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August 12, 2007
Personal Continuity - Google Mail
You've been escorted off the premises as part of a "downsizing" at your place of work. You used both desktop and laptop computers, but both belonged to the company. You're left with personal belongings in your box, but the personal data is still in your office.
A virtual desktop presence enables you to avoid this situation. As soon as you leave the building, you don't get on the subway, rather you head towards the nearest Internet cafe, log in, and let your colleagues and friends know what happened immediately. You can jump right on employment websites and begin the search for a new position.
Whether it's bouncing back after losing a job or temporary relocation because of a natural disaster, virtual desktop gives you access to the tools you need to maintain your on-line presence anywhere. There is no cost involved to create your virtual desktop; providers of this service rely on advertising revenue to operate the service, and you're the potential buyer.
The first step in creating a virtual desktop is to establish an account with a service provider, such as Yahoo!, MSN, or Google. Let's look at the newest of these three, Gmail by Google.
If you already have a Gmail account, you're ready to move on to our next step. If you already use a web-based e-mail service such as Hotmail or Yahoo!, keep reading. You can use that address as your "secondary e-mail" for Gmail. Keep in mind, our goal here is to create a virtual desktop, not merely an e-mail presence. Google's service and applications are the most robust of the three providers. Their applications give us a firm base upon which we can build that desktop.
With that in mind, go to www.google.com and click the "Gmail" link at the top. You'll then see the opening Gmail screen:
Click the blue "pick a name" button in the bottom right and proceed to the sign-up screen.
Here we'll enter a potential username. Since this is our virtual office e-mail, keep this username more professional-sounding. If you want a less formal nickname, etc., make two accounts. A good start is to input your name as "firstname.lastname" which is good for setting yourself up on job-hunting sites, professional forums, etc.
Make sure you put in a "strong" password to protect your account. I'm a big fan of the old CompuServe-style password of two unrelated words separated by a punctuation mark, like street%onion.
This screen continues with a challenge-question. Gmail suggests some possibilities for this question, and even lets you make up your own.
Complete the sign-up, and you'll be asked to login to Gmail with your just-created username and password. You'll then be directed to your Inbox, where a welcoming message will be waiting for you:
As you can see, the right-hand column is where Google makes their money. Don't begrudge them that ad space, it's allowing us to be totally virtual.
Now that we have a Gmail account, let's make a desktop.
Posted by Edward J. Branley at August 12, 2007 9:24 PM
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