The Cloud is any blogger’s best friend. In a way, we’re already very attached to the cloud by the fact that we’re bloggers, which of course means that we’re working with online interfaces already. Webmail and online RSS readers are our tools, and we use online storage if needed. Some of us take it longer than others, but I think it is a fair guess to at least place the technical bloggers in the box of cloud users.
With that in mind, and the notion that bloggers are somewhat similar to the hip freelancing cloud, it is not such a long shot to consider the netbooks, with the Asus Eee PC as the one paving the way, as the ultimate blogging tool. It is as portable as it can get, pretty minimal, and very online focused. Most netbooks are made to be used on the go, with short boot up times, fairly long stand-by times, and with the web in focus. Using wifi hotspots at cafes, railway stations, or whatever, and 3G/similar mobile networks when wifi isn’t available, gives you a constant on and online life.
A blogger’s life, or any writing freelancer for that matter.
The current line of netbooks might be a little too unrefined, though. The cheaper ones are pretty weak, and you might want to do some image editing which they are most definitely not very suited for, although you can perform menial tasks. And there is always the option of using a web application as well, of course. Other issues include poor keyboards that at best takes a while to get used to, but probably will limit you somewhat compared to a normal laptop or desktop computer.
I’m not ready to trade in my MacBook, nor my desktop workstation, for my recently acquired Eee PC 900 myself. There are issues, most of them solveable, but not all. I do, however, like the concept of stepping away from heavy bulky laptops when traveling.
Take this post, for instance. I’m writing it on a train on my way to Stockholm, in Google Docs offline, with wifi available should I want to sync and/or publish it (which I don’t to preserve battery). As someone who’s in the cloud already, I think this is a laptop as it should be, this little netbook. At least in principle, I’d pay for better quality in the actual build, but you can’t have it all, can you? At least not yet.
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