Leave the Laptop Behind

Build Your Castles in the Sand

My extreme app-v scenario is a great start, but still far from perfect. For example, some applications still freak out when I move from XP to Vista (Outlook, I'm talking to you). Others exhibit unusual quirks, like the time I tried to virtualized Internet Explorer 7.0 only to discover that the finished executable couldn't recognize a typed URL in the address bar (though bookmarks seemed to work fine).

So the machine-independent lifestyle isn't without its glitches. However, when I contrast the prospect of working around a few quirks against the advantages of leaving my eight-pound XPS "notebrick" at home on Mauritius during my next 30-plus-hour trek back to the United States, I'll take the quirks any day. There's something poetic about the idea of having my whole world in the palm of my hand. Or is it in my right pants pocket? Coat pocket? Tucked into my sunglasses case? Oh, who cares -- I'm free!