Little endian and big endian — terms probably familiar to some (2 different methods for storing bytes in memory apparently), but less known is the fact that it comes from Gulliver’s Travels (as does yahoo) and refers to the religious war between opposing Lilliputian factions. In the book (which I urge you to read), they fight about cracking an egg at the big end or the little end, exhibiting fervour and extremism over something that in the whole scheme of things really doesn’t matter.
But this week’s post about Serato’s 2.4.4 update has all the hallmarks of stimulating the similar age-old Traktor vs Serato war. 2 ways to crack the same egg in my book, but it almost always triggers flame wars that go nowhere, that are essentially pointless. Does anyone really think that shouting into a keyboard will immediately change the mind of the opposing commenters? It doesn’t so why waste time doing it? “Thanks for bellowing at me in full caps – you’re quite right and I’m doing a full 180° U-turn on my stance”. Said nobody ever.
Years ago, I was very guilty of taking part in this. As a proper Mac geek, complete with shiny Apple Product Professional badge, I ferociously defended the honour of my beloved computer of choice. I could easily trot out reasons why Macs were the second coming and why PCs could suck my… well you get the idea.
But a number of years ago, I had an epiphany. I realised that no matter how many logical points I could throw at my opponent, the level of blind brand loyalty or hatred destroyed any common sense or factual accuracy. So eventually, I stopped giving a crap about what other people used. All that matters is what my preference is. Does it matter if Joe Bloggs uses Windows? Not in the slightest. As long as what I use works for me, then that is all that matters.
And here we are in the DJ world with precisely the same pointless cyclical wars polluting DJWORX. Technics or Vestax? Serato or Traktor? Denon or Pioneer? Does it really matter? So the next time you foam at the virtual mouth and hammer reams of hate into the comments box, I want you to take a step back, a deep breath, and ask yourself a question:
Does it really matter?
I’m not saying that people shouldn’t have opinions — far from it. I actively encourage people to share viewpoints on all manner of subjects. But instead of blind hate, isn’t it better to promote the greatness of your chosen product? It’s easier to persuade someone that product X is good, rather than dumping on them for using opposing product Y.
Real world example — many years ago, I had a meeting with an Apple dealer about installing a system to make my DTP life easier. All the sales rep could do was give me a world of reasons why I shouldn’t go to his competitors, but none why I should use him. I stopped him mid flow and informed him that if all he could do was slag everyone else off, then we couldn’t do business, and showed him the door.
And this is the approach you should take too. Serato is not shit, and Traktor is not trash. They’re world-class industry leading and defining products, with a vast loyal happy legion of users. Just because it doesn’t fit your needs doesn’t make it shit, simply that you prefer to use something else. And are you sure it’s the software and not your computer or library full of random MP3s?
Getting back to the point, it doesn’t matter what end of the egg you crack, just as long as the egg is properly cooked and tastes amazing. And if I could just leave a question for you to ponder — why do you care so much what the next man uses? Does it really matter?