Step Away From The Desk

The idea of the Digital Nomad (now, also an online community courtesy of Dell) has been lingering and pushing forward ever-more quickly with the proliferation of netbooks, wi-fi anywhere and a Starbucks on every corner.

We are quickly moving into a very interesting place where physically sitting in front of a terminal is going to look very ridiculous very soon. Some of the best iPhone apps are the ones that enable and empower you to have a terminal, screen, device or whatever you want to call it anywhere and everywhere. The ability to choose a paint color, have it come up on your iPhone and physically hold it against the wall/room/furniture you’re looking to update changes the game for all of us, and forever.

Do people still buy computer desktops?

Yes, they do. Without question, the desktop computer packs a much bigger wallop than most of the laptops, ultra-portable laptops and netbooks (both on price and performance). Desktops can also be upgraded versus having to toss or hand-me-down your laptop when something faster with a bigger hard drive comes along. Recently, I was flipping through the local newspaper and caught myself analyzing some of the big-box electronic retailers’ brochures, when I realized, "wow, a desktop computer… what would I do with that?"

It’s all about multi-platforms (or, at least, it will be).

People are quick to laugh at themselves when they realize that they’ve got the TV on, their laptops on their laps, the iPod Touch by their side and a mobile device within reach. It used to be the kind of activity that our teenagers were doing, and we would laugh about it at dinner parties. Now, we’re all doing it. We’re using many media platforms and all of them at the same time. Many people have already expressed concern, outrage and disappointment regarding yesterday’s Blog post, I Like To Watch… And So Do You,about TV viewership. There can’t be that many people just sitting there and watching TV for all of those hours?

It’s not just the media landscape that is shifting… society is shifting too.

Disruption does that. There were major concerns when Sony first released the Walkman that we would become a soulless society focused only on ourselves and our own little corner of the world. Some might argue that this has, indeed, taken place. Others might argue that all of the technologies and platforms have created a new breed of knowledge sharing and mass collaboration. Whatever side of the fence you care to defend, one thing is for certain: the idea of having fixed terminals in a fixed location is quickly becoming antiquated (Internet Cafe owners beware!). Media, content and access to information is available everywhere. It could well be one of the more fundamental challenges that businesses and organizations are going to have to face in terms of human resources, office space design, meeting spaces and productivity. What do we do to develop and grow in a world where the information is not just here, but it’s "here, there and everywhere?"

How do you work? Are you at a fixed station or completely mobile? Do you think fixed stations are here to stay?