Tools of the trade
[Cover Story]

Spider talks to four professionals and asks them about the hardware and software they use to get the job done.

Profiles:

Sabeen Mahmud:
"I bought my first Apple Macintosh computer in 1990. It was an all–in-one unit with a nine-inch screen and a single floppy drive. It had one megabyte of RAM, an eight megahertz processor and no hard disk. This machine, along with Pink Floyd, changed my life forever."
Currently the COO of b.i.t.s., Sabeen has been associated with computers for over 15 years now. Having produced her college newspaper and the Asian Womens’ Magazine on her Macintosh while at college, she joined Enabling Technologies (ET), a firm specialising in multimedia development, after graduating. Sabeen believes that she has a natural inclination for multimedia authoring and graphic design and when the internet was introduced in Pakistan, she gravitated towards Web development. She ran Solutions Unlimited – a sister concern of ET – from 1999 to 2000, while managing projects at ET and teaching New Media Development at Hamdard University. In 2001, she joined b.i.t.s. as a New Media Architect where she also performed the additional roles of managing the day-to-day operations and looking at areas of business development. She considers the Faiz–Aaj Kay Naam interactive CD, on which she worked as a lead programmer and graphic designer, as her greatest achievement to date.

Amean J.:
"I’m an Apple person. Everything is compatible with my iPod so everywhere I go, I have everything with me. I’m more of an iPod freak than a computer freak."
A professional photographer and part-time teacher, Amean attained his Bachelor in Fine Arts from the Academy of Art College in San Francisco and a Masters in Arts from the University of Luton, United Kingdom. Besides getting local acclaim for his unique style of capturing images, Amean’s work has also been mentioned in foreign publications such as The New Yorker, Colours, and Graphics and Communication Arts. In 1998, he established 18 per cent grey, a Karachi based photo studio, with a team dedicated to ensuring the finest details are maintained in the photographs produced. 18 per cent grey has managed to acquire a diverse portfolio of clients, by using photography for graphic design, print and multimedia productions, advertisements, annual reports and corporate work.

Babar Shaikh:
"I have never really been a fan of completely falling slave to computers as such. I have friends who have slept right underneath their computer tables, woken up and gotten straight back into their chairs and that’s kind of sickening because I don’t fancy their lifestyles at all."
Musician, film-maker, writer and artist, Babar Shaikh has, at the age of 27, proved himself to be as capable as any of the veterans working in the same field. Babar formed the band Dusk in 1994 and they released their debut album 2.5 kilometres from the Tower three years later. Babar then concentrated on his academics and graduated from the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture to become an art director in an advertising agency before taking on film-making as a full-time profession. He has to his credit the Kitni Sadiyaan video by Mizraab, which stayed on number one for several weeks. Not limiting himself to music videos, Babar has made several documentaries, of which Tabdeeli found its way to the Kara Film Festival in 2005. Babar also teaches at the Karachi University and at the Indus Valley School of Art and Architecture.*

Hussain Ali Talib:
"I first used a Windows personal computer back in 1998 and have been hooked ever since the first time I used the Web to surf and chat on mIRC."
Currently working as the editor of E-doer’s Digest and Netexpress, Hussain Ali Talib started his career with Rasala Publications when he was in college and has been with them since. He initially joined Rasala Publications as an intern in 1999 and ended up working there part-time while continuing his education. After graduating in 2001, he joined Rasala Publications as a full-time employee. Having been with Rasala for over 10 years now Hussain Ali Talib says that he enjoys working there as it provides him the opportunity to work in a challenging and exciting environment. Hussain Ali Talib describes himself as less of a person–fascinated–by–technology and more of a writer.

Interview:

Q. What kind of a computer system do you use right now?

Sabeen Mahmud: Apple Macintosh Powerbook G4 15" with 512 megabytes of RAM, 80-gigabyte hard disk, Airport Extreme (802.11g), Bluetooth, FireWire 400 and 800, USB 2.0 and internal CD/DVD writer with the following extras: 17" LG LCD monitor, Apple wireless mouse and keyboard, Apple's Mighty Mouse, LaCie 250 gigabyte Brick external hard drive, Harman Kardon SoundSticks and an iPod Shuffle with the Mac OS X operating system.

Amean J.: I use an iMac. I’m an Apple person. It’s the last generation of iMacs. Not this one (the one that is out right now), it’s the one before that. I’ve been working with the latest OS 10.4.6. That is the newer system on it. And it’s a beautiful machine.

Babar Shaikh: I use a Compaq Presario laptop. I like the convenience of a laptop and it has really been used and abused by me. It’s an AMD Athlon and it’s kind of better for European countries because it gets really hot and it really feels like it’s on fire all the time. I borrowed it from a friend of mine, for a very little while, who is an audio engineer.

