Resistance is futile…
The Borg Collective
At some point back in the last millennium, there was this pop-culture phenomenon called Star Trek that invaded most every part of a normal American’s life. So much so that the culture could not escape the effects of some of the social commentaries that occasionally saturated the scripts of this Sci-Fi diversion. It was during this time a menace was revealed. A race of one mind, one thought that worked and acted in perfect harmony, outside of the influence or concept of individual thought, THE BORG.
Once the evil was conceptualized in fiction, it did not take long for internet to answer with the real-world identity of this ultimate bogey-man, one William Henry Gates III. His singular mind, that drives the cube-ship known as Microsoft, was almost instantly recognized for its nefarious process of assimilating technology and re-branding it Microsoft. Their steamroller tactics were almost directly from the play-book of the world smashing Borg of fiction. If it were not for the brave actions of some overly-litigious free thinkers, I would probably be blogging with Microsoft WordPress, and paying for the pleasure to boot.
Apparently, the MS Borg plans for universal digital domination have ceased or slowed in direct proportion to the ratings of the Star Trek franchise. We can all breath a heavy sigh of relief. The worst is over now and Free and Open Source Software (F/OSS) is beginning to flourish.
Or is it?
A new digital dominance is dawning, and its by invitation only. Not since the 1970s has the name of a business transcended trademark status and become a verb in the common English. Does anybody remember Xerox? That’s right, it was once a lot more than just a way to duplicate paperwork. Enter post-millennium Google, the search-portal juggernaut. If consuming and retaining the entire internet into a searchable database wasn’t enough, the data giant then launches it’s own email service. Now, instead of forcing the users of the portal to adopt and move to their brand new mail program, it can only be used by invitation only. Not so remarkable, if it weren’t for the fact that it is such an elegant implementation of web-based email.
Now that netizens are segregated by the gmail invitation wall, they clamor to be on the other side of the barrier and the desirability of the webapp skyrockets. With that, the slippery slope is surreptitiously slimed and primed. About the time that the gmail beta invitation period is over, it’s time to beta the next best thing to Micro-Borg Office. Now you can get to your documents anywhere you are, just by signing into Google. Again, simplicity is the new Borg. Google Docs is without a doubt one of the most functional, and easy to use web-based word processing tools. So much so that it makes you wonder why you ever would pay to use an office suite again. Admittedly it does lack some of the higher functions of the pay-for suites, like mail merge and form letters, most of which the average wordsmith can live without.
The Achilles Heel that made Google Docs appear less like a lion, and more like a lamb was the necessity for internet connection to be able to use and access your documents. Considered by some a fatal flaw to the advent of the WebOffice. Have you noticed yet that there is a reason I referred to Google as a juggernaut? That is because it seems once they get up a head of steam, the innovation keeps on coming. The new revolution is underway. The WebOffice is at hand. Google introduced GoogleGears, hereby extending your internet based documents to your offline desktop. Bundling the components of version tracking and synchronization, this does not just impact the individual user but the group collaboration as well. No longer are you tied to a desk, or Starbucks hotspot, now you have the freedom to sit in the middle of BFE as long as your battery will let you. What freedom! What liberation! What am I talking about?
I wish I could say that this was where the assimilation of your digital life ends, but there is yet more productivity to be stolen. I have only espoused on the Google experiences and services that I have been personally involved with. There are a plethora of other Borg units in the Google hive that I have not even touched upon. Such as Google Desktop, Google Earth, and Google Sites to name an obvious few. I feel relatively safe in my selective use of the new Borg, but is total assimilation very far away? I wonder if someday we’ll be able to tell, just by looking at them, if someone’s been “googled”?
