Stop! Web Time!

[andrewducker]

EDIT: The Web is _anything in a browser_. If it's not in a browser then it's not the web. If you use a chat client that's browser-based, then that counts. If you use one that's a program, then it doesn't.

[Poll #1657175]

The reason I'm curious is Google's pushing of the Chrome laptops - which are designed to be web only. I know that a lot of my time is spent on the web nowadays, but I'm curious as to what percentage most people spend on it.

(Non-web usages of the computer are either playing non-web games (Dragon Age and Super Meat Boy this week) and watching videos - although that's mostly on Julie's PC, as it's in the bedroom.)

The second question is because there was a big battle over MS Office versus OpenOffice, and I realised that I don't really use Office at home since I stopped sending letters. I still have it (the joy of a brother who works for Microsoft), but I can't see me using it.

Comments

[innerbrat]

Do you mean time as in 'work hours' or just in general time? I always have a chat window open, even if I'm mostly using Writer, Photoshop or watching a video.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

I use Office quite a bit (but then my laptop is my work machine too) but I rarely use Word except that Outlook invokes it for email composition.

I could never see me using anything other than a decent PC though - too much gaming and other file-dependent stuff rather that purely web-based, even outside work.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

Also, did you mean "web" or "internet", because the likes of Spotify, VPNs and Trillian mean I'm online almost all day but not necessarily using a browser.

[momentsmusicaux.livejournal.com]

OpenOffice has changed its name AGAIN, apparently. More drama with Oracle or whoever.

[andlosers.livejournal.com]

I don't play games, but Office, Eclipse and Photoshop are musts for me.

Even the creator of Gmail (who is no longer with Google) has said that he'd be very surprised if ChromeOS lasts a year. Most obvious thing would be for it to be absorbed into Android - which, in my opinion, would make for a very compelling platform.

I'm really enjoying the web store in my desktop version of Chrome though. Tweetdeck in particular is refreshing.

[andrewducker]

Work? I'm asking about home computer usage...

(as in, if you happen to work from home then discount that time, I'm only interested in personal usage for the purposes of this)

[andrewducker]

What's different about Tweetdeck in Chrome?

I'd also expect Chrome and Android to merge in some way. If Android supported being in something with a keyboard I'd be very happy.

[andrewducker]

Web. i.e. not using an app.

[ladysisyphus.livejournal.com]

When you say 'on the web', does that include time with chat programs like Jabber and AIM? Because I've got those running constantly, regardless of whatever else I'm doing -- like, right now, writing a paper. But if you're asking how much time I spend staring specifically at Firefox or Chrome, that's a different question.

If I could compose/format a paper in GoogleDocs and be confident that it would arrive in my professor's inbox looking just the way I want it to, I'd do it. But I haven't yet been impressed at the transition from one to the other.

[andlosers.livejournal.com]

It doesn't use Adobe Air - it seems to be a completely web standards compliant version, which is lovely. In my scientific tests it runs 9000% as fast.

[andrewducker]

"Web" is _purely_ the web. If it's a program then it's not on the web.

[bracknellexile.livejournal.com]

In that case, my original poll answer stands.

[ladysisyphus.livejournal.com]

Would it count if I were running AIM through, say, meebo?

And then I had the moment of thinking, wait, does schoolwork/grading count as 'personal use' for a word processor? Because my inclination is to say yes, even though I realize intellectually it's for something that's paying me either way. But I do it on my own computer! ...Did I mention I have problems compartmentalizing?

For composing fiction, though? All GoogleDocs, all the time.

[recycled-sales.livejournal.com]

I'd never be able to replace my machine with a Chrome OS alike device, mostly as the non-internet time is spent using DTP software. As is effortlessly proven by the system in place at my work, running this sort of software over a network is an excuse for terrible pain - moreso if it were over the internet.

Then again, I am a unique case in that respect.

[simont]

I pretty much don't use Word or its ilk – WYSIWYG word processors in the traditional sense – but not because I don't have the occasional need to send letters to people like HMRC or the council. I just use TeX in those situations, because I needed to know it anyway for larger jobs and there seemed no point learning another totally different system too.

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

I can see Google's point. At home I pretty much only use the PC for web or for gaming. Even at work, 99% of the time I only use office programs or a web browser. If we didn't have Microsoft Office installed as standard, and used an office suite that worked in a browser (such as Google Docs), there would be very little I, or any of the other folk that work here, would do that wouldn't run in a browser.

I haven't used any office software at home for years. A few months ago I actually had to send a letter, but used PC2Paper.com which for 65p printed out my letter and posted it without me having to worry about finding a stamp of a postbox.

[andrewducker]

If you do it in a browser, it's the web. Otherwise it's the internet.

And yeah, you're not the only person who has problems differentiating between home and work ;->

[andrewducker]

Considering the people who use Photoshop, or video editing tools, I'd say not unique at all :->

[andrewducker]

Oooh, Pc2Paper looks useful!

[innerbrat]

OK, let me try again.

I am online 100% of the time I am on my computer in my apartment - I don't ever turn off my network connection and I always have access to my email and my dropbox.

I also, sometimes, use Writer, Photoshop and other applications that operate on my hard drive. But I spend 100% of my home computer time using the internet.

[andrewducker]

Interesting. I'll have to have a dig. Not that I'm not entirely happy with my current copy of Tweetdeck.

[andrewducker]

But what percentage of that time is spent on the web?

[a-pawson.livejournal.com]

My letter certainly got to the recipient, so I had no complaints. There are a few other companies offering similar services for people like me who are too lazy to walk to the post office and buy a stamp.

[marrog.livejournal.com]

I think you're asking someone to delineate their time who's a bit like me. I am always doing something on the web, even if I'm also doing stuff that's not.

For example, right now I'm surfing LJ, writing with Erin, watching Newsnight on the iPlayer, and editing content for the Trav website. Asking me to tell you what percentage of that is online is basically impossible.

[naath.livejournal.com]

I use my computer for non-web things but I'm usually flipping between stuff; not focussing on one thing exclusively. I usually have my web-browser open, even if I'm playing a game or writing a letter or something.

I almost never use word processors, if I want to write a document I'll normally do it in LaTeX in a text editor; I do use a spreadsheet for my personal accounting though (Open Office for me, MS Office doesn't run on Linux...).