I'm starting to look at software that bills itself as distraction-free, Zen or otherwise protecting your ability to concentrate. I've used a Mac word processor called Write Room for a long time, and quite like its very minimalist, retro computer terminal interface.

I recently found another, even more self-consciously Zen word processor, Ommwriter. However, it's not quite accurate to call it a word processor, as it clearly isn't a descendent of the office / mainframe word processors for which the WYSIWIG interface was such a revelation– and from which Word and its few surviving competitors descend.

As the Web site describes it:

OmmWriter Dana is a humble attempt to recapture what technology has snatched away from us today: our capacity to concentrate.

OmmWriter is a simple text processor that firmly believes in making writing a pleasure once again, vindicating the close relationship between writer and paper. The more intimate the relation, the smoother the flow of inspiration.

If you are a scriptwriter, blogger, journalist, copywriter, poet or just someone who enjoys writing, welcome back to concentrating.

In effect, this is an attempt at contemplative computing: the invocation of Buddhism, the appeal to a desire to concentrate, the assumption that merging tools and users supports inspiration. It's more explicitly spiritual than Write Room, and users echo that. One fan describes using it as like "writing in a Zen garden:"

Ommwriter is the most unusual word processor that I have ever laid my eyes on. Let’s be clear, this isn’t Word or Pages. This type of word processor is about the process of writing itself. It is not about making your words look pretty, making tables or about adjusting fonts and sizes. Yet somehow it still makes whatever smut your writing look beautiful. Most of all it makes writing a joy and not a grind…. It's like Brian Eno made a word processor.

Another user picks up on the idea of it being a "Zen word processor:"

Ommwriter puts you in the middle of a secluded snowy landscape on a foggy winter's day. As relaxing music calms you, the words you type appear on your screen as if you were writing them in the sky. It's just you and your thoughts for miles around. And, from just three writings, I can tell you Ommwriter does its job exceptionally well. When I write in it, within minutes I no longer hear the sounds of busy London city life zooming past my flat.

This spatial metaphor is one that gets invoked in Write Room regularly (it does call itself a "room," after all), and users describe a sense of removing themselves from both the regular flow of computing (which can be pretty distracting) and regular life, and entering a "creative writing environment:"

The problem with writing these days is that most of our output spurs forth from a computer. Being today’s playground of multitasking, we tend to be distracted by the hubub of everyday social media, emails and gaming. Ommwriter provides a simple background that supercedes all windows and menu bars, which means it runs on full screen by default. All you are presented with is a blank sheet of paper — no wait, canvas to create your next literary masterpiece…. Other things you can tweak include the ambient music and volume, simulating a writing environment of total relaxation.

Another compares the process to his days writing his dissertation:

Every day, early in the morning, I would go to the second floor in the library and sit at a wooden table surrounded by books. The light in the library was low, and there was a bright light shining on my workspace, focusing my attention to the notepad on which I wrote the pages. The dark carpet on the floors and the bookshelves muffled all sound, so my mind could fully concentrate on the task at hand. How different of the environment in which I attempt to write today!…

Our computers and laptops offer a whole range of distractions, from email that needs to be checked to instant messages to that very addictive new game that I play. And if my computer isn’t distracting me, my phone will….

Using Ommwriter is unlike any other text processor I’ve ever used. It’s interface is simple and minimalist. It opens full screen, with a background that is either fully white, or shows a light grey texture or a subtle winter landscape. But the most striking characteristic is the sound.