My friend Pratap is getting a pen drive so he can sleep safe in the knowledge that his precious documents are in no danger. I told him there is no point. He asked me why. I kept quiet. I love scaring the crap out of him!
But here is my point. If you are into portability, then a pen drive makes sense. But safety? What is it about a pen drive that makes it safe?
I am reminded of the days when Google had just launched Gmail. The industry standard was raised so fast and so drastically that the whole email provider community was caught off balance and disoriented. While people begged complete strangers for a Gmail invite, many providers still advertised their POP3 and IMAP facilities, unaware that much of it will be all but obsolete in the coming years.
Gmail took time to load in the browser. It was a sign of what was to come -- high-speed Internet. And not just high-speed, 24-hour Internet. Much of India was still on dial-up back then.
You may have noticed this sometimes. When you are in front of your computer and get a phone call and have to note something down, you instinctively start looking for a notepad and pencil. You ignore completely the keyboard and monitor right in front of you!
In due time, people forgot to talk in MB terms and started using GB instead. But the obvious connection never occurred to them. Gmail is a storehouse!
If Pratap typed out all his documents in Gmail's compose mode and saved them as draft, his sleep would be sounder (and his snoring louder, ugh, don't remind me). Gmail will take practically any file format. Anything you can attach to an email, you can store on Gmail. Plus, unlike a pen drive, you can't lose Gmail. It won't melt down, wouldn't have hardware issues, or short circuit. It is practically foolproof.
I think it makes a lot more sense to entrust your data to Google's servers than any local drive or pen drive. Now to go get this into Pratap's head.
But here is my point. If you are into portability, then a pen drive makes sense. But safety? What is it about a pen drive that makes it safe?
I am reminded of the days when Google had just launched Gmail. The industry standard was raised so fast and so drastically that the whole email provider community was caught off balance and disoriented. While people begged complete strangers for a Gmail invite, many providers still advertised their POP3 and IMAP facilities, unaware that much of it will be all but obsolete in the coming years.
Gmail took time to load in the browser. It was a sign of what was to come -- high-speed Internet. And not just high-speed, 24-hour Internet. Much of India was still on dial-up back then.
You may have noticed this sometimes. When you are in front of your computer and get a phone call and have to note something down, you instinctively start looking for a notepad and pencil. You ignore completely the keyboard and monitor right in front of you!
In due time, people forgot to talk in MB terms and started using GB instead. But the obvious connection never occurred to them. Gmail is a storehouse!
If Pratap typed out all his documents in Gmail's compose mode and saved them as draft, his sleep would be sounder (and his snoring louder, ugh, don't remind me). Gmail will take practically any file format. Anything you can attach to an email, you can store on Gmail. Plus, unlike a pen drive, you can't lose Gmail. It won't melt down, wouldn't have hardware issues, or short circuit. It is practically foolproof.
I think it makes a lot more sense to entrust your data to Google's servers than any local drive or pen drive. Now to go get this into Pratap's head.
