Gazali: State of PC

How many of you remembered the 3.5" disk or even the 5 1/4" disk? How about using the cassette tape as a storage media?

I had a so called micro computer way back then. It was the called Oric-1, somewhere back in 1980s. It cost back then about SGD$500. It doesn't come come with a monitor, you plugged it in the TV.

Countless hours were spent on it, writing machine code and assembly language, praying that the power won't trip. Why? A power trip will erase everything in an instant. And I have to re-key in the code again. It was my very first computer and it brings back sweet memories.

It uses the simple cassette tape player to load and save programs and it takes at least 30 minutes. You plug your audio-out from the cassette player into the device. Even after you have saved your work, it still can fail to load up. Hours lost again.

I used a couple of notebooks before and now currently its the LG x120 Netbook cost about SGD$600 or so and its much, much more powerful. Memory storage have shrunk to a thumbnail size chip. Looking at my netbook, the keyboard is about the size of the Oric-1. Its actually very convenient and I can update my blog post from it and read ebooks.

So when Apple launched the iPad, it was very underwhelming for me. As usual Apple is all about hype. To me its like cripple-ware, you can't multitask, no cameras, no usb ports, no Flash support. I just want things that work now. Not somewhere in the future where HTML 5 might become the de-factor standard. Though there are some people who would love it. Hey, its your money.

Fast forward to the 1990s. I bought Microsoft Office and it comes in the 3.5" disk format. There were at least 10 of these disk. The internet back then was simply a dailup. You register with an ISP (it was Pacific Internet Singapore) and 56kb was a big deal. All you need was a phone line and a modem.

Don't laugh, since it was by phone, I thought connecting to an overseas website will cost me an IDD charge. It didn't. And I was worried sick thinking that I may have to pay hefty overseas calls. The connection was so slow.

And now, its broadband and things have evolved tremendously. No longer do I need to buy Microsoft Office because I am using Open Office. A lot of applications are free. I use Picasa for photos, GIMP for my photo editing and Thunderbird for my email client. I do buy some softwares like antivirus, which cost me yearly about SGD$60 a year or so.

Everything is up in the so called "cloud". My list of contacts are in Plaxo and Gmail, that's about 500 contacts that I personally know. Both accounts are sync and also in my laptop. A lot of my files are stored in Google docs, some in Zoho, Box.net and Scribd. Photos everywhere from Picasa to Flickr to Facebook. My online resume is in LinkedIn and my profile is on Google. I have tonnes of passwords for so many services. All these files are backup offline into my PC, netbook and portable HDD. Sounds like a lot of work? At the initial setup it was, now its just a breeze.

What do I get out of all these?

Simple, as long as there is a PC or connected to the internet, I can easily access all my files. I wonder, when I die, what would happen to all these files and contacts?

I know that some people are paranoid in putting up so much info in the cloud. Well, if you are not comfortable, then don't do it. Nobody is holding a gun and forcing you to do it.

My Gmail account is the nexus. I have set it up to access my Calender, Twitter, Facebook and Google Docs. In any given month, I can receive more than 1000 spam email. It doesn't affect me at all since Gmail have powerful spam filters.

Once an email arrived, it will be filtered to any one of the 117 folders or labels as Gmail calls them, that I have created. Those that is not filtered will appear in the inbox. There I decide to either filter and create a new label, delete it, archive it or Spam it.

I love Gmail Spam function. If I flag an email as spam, the next email from that sender automatically goes into the spam box where it will be deleted automatically after 30 days. I don't even bother to unsubscribe. If the info have outlived its usefulness, I just label it spam, and 'poof' its gone. I did "unsubscribe" before and what happened? 10 more emails from somewhere got in my email.

And now there is this Google Buzz, I got 28 followers and counting. I suspect that some of these followers are not real people. Why? They seemed to repeat the same or more or less similar post. Still have not figured out how useful it can be. I even have a person posting her blog in Vietnamese and another in Chinese?

Can all these services be shut down or go offline? Yes it can. Companies do go bankrupt.

Is the information secured? You never know.

Will they sell your information when you become famous or not? Might.

Can it be used to spy on you? Yes.

Why do we do it?

Its a trade off. We all want the convenience and to a certain degree, we want to be heard. It could be just within your group of friends, or to a wider audience. Its human nature to reach out and connect to someone. We are all a social species, most of us don't live in isolation.

I guess its something to do with wanting to be heard or seen. Nearly everyone needs that claim for significance.