Microsoft takes the ‘my' out of computing

MICROSOFT seems to have decided that you will no longer own your computer files in its upcoming version of the Windows operating system, Longhorn.

For ages Windows users have had files such as "My Documents", "My Music" and "My Computer". Now it seems that Vole has decided, after great market research, that the word "my" is for the chop.

According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Microsoft has decided that in Longhorn such folders will be known simply as Computer, Documents and Music.

Apparently the whole ‘my' thing was an attempt to get people to bond with their PC when they might have been a bit scared of it. Now it seems, PCs are a normal part of life and we don't need such silly things.

Of course there could be something more sinister to it. Pressure from the music business means that you can't call those MP3 files ‘my music', the various search engines seem a little too interested in storing your documents, and few people can say this is my computer these days. Maybe Vole is simply reflecting the ephemeral nature of materiality. Or perhaps not.