Identifying your computing environment

If you’re considering adding to your technology inventory, or retiring a well deserved work horse (See The Vistas of expansion in a Personal Computing Environment) its best to step back and take a look at how things are working today. I my conversations with folks over the years, I get the sense that the majority of us buy personal computing equipment almost as an impulse buy. Let’s get the cheapest or the fastest or the latest fad device into our hands. In most cases the best approach is to do a little diligence and assess the entire situation including the hardware options (See Guidelines for selecting the right Tablet PC ).

Since a personal computing environment varies from individual to individual, let me set the stage about my objectives. Since I have a small network in my home office, I have found that by default I have started to move (not purposely mind you, more like natural selection) to a utility based environment, that is each computer I own has begun to take form as a primary tool and less of a general purpose tool. My music and entertainment stays on one system (two if you count my Tivo) and my business needs on another and my home based apps (like Quicken) on a third; with all of them connected to a small NAS device. Over the years this has evolved to a fairly comfortable layout. It’s like a comfortable pair of shoes that you have owned, you put them on in the morning and forget the fact that they are there… And like shoes when it’s time to replace them, it takes awhile to get things back to the way they were.

It’s almost comical to admit that I too have a bit of resistance to change in me - something I often comment about as unfavorable trait in other individuals. I guess, the older we get the more we resist change. This isn’t due to being stubborn and I certainly can claim to be a technologist while showing technophobic tendencies. No - this is more of experience talking. I unfortunately know that the claims of the golden egg that the technology companies like Microsoft or HP declare often aren’t delivered as they would like you to believe they will be.