Disruptive

Once in a while something comes along that changes your life. You fall in love, are willing to accept some minor imperfections and give up on some of those certainties in life. It happened to me too. No I I'm not talking about another woman! What were you thinking?

I'm talking about Vista. I love it! The one thing that took most time getting used to however has proven to be the File Explorer. I have been holding on to my archaic ways of dealing with files for a long time but today, I decided to let go.

Specifically, I've given up on my Data Files folder. For many many years, at least a decade, this has been the location where I stored all my data. I completely missed out on the My Documents wave with Windows 95, 2000 and XP and, although I'm a bit ashamed to admit, was proud about that too.

Now with Vista, I could no longer support that dismissive attitude. Opening the File Explorer (Windows key + E) took me too far away from where I had to go every time again (my Data Files folder) so today, I decided to go to the place where everybody goes. To the Documents, Pictures, Videos and Music folders that Vista and all proper written apps point to.

All data is moved and although it feels weird, it is nice to have my pictures in the pictures folder (figure that!). Something that you probably have been enjoying for many years already. I wonder how I will think about it in a week? Will I want to go back to my old love? Will I completely understand the system by then? I still have many questions! How do I back up my stuff now it seems to be all spread out? Or is that actually easier?

How futile it may seem, for me, this change marks a new era.

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Comments

• Anonymous
  October 30, 2006
  You're in good company. I even placed my data files on a separate partition... In the meantime, I switched to "my documents" as well, but can't break up with a second drive ("separating programs from data"). Sometimes, you can't get rid of old habits... ;-)