later when finally decide what kind of information it was. And if I change my mind later on, I must reenter information again.
I entered a date as birthday of "contact" (let's assume that my friend is already in my contacts). Stop. I cannot enter the date without year. To remember when I can call my friend, I must know his age? Isn't it redundant?
Okay, I'm forced to enter a birthday as "repeating calendar event". Oh my god. Now I have to enter even more redundant data: When to start repetition (what does it mean? :), when to end it (I don't wish to know when my friend dies :) . And where is the link to the friends "contact"? I have entered things I do not need, and lost important reference. I must invent the ways to connect both "contact" and "event". And this is only in a simple example.
By the way: "contact" and "event". I did not need these entities. I was forced to choose that name is a "contact" even if I know nothing but name and not going to contact the "contact". The same with "event". It was just a part of the date (without year). I didn't plan to organize something, I wasn't invited nowhere. There is no "event" on the date.
I want to find my data again
I took time to enter everything "correctly" (in other words - as programmers forced me to do). I prepared "repeating event", or "contact birthday", or whatever...
In several years I want to remember where did I saved the date. Or just list all the dates I have. Probably I'm searching for my marriage date.
There is no way to just list all the dates. I must remember my redundant decision how to save the data. If I decided to save it in calendar, or in contacts, or in notes the way to find all saved dates will be very different. Can anybody say where did I saved my marriage date?
Later
I believe in the future there will be no "required fields". You just enter what you want and the system allows everything what is possible to do with the entered data. And you always can go and change or extend your data. In run time.
For example, if you do not enter your login and password, you just work "as guest" until you enter a password. Without logout/login. Because you haven't decided to login "as guest", you just didn't enter a password!
If you haven't entered a phone number, you just cannot call until you enter it.
If you didn't enter your destination time in GPS, it just doesn't compare it to estimated one, but you are able to enter the time later on and see estimation. You don't need to go deep in the settings, set "always ask destination time", then reenter destination and destination time and recalculate everything.
If you don't know why you want to blog, you can blog anyway :)
