I am Kyle's self-indulgence

I remember a conversation I had with a friend several years ago about the future of home computers. We were talking about how someday the purpose of a personal computer or a laptop will not be to store data, but merely to be used as an access point to data that is stored elsewhere. I can’t remember now exactly how I imagined it would be done, but it seemed very advanced and science-fictiony, this idea that one’s personal data can be accessed from anywhere in the world.

What’s interesting to me is that this change in the way we access data has come about so gradually that I didn’t even notice until last week that it’s here.

When I first started using Google Docs around five years ago I was excited by the idea that I could keep my documents saved online and eliminate the hassle of using a flash drive to constantly update my files across my home computer and work computer. Even better, if I were working in a library or a computer lab at school I would have access to the same documents simply by logging into a website.

As excited as I was about Google Docs at first, it was not an ideal word processor. It was difficult to see how a page would print without using the print preview function. Often, when printing worksheets or papers it was easier to copy the text into Word to format and print it. Recently Google has overhauled their document editor to make it function more like other word processors and print much more easily. I’ve finally been able to stop using Word altogether.

Along with Google Docs I’ve long taken advantage of the company’s other free services, like Reader, Gmail, Calendar, and iGoogle, my homepage that serves as the jumping-off point for all of them. And after I finally broke down and paid for a storage plan, I uploaded all my photos to Picasa as well. After that, there was only one type of data that I use on a daily basis that wasn’t being stored on Google’s servers: my 100+ GB music collection exists on only one computer, and if I want to take it with me anywhere I need to sync it with my iPod via a physical cable.

As I’m sure you know, Google unveiled its music service in beta about a month ago, and I naturally signed up for an invite, which I received a couple of weeks ago. It takes a while to upload one’s entire music library, and right now I’ve only completed 9,000 of my 14,000 songs. I’m impressed with the web player that Google has for its service, as well as how effectively it works with the iTunes library. It’s not just my songs that are being imported, but also all my playlists, play counts, and ratings. There’s even a last.fm extension that can be installed in Chrome to scrobble the music I play.

Last week I began teaching summer school and I had to borrow another teacher’s room. After creating another user account on his computer, I opened up the Chrome browser which, provided with my account information, began installing all my extensions and preferences. Over the course of the next week, I played music from my library, printed worksheets and packets of materials for my students, communicated via chat with Erika at home, and kept up on e-mail and the latest news, all from within a single web browser. I didn’t have to install a single piece of software, and I had access to virtually all of the personal data that exists on my home computer.

That’s the moment that it all finally came together for me. The futuristic scenario I once imagined is reality, and I barely even noticed.