Online Apps Vs. Desktop Apps And Dealing With eClutter: Some Food For Thought For LIPs
Photo by *Solar Ikon*
In the race to escape the cubicle and ditch the desk so you can work from anywhere and become location independent, many of you are turning to online apps, digitalisation and computer-centric solutions. What would happen though in the following scenarios…
- Your access to a power supply was limited?
- Your access to the internet was limited?
They’re not such ‘out there’ questions if you consider the current power crisis where we are (in South Africa) and the fact that internet access can be sketchy, patchy and unreliable in some of the more remote but desirable locations for location independent professionals.
And what of the gigabytes of data (the eClutter) you’ve got scattered online or on your hard drive?…Randomly ‘organised’ or neatly filed, depending upon your own modus operandus.
Do you, like me, sometimes look at the files you’ve stored and wish you could simply hit “delete” with no further thought of them? But you daren’t in case you need them at some future point when you’ll kick yourself for not just keeping them.
As storage has got cheaper (and society - at least in the US - has become more litigious), our tendency to want to file and store everything has grown. It’s often far quicker to file something somewhere (anywhere) than it is to think about whether you really need it and hit delete - succumbing to the “I’ll deal with it later” mentality.
So what’s the alternative?
I don’t think I have the ultimate solution but speaking from my own personal experience, here are some of the alternatives…
Online Apps vs. Desktop Apps
Quite a few of you have asked me whether I prefer online apps or desktop tools. My answer? Neither! For health reasons at the moment I’m trying to spend as little time as possible in front of my computer.
Running a business that’s marketed and managed 100% online, that’s obviously not always an easy task but that’s why I’m currently on a big push to re-organise our business processes and grow the business in a way that only requires me to oversee things and provide back up support. But of course I still need my computer…
So here’s what I prefer to use:
- For organisation & personal productivity - Verdict = Old fashioned notebook
A notebook which I use for “To Do” lists, business planning, process planning, mind mapping and pretty much anything else I want to think through. I only transfer this digitally if it’s likely to be shared with others in the business.
- For email - Verdict = Online + Desktop
A combination of Google Apps (far better than regular google for business) and Mac Mail to back up key emails offline and work offline when I have no internet connection (although most of my emails I leave to google to store).
- For marketing - Verdict = Online + Desktop
This is largely done using online apps such as iContact, blogs and online social networks. Although I draft most of the content in my notebook then pad it out digitally in a simple text editor. Since switching to a Mac however (see my personal blog for the painful process), I’ve become rather enamored with ecto - a desktop blogging program which is fantastic.
- For documentation - Verdict = Desktop
I’ve never really been able to get into the online office suites although I’ve tried Google and Zoho a number of times. Instead I prefer desktop apps such as Microsoft office (when I had it on my old PC) or nowadays I use NeoOffice on the Mac. I create all Project Woodward documentation and processes using the Neo applications which are more than adequate, then also store them on a server.
- For image editing & manipulation - Verdict = Desktop
Although there are some pretty decent online image editors out there like Picnik, I am a big fan of Macromedia’s Fireworks which does everything I need to do for preparing images for the web (far simpler than Adobe Photoshop which J fights with when it comes to web images).
- For writing - Verdict - Desktop
Much like for documentation, I prefer to draft out a skeleton structure for my blog posts and book chapters in my notebook, then use a text editor to flesh out the content.
- For file storage - Verdict - Online & External
I used a combination of Carbonite (athough it’s not yet available for Macs) and an external hard drive. That way, I’ve got 2 options should something happen to my files - one of them (online back up) is probably far more reliable than the other but obviously depends upon a stable and reliable internet connection to function effectively.
Dealing With eClutter
So how exactly do you keep eclutter and digital fluff to a minimum? It depends upon your objectives…
If you want to keep your own hard drive as uncluttered and streamlined as possible, then it makes sense to use online solutions as much as possible. But if you want to cut down full stop on your online and desktop eClutter, here’s what you can do:
- List the digital tools you have that are likely to have accumulated eClutter: Laptops, home computers, cellphones, PDAs & blackberries, iPods, external hard drives, USB keys and digital cameras.
- Do a brief review of the eClutter you’ve accumulated on each device (and by brief, I mean literally just scan the contents) to get an idea of the size & type of the problem: Documents, emails, to do lists, contacts, email addresses/contact cards, calendar items, bookmarks, unread RSS feeds.
- Set yourself a schedule to work through each device systematically to delete the unnecessary files. If you’ve got thousands of items, perhaps building 30 minutes into your day is necessary; if you’ve got fewer items you might be able to get it all done in one day. If you’re not sure whether to keep some of your items use the same strategy I recommend for getting rid of your stuff before you put it all into storage and travel the world…use an “unsure” category and then remind yourself to review it in a week or so to see if you can then trash it.
Despite doing what we do and travelling the world as laptop hobo’s and technomads, I do believe we’re in for a bit of a backlash against online apps and technology for technology’s sake in general.
And as power becomes less a utility and more a luxury, I’m not sure the golden era of technology that we’re currently living in can last. Call me a doomsday prophet if you like, but when you’ve experienced living in a seemingly first world country which is experiencing a power crisis and you see how reliant we are on power and just how vulnerable we are without it, you might begin to think about contingencies and alternative options, like we are!
How would your business cope if you had no power or internet for a few days at a time?
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Comments
Hi Lea,
Great article. Regarding Carbonite for the Mac, we’re looking at May for a release date, although that’s not cast in stone. Folks interesting in signing up for the beta can write to beta@carbonite.com with “Mac Beta” in the subject line to be added to the list of beta test candidates.
You made a great point about dual backup options. There are advantages to having a local backup since restoring will go faster than it will over the Internet, whereas the online backup protects you in case of theft, malfunction of the external drive, and the fact that your external backup might not be as up-to-date as your automatic online backup. You (and your readers) can never play it “too safe” when it comes to backups, as you know. Ayer’s Corrollary states that the importance of a data file is inversely proportionate to the age of the last backup. The more important a file is, the less likely it is you’ve backed it up recently! Always good to have multiple backup options in case a need ever arises to restore.
Sincerely,
Len Pallazola
Manager, Customer Service Systems
Carbonite, Inc.
http://www.carbonite.com
I’m still waiting for Google Gears to work with Email, but in the meantime what you suggested (Mail.app + gmail) is a great combination to work online and offline.
I currently use that combo and my ipod to access email. With imap, it’s great because everything syncs together whenever I go online (especially handy on my ipod when there’s no internet connection, just to check some email).
@Chris - how’s life in Espana? I agree - there are a lot of people writing about 4HWW/working from anywhere in a very rose-tinted/self-centric way…but I often wonder just how much experience they have of doing it from somewhere other than their local coffee shop LOL!! I think there’s also a bit of “I earn x, y and z” B.S. going around and I can bet that many of these people claiming to work only 4 hours a week do a hell of a lot more than that to earn the income they do.
@Len - thanks for the info and update on Carbonite for Macs.
@Hugh - imap is great to keep everything sync’d, isn’t it? - I didn’t quite realise it did it so efficiently until I noticed a few additional folders in my gmail window and wondered how they go there!!!
Another great piece Lea, and I’m glad to see your usual honesty about the LIP lifestyle - there tare oo many “4 hour work week” type posts around which treat the world as their personal ticket to a great life whilst completely ignoring local conditons and everyday experiences for those not “blessed” with online empires.