##### It's a slippery thing… > [!Definition] > **Frictionless** > ![definition firctionless](image/Frictionless_Def.webp) Why do we tend to use certain apps and process's more frequently than others on our computers, cameras, phones, tablets? I use a lot of Macs and iOS devices. Linux on older hardware or under virtualisation, (Admiring [Windowmaker](http://www.windowmaker.org) again, it made a lot of sense and still does). Occasionally I have to bug-bust MS Windows users issues. One of my latest attempts at frictionless photography is the [OM-System OM-5](Photography/OM-ing). I'm all for an easy life. Increasingly I find myself becoming more *picky* about how I achieve tasks. Some things just work, make sense, lets me get stuff done and if I’m lucky delights and exceeds expectations in the process. Lets take a simple task. The simple task of writing, It's just text. Nothing more than a few clickety-clacks on the keyboard. Or is it? I can't remember the last time I wrote anything in MS Word. Why would I? I don't need it. I have a great difficulty making the point to other people, especially those supplying me with content for later use to separate **content** from **presentation**. Copy written simply as plain text or [Markdown](https://daringfireball.net/projects/markdown/) (as here) means that I can pretty much do anything I like with the words and have them display in just about any other app with just a simple *copy/paste*. Anything from slides in Keynote to scripts in Autocue or titles in Resolve or Pages in QuarkXpress of old. Or dear reader this simple text. It has to be said, *finding Markdown* changed the way I work. That half-way house between plain text in my [BBEdit](https://www.barebones.com/products/bbedit/index.html) and writing code or good old `<html>`. Markdown makes things readable but with the addition of style simply tagged in. It eases the friction, greases the wheels, makes things glide. Initially I wrote Markdown using [Bear.APP](https://bear.app) and followed quickly by the excellent [IA Writer](https://ia.net/writer). Who's name has become so easily confused with AI writing which is quite another thing. I tried *this* [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md) thing once and quickly deleted the application. It was too much like iA Writer and seemed not to offer more and I'd paid good money to have iA on my Macs and iOS devices. They wanted *double* fees, one for Mac and one for iOS and I'd obliged. Obsidian wanted *nothing* across all my devices and everything synced via iCloud it just worked. Once you realise a *Vault* is just a *Folder* it all makes sense. Now it’s the most used thing in my workflow, omnipresent. No one wants to step out onto back ice in the morning, that would be too frictionless. Walking in water would be better, if not wetter. ![[_DSF5264_DxO.jpg]] [[Minimalism]]