Hussain Ali Talib: An Acer Aspire (AMD processor, 128 megabytes of RAM) with Windows 98 operating system.

Q. What kind of programs do you have installed on your computer?

Sabeen Mahmud: Fireworks (Graphic Design), VoodooPad, NetNewsWire, Safari, Camino, Firefox, iCal, Apple Mail, Adium, Skype, iChat, iTunes, TextEdit, Pages, Keynote, OmniGraffle, OmniOutline, iPhoto, iWeb, RapidWeaver, QuickTime, Timbuktu, MarsEdit, Merlin,Transmit, System Optimizer X, LimeWire, iSync and Interface Builder. The only Microsoft program that I occasionally use is Excel and I am awaiting the release of a spreadsheet program that will enable me to be 100 per cent Microsoft free.

Amean J.: Well, Photoshop for one, Safari for browsing and what else do I use? I use my mail software and iTunes very much. I love iTunes. I haven’t really started exploring Garage Band and I use iLife quite regularly which includes the address book, calendar (all of my appointments are on it) and everything is compatible with my iPod so everywhere I go, I have everything with me. As far as high-tech software is concerned, it’s just Photoshop for me. I haven’t tried Aperture yet, the new software by Apple, so I won’t know how to figure that one out yet.

Babar Shaikh: What do I use most of the time? That would be Internet Explorer to browse the internet, Microsoft Word as most of the stuff that I write is on that. For listening to music there is Windows Media Player.

Hussain Ali Talib: Basic office utilities: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook.

Q. What do you use your system for?

Sabeen Mahmud: Graphic design, interaction design, music, blogging, website design, audio editing, video editing, presentations and demonstrations, E-mail, Web browsing and RSS newsfeeds, page layout, project management, accounting, research, writing, system/application tweaking and modelling.

Amean J.: E-mailing, for sure. I prefer contacting my clients through e-mail for a few reasons. One, I just prefer typing as compared to talking and two, for documentation reasons because everything is documented. Three, to talk to friends all over the world. Four, music for sure and five, for editing my photographs. I don’t manually edit photographs any more.

Babar Shaikh: Other than what I’ve already mentioned, Dusk, which is my band, has been on the internet since 2001 and I’m usually updating my website and stuff but have never really been a fan of becoming a slave to computers as such. I really don’t believe in stuff like MP3s. Sure, I do have MP3s on my computer but stuff like MP3s and all this iPod culture, I don’t support it at all. I have friends who I think download hundreds and hundreds of gigabytes of really obscure music but when you talk to them, they've hardly listened to any of it. They just like to collect the tracks.

Hussain Ali Talib: Work related tasks, organising contacts and material. Internet-based research and communication.

Q. How long have you been using computers?

Sabeen Mahmud: I have been using Macs (the only computers I have ever and will ever use) since 1990. I started with a Mac Plus that had no hard disk, a single floppy drive, and one megabyte of RAM. I learned how to use MacWrite, MacDraw, MacPaint, and MS Word on that computer. Since then, I have used the following Macs: SE, Colour Classic, LC III, IIvx, Quadra 840 AV, PowerMac 8100, PowerMac 8500, PowerMac 7200, PowerBook G3, iBook, and Powerbook G4 12". Indirectly, I have used every Mac produced since the Mac Plus, as we used to sell and service Apple products. I have been using my current PowerBook for four months.

Babar Shaikh: I started using the computer in 1997. It was definitely never a part of my life before that, it was never a necessity. Mainly, I was into trading underground demos for my band through snail mail. Before that, I didn’t really realise that a computer would be necessary.

Hussain Ali Talib: I have been using computers since 1997 and this particular one for the last couple of years.

Q. On average, how much time do you spend on your computer everyday?

Sabeen Mahmud: 12 hours

Amean J.: At least four hours if not more, because even when the work is done I’m usually online at night as well, doing something or the other.

Babar Shaikh: I think my basic usage of a computer is usually two to three hours a day, or maybe a little more. I check my e-mail maybe four or five times a day and that’s usually for 10 to 20 minutes and the rest is I guess when I have to check out some stuff or get some references for my film work.

Hussain Ali Talib: On average about six hours.

Credits:
Amean J.'s photograph was taken by Izdeyar Setna
Babar Shaikh's photograph was taken by Amean J.

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The misplaced tool
In the cover story ‘Tools of the trade’ in the last issue of Spider, it was mentioned that Babar Sheikh’s band ‘Dusk’ released an album titled ‘2.5 km from the watchtower’ when it was infact his band ‘Ganda banda and the 3D cats’ that released that album.

Khurram
barzakh@gmail.com

First Published:
Spider
June 2006