How Google Changed the World (or my world)

I went into one of my offices last Tuesday and learned their Internet was down. They gave me a different computer, and then the office-wide internet went down. This happens quite often, and it's normally code for "drink coffee and play pinp-pong" which everyone does. Alas, on this last Tuesday, I wanted none of it. Because without internet, I cannot work, and while it's delightful to drink tea and read Newsweek, eventually reports are due, and emails pile up. So I went back to my main office to use their fast internet. 

I have a highly interesting work situation. The irony of it dawned on me recently, and it's so reflective of that global nomadic tendency to take chaos, and make more chaos. First of all, I work out of three offices…not counting my apartment or favorite coffee shops. I use over six computers, one at my first partner (exclusively mine, slowest machine on earth), one, sometimes, two at the other partner (depends on who's traveling). At my “main office” we share computers. I’ll use any one of four depending on who arrived first and staked their favorite. At my “main office,” we also use Ubuntu...does anyone know what this? Of course not. Ubuntu is a version of Linux…that’s right...not Microsoft, not Apple…the alternative’s alternative.

When I started working in January, I told my supervisor that I didn’t know how to use Ubuntu, and I didn’t feel comfortable using it. They didn’t respond to that. However, I quickly realized that virtually every computer that runs Windows in Cambodia runs an illegal pirated copy. The pirated versions can’t access updates and maintenance so they are exceptionally virus prone and eventually slow down. My organization wasn’t going to pay for licensed Windows for all our computers, so opened sourced it was. And so by February, I bravely taught myself how to start an Ubuntu computer and access Chrome. It was terrifying, which made mastering it highly rewarding.

By March, I tired of moving files around on my flash drive and files got corrupted between the Open Office on Ubuntu (the open-sourced word processor), and the pirated Microsoft Office. So I started using Google Docs, out of my Gmail. It’s similar to Office, except it’s in a Google interface, and it’s web-based, and I can access it from any computers. I never needed a flash drive. I never needed to store stuff on actual computers, and everything was always there. I enjoyed sharing my ingenious creativity, “oh I work entirely out of Google docs.” That’s right. I’m Gen Y dot-com-er. I’ve made this bizarre situation work. Alas though, this means without internet, I can only drink coffee and read Newsweek. And this happens quite often.

Once in a while, I wonder what “normal” people do. Most jobs don’t require three office locations, or if they did, they’d give you a laptop with a licensed copy of Microsoft Windows where you could store your stuff on an actual hard drive. I’m an intrigued convert to open-sourced software. It’s always evolving and improving, even if there are always strange and frustrating quirks. So on days when the internet is down, or when I have to use my personal (licensed) PC for complex Word editing, or when I can’t find the Ubuntu Control Panel...I crawl into a ball of over-caffeinated self-pity and whinge for the life in America that I never really had.

It’s fun being creative and innovative and I’ve had fun responding to the challenges. I like challenges, and most the time I like my strange work arrangement. But sometimes, can we seriously just have hot water…and street lights…and Pandora.