Not everyone wants, or needs, to be a geek. I, in fact, consider myself only a part-time geek. Yet with Frontier, I've been able to do all sorts of powerful, geek-like things with my Macintosh. Why? Mostly because it has changed my approach to computing...and although I didn't realize it as I was going along, Frontier--and the Macintosh in general--have really turned me into a developer. I'm going to go into my background more than you probably care, but you don't have to read on if you get bored.
From when I was very young, I've had exposure to computers. My father works for IBM, and I was still in elementary school when the Apple II arrived at our house--cassette recorder drive and all...next came a 8086 IBM PC, etc., etc. This exposure made it easy to approach all things computer-related without the defeatist stare that I've seen in so many friends as they sit in front of a computer screen.
Just the same, I also was a pure user. I learned software, tried to understand what it was capable of, and did what I could with it. I created publications, did graphic design, managed databases...whatever my job or personal interests required. But whenever I hit a wall, for lack of a feature I needed, I just stopped and had to wait around for a software upgrade that might or might not address my individual needs, or switch to another piece of software that had the feature I needed--and the later route often required sacrificing features I had come to rely on. My creative ability to solve problems was shutdown and I knew, in the long term, that I could only expect my need for a feature to be satisfied if it overlapped with the needs of the majority of users in the marketplace.
After bumming around in graduate school for years, I moved back down to Texas to get married and, yes, settle into an actual job. While looking for an job that fit my experience (non-profit art admin/folklore/music), I was temping and happened into the job I'm at now...being the computer "guru" (my boss's term) for two family owned and operated, multi-million dollar businesses specializing in installation and supply of lightning protection systems. They had been struggling with computerization for years, had built a solid all Mac network with about 25 clients and one server...and were attempting to get going running the businesses with Great Plains Dynamics, which had been sold to them by an area accounting consultant. They hired my to try to figure out how to make it work for them...I couldn't.
I could, however, make their Macs work for them and communicate with their people in developing solutions that fit their needs. I had no substantial prior experience on a Mac, other than a brief stint doing a newsletter in Pagemaker 4 on a IIfx years before...but it didn't take me long to get going. Within months we had custom designed Filemaker databases doing most of the business functions for both companies, and Great Plains Dynamics was taken off the network completely (thankfully we received a reasonable refund from Great Plains).
Doing so much with Filemaker got me scripting, and where Filemaker ended I started to seek other alternatives. I was also learning HTML on the side, to publish the e-zine version of a print magazine I had been involved with in the past (UNo MAS), and needed better tools to automate my ever increasing load of tasks both at work and home. First I noodled with Applescript...and then on to Frontier. That's when it all started to click.
Frontier offered something more than just the raw power of the environment...it also offered a community of resourceful, intelligent, and sharing people, who made themselves available to answer all manner of questions through the Frontier-Talk mailing list. Documentation was scarce (it's much better now), but for the experimental mind it was easy to jump in and try stuff...to grok the ODB.
So what have I done with Frontier? Well, I've been able to build and maintain a e-zine of some size without taking a huge chunk of my valuable personal time to do it. I've made my job a whole lot easier by automating day to day chores in maintaining Filemaker systems and an Appletalk network. I've setup a basic intranet that's just starting to come into real use. I've setup productivity apps for design and other functions, I've freed up a ton of my time that would otherwise be devoted to monotonous chores, and I've plugged holes and bugs in commercial applications to make life a little smoother for my fellow workers.
Best of all, Frontier has freed my mind to creatively solve problems with technology. It's not the best tool for every purpose, but Frontier and the community that supports it have helped me to build a developer's mindset--even if it is on a micro scale.
Script on friends!!!