For the longest time, I was against using an online email client like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail, or Gmail. I remember thinking that I couldn’t afford to have my valuable emails sitting on some other computer (i.e., their server). I needed to have emails stored locally so I could access them when I didn’t have a connection to the internet.

But that all changed over a number of years as I, and many others I’m sure, came to embrace the “network is the computer” mentality. Eventually, it was a rare occurrence that you couldn’t find an easy wi-fi connection. You might have to pay T-Mobile at Starbucks or you’d have to wait just a little bit until you found a place. Now, its just ridiculous to think of a hotel without a connection. Besides, many individuals and companies don’t really take wi-fi security that seriously so open connections can be found just about anywhere. We were recently in a hotel in San Diego which offered $10/day internet access but I was able to find three other wi-fi connections to the internet from my room. Our local airport has had free wi-fi for years.

And as this mentality in local versus network computer was taking hold, a new equation was developing. Part of the old way of thinking was that checking one’s email meant sitting down at one particular computer. But now, I have multiple computers. There’s the household computer, my laptop, and my work computer. So, the new equation is “checking email = having a connection”. A connection, not any particular computer. You’re probably thinking, “No Duh, you’re just now realizing this.” But think about it for a while. Think about it in terms of how we as a society are tied to the internet. Just as revolutionary was the advent of the internet is the way we use the internet. And now that the connection is virtually everwhere, so is email.

I’ve been using Gmail for about two years. Its become the de-facto standard for email clients. At first, it was just another email account which I accessed through my browser. Eventually though, I realized how handy it was to go over large amounts of email all at once and that its spam protection is unmatched. So, I decided to set up my other accounts and read all my email through Gmail. It didn’t take long to realize that this was a much more efficient way to do email. Apple Mail is the easiest email program I’ve ever used but its part of an old way of thinking.

I went through this same process with my RSS news reader and my calendar. For both, I thought it was pertinent to have stored locally so that I could download and read later. Then, I needed access to them from multiple computers. Finally, Google Reader and Google Calendar were better options functionally plus I can share calendars with anyone (and help with communicating with one’s spouse). One of the reasons I wanted to write this post was that this morning I realized that the only application I really needed to open was my web browser.

So now I come to my main point. One new technology that Google has been working on is something called Gears. Its a way for a website to be “saved” on a local computer so that once disconnected the computer browser can still naviagate and use the application offline (it requires the Firefox browser). It was originally targeted to web developers. But then, Google Reader was released with Gears functionality and it became evident that the real usefulness of Gears is not to save a website but to download all your bits of data for a web application and process that data at a later (un-connected) time. Now I’m able to fetch my news articles in the morning, take my laptop to the Volkswagen mechanic (no wi-fi), and still be productive.

So, have we come full circle? Ten years ago, I connected to my ISP, checked my email, responded to those that needed it, and then unconnected. Eventually, connections stayed on but downloading email was still essential to protecting my communications. Soon after, the connection was ubiquitous and the network became the real computer. Spam protection and storage became the responsibility of someone else. Now, with Gears and the impending release of Gmail compatibility, I will be able to go “offline” and still read my email. There was that one little eventuality that might leave me email-less and Google has squashed it.

By the way, another great reason to use Gmail is Better Gmail (a Firefox plugin). If you’re still using Internet Explorer, I think there are support groups out there to help you overcome your addiction to the “olden days”. Just use Google to find them.