I tend to think of the constellation of tools a person uses as their configuration of tools. It is both what they use, how they use them, and how they fill the range of needs as a whole.  I have saved a few delicious tags about individuals’ technology configurations if you want to browse with they use.

She is very clear in how those tools fit into her kit and never, ever, uses just one for any particular task. For example, look at how she handles her email

• Eudora (business, family and close friends) – Eudora was my first email program and you know how it is, you get used to something. Eudora is no longer a paid product, now Open Source. I am not an Outlook fan. What can I say?
• Gmail (two accounts, one to back up my Fullcirc email and one for everything I don’t want in my main in box.) I considered moving all my email to Gmail but decided I don’t want all my eggs in one basket. However, most of my email lists and social media accounts use Gmail so I can keep my other inbox manageable. This has made a BIG difference in the efficiency and effectiveness of my email practice.
• I still have a Yahoo mail account and perhaps a hotmail account… who knows?
• Old fashioned web access from my ISP for when nothing else works (always have a back up) – When you depend on email and the internet, you want more than one way in. I also still have a dialup service I can use on a per minute basis but knock on wood, I have not used it in years.

Its good to get some reinforcement for my piece on getting an email client rather than depending on your browser and webmail, but the more important point is that the Internet enables redundancy, backing up your access and your technologies is as smart as backing up your data.

What about you? Does that feel doable and reasonable or just a welter of work and organisation that is too steep a cliff to climb? Comments open as usual.

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