XP is Dead, Long Live XP

Microsoft announced this week that it will no longer offer Windows XP for sale and is ending support in 2009, although it will continue partial support, whatever that means, for another five years. Vista has been generally deemed a ignominious bust for the giant of Redmond and now Windows 7, the next iteration, is due out next year. By making XP a dead end, the marketing boys are hoping that everyone who chose not to 'upgrade' to Vista will be compelled to buy the new version. 

The announcement produced a flurry of blog posts about where you can still buy XP install discs and how to keep the system running on your machine indefinitely. Personally, I'll be going Apple with my next system if the price is right. Alternatively, Ubuntu Linux has developed to the point that it offers a viable option for the average user and it's free. Windows no longer has to be the default choice. If you are a contented XP user, it should be possible to avoid giving it up for several years to come.

In the meantime, here are a few suggestions to keep your XP system looking sharp and getting the job done.

Objectdock by Stardock

The free version of this software operates much like the application dock in the Mac OS, opening files and launching programmes. Faster and easier to use than the Windows Start menu, it also looks mega cool when the dock icons along the edge of the screen expand as you mouse over them. Put the cursor over a file icon and a submenu is displayed that allows you to open a specific file or folder directly. Get rid of all those icons cluttering up your desktop and still have one-click access to everything on you machine. Download from Stardock.

Evernote

 

A couple of years ago I came across this note taking application and was not overly impressed, but the new version 3 is a whole different animal. It is a single repository for all my text files, easily organized and searchable. The interface is an endless scrolling tape that you can type text into, drag and drop documents onto or with one click clip anything from almost any source, even handwriting. You can also send it e-mail or pictures from your cell phone.

Evernote time stamps and titles each entry, then a small pop up box allows you to apply tags to the item. Find items by selecting tags or using the search feature. Entries are automatically saved and your database is regularly backed up to free, secured storage space on the Evernote website. Close the application window and it runs in the background, ready to reappear instantaneously when needed. I have tried various wikis and file databases, but for organization, research, note taking, to do lists and just about everything else, nothing is as easy and complete as Evernote. Free to download for PC or Mac from Evernote.

Truecrypt

 

The financial information, passwords, etc. that you have on your hard drive is information that you would prefer not to share with crackers or identity thieves, but text files on a computer connected to the Internet or in an online backup site can never be absolutely secure. Truecrypt creates a file of any size you designate on your hard drive and turns it into an encrypted information vault that only you can access. Files can be added, edited or deleted as with any other folder, but close the Truecrypt volume and it disappears, accessible only with your password. Backup your Truecrypt volume to online storage or a USB thumb drive and never worry whether your files are secure. The encryption algorithm used is the same one employed by the United States government for Top Secret documents, so it should be good enough for you. Free to download for all operating systems.

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Living Simultaneously

It is easy to envy those fortunate people who divide their year between winters in the tropics and summers in North America, but what I find more intriguing is the several people I have encountered here in Nicaragua who manage to live in two places at the same time.

Jennifer, for example, is an American engineer who works for a large company in San Francisco, where she owns a house. Yet for at least half of every month she lives here in San Juan del Sur, telecommuting to her job in the States, surfing and enjoying the funky, laid-back vibe. A week from now she will be back in the US, enjoying all of the amenities and conveniences of big city living, but later in the month she will return to San Juan and be making an appearance at poker night.

Her friends assume that Jennifer's lifestyle must be extremely expensive, but she insists that this is not the case. The moment she lands in Nicaragua her cost of living drops dramatically, enough to more than pay for her airfares. An evening at a restaurant that would cost $120 in San Francisco is less than $20 here. She is actually able to live in two places simultaneously for less than it would cost her to live full time in California.

Jennifer has a home, friends and business relationships in both locations, maintaining all of the social and practical aspects of her life in Nicaragua and the United States. Her situation is not unique. Inexpensive, ubiquitous telecommunications and the Internet combined with cheap, infinitely flexible travel options are making it possible for people to reshape how they live in remarkable ways. The best part is that you don't have to be a movie star, trust fund kid or dot com billionaire to be able to do it.

Getting Things Done - 3rd World Edition

Dave Allen's best selling book, Getting Things Done, has revolutionized personal productivity for many people overburdened by the complexity and hectic pace of modern day life. However, his system presumes that you live in a first world society in which everything happens to schedule, basic services always work and overnight delivery is readily available as an extra cost option.

In places like Nicaragua a completely different set of rules apply. Things happens slowly here, unexpected delays are the norm and the layers of bureaucracy exist to create badly needed employment rather than to supply efficient services. This reality was brought home to me the first time I went into the city of Rivas to register my motorcycle at the main police station and discovered that their personnel had just gone home for lunch. All of them.

Fortunately, the more sclerotic the system, the more likely it is that shortcuts have evolved. Ask a few locals and you will quickly discover the name of the fixer who will, for a reasonable fee, bypass all of the paper shuffling and queuing normally required to do just about anything. For example, it is necessary for expatriate residents here to leave the country for 48 hours every three months in order to renew their visa upon re-entry. However, call a certain phone number and it is possible to send your passport for a weekend vacation to Costa Rica without you, returning stamped with your new visa.

Personal productivity in the third world has less to do with maintaining an empty IN box than with accepting the intrinsic difficulties with good humour and ingenuity, as well as having the right phone numbers on speed dial.

Technorati Tags: Nicaragua,GTD,productivity