Over the years I have had to get to the point where I would create a list of specific application sot load on whatever new laptop I was getting. I remember, about eight years ago, that it actually took me almost three days to get my new laptop set up the way I wanted. This new computer was loaded with at least twenty new programs…
Five or six years ago, I did this same setup activity on another new laptop, only this time it only took me one long day to get all of the programs loaded. To get this new PC set up I spent more time making an image of this new hard drive…to allow me to reinstall it if I were to get into some sort of ‘trouble’.
Two years ago I spent about the same amount of time getting yet another new laptop set up, but I was installing only one retail program (Microsoft Office for students…), other than that, every application I loaded onto my new computer was freeware…
Six months ago, I got my new NetBook set up in about 45 minutes… I still had a couple programs to load (Firefox, Picasa, and Skype…), but I had a number of online plugins and applications to integrate into Firefox to allow me to be able to work.
I have presented his to show that for me, as with probably millions of other computer users, the style of what I have been doing on computers is comparable to the things I have been loading onto them. I use to load lots of retail programs…years ago. Nowadays, I would say that I do about 80% of the activities I deal with through my browser. I certainly have a lot of plug-ins and customizations to my Firefox browser, but it is still only a browser.
Another way to see how much things have changed in the last several years would be to take a quick look at what people do with computers in coffee shops… In every coffee shop I have been in for the last year, I would say that about 35-50% of all computer use is related to Facebook. Regardless of what you may think of this online behemoth, Facebook is an application with which you only need an internet browser to use.
On another tack, I used to spend a lot of time loading digital pictures from my camera to my PC (into a program such as Picasa…), now I have short circuited most of this by taking pictures with my iPhone (most of my pictures are now taken with my phone…),and then directly loaded onto my Picasa web album. I use my Computer/browser to merely look over my photos now…
I still have a lot of MP3 files on my computer, but to be honest, I use an online service like Pandora a lot more than I do listening to the music I have on my machine. All in all, I can see a trend in my computer use which points towards greater integration of my computer into the details of my daily life, as I use fewer and fewer programs. I wonder if this is common with others.
