Working Where We Like
In the early 1990s, I wrote a regular monthly column called “Travel Lite.” Back then, the portable field consisted mainly of laptop computers using the familiar clamshell design just like you see today.
In the 1990s, there were few who believed that laptops could replace desktops. In the time since, that has pretty much happened. This was before Steve Jobs came back to Apple. We reviewed the Newton and shrugged. IBM made a boxy laptop called the ThinkPad, which was innovative because of the pencil eraser pointing device.
Fast forward to the present. Where I live now and where I travel, I know I can always count on fast internet. Presently, I perform all my work on an extremely capable 2019 MacBook Pro attached to a 27” HD Samsung display. I know that within the next 18 months I will upgrade to an M2 or some variant because to me I like waiting 4-5 years before trading up. I think it’s a good investment, but I like to think that Apple has found me to be a loyal customer. Some other time I’ll write some about what lives on my computer.
So, I’m really writing for like-minded souls who openly or clandestinely embrace technology and who have discovered something of its possibilities. We know about the real-life gains, especially those who work in the knowledge business: writers, designers, creatives, coders, journalists, consultants, advisers, musicians, bankers, investors, traders, and so on. There are so many of us who dream of better things to come.
Back then, it was still a fossil-fueled desktop world. Now, pretty much everyone wants an awesome laptop with no compromises. And sure, you also have an awesome companion computer in your back pocket.
My friends call me an optimist who sometimes leans a bit to the left of naivete. That’s probably true. These tools leverage the sharing of knowledge to a degree that in some cases liberate minds, knowing also that the dark side of the net can also enslave them.
Can a message of unity survive the onslaught? Of course, it can. We are stronger together.
Find me on twitter @peterotte.
