Malleable software: Restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps
This essay redirects to Ink & Switch's article on malleable software, which explores restoring user agency in a world of locked-down apps.
Background
- Ink & Switch is a research lab (formerly an industrial research group) that investigates tools for creativity, collaboration, and software craftsmanship. Their essays often propose new architectural patterns for software.
- "Malleable software" is a concept the lab has championed: software that end-users can customize, recompose, or reprogram without being a professional developer — the opposite of rigid, single-purpose apps.
- The piece likely contrasts today's dominant model (locked-down SaaS, mobile apps, and platforms controlled by vendors) with an older computing tradition (Smalltalk, HyperCard, Unix pipes) where users could inspect and modify their tools.
- Key tensions: "agency" (user control) vs. "convenience" (polished but inflexible products); the trend toward cloud services that prevent tinkering; and whether new infrastructure (e.g., local-first software, CRDTs, programmable UIs) could revive malleability.