Zawinski: Sometimes. I end up doing all the sysadmin crap…
““Zawinski: Sometimes. I end up doing all the sysadmin crap, which I can't stand-I've never liked it. I enjoy working on XScreenSaver because in some ways screen savers-the actual display modes rather than the XScreenSaver framework-are the perfect program because they almost always start from scratch and they do something pretty and there's never a version 2.0. There's very rarely a bug in a screen saver. It crashes-oh, there's a divide-by-zero and you fix that.””
About This Quote
This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation.
He prefers creative, self-contained projects over repetitive system maintenance, finding satisfaction in building from scratch and avoiding endless versioning.
In simple terms: He likes building new, simple programs more than routine admin tasks.
Key Takeaway
Choose projects that let you create fresh, complete works.
Themes
creativity
software development
autonomy
Mood
reflective
analytical
Type
philosophical
inspirational
When to use this quote
- personal projects
- software development
- creative coding
- bug fixing
Key Concepts
software design
problem solving
minimalism
Questions to Reflect On
- Do you prefer building new tools or maintaining existing ones?
- How does autonomy affect your work satisfaction?
A Different Perspective
Screen savers still need maintenance and can become complex over time.