Virtual Company

My life and technology
I’ve been using Internet technology to mediate communication for so long that it hardly seems novel: chat in various forms since 1988 (18 years!); e-mail, telnet & FTP about as long; web sites starting in 1992; video conferencing from 1995; VoIP telephony from last year.
But today in the middle of a three-way video conference, I paused a moment to marvel at how far technology has taken me. My work and social life are increasingly performed with people scattered around the globe. No technology I use is cutting edge anymore. Without it, I’d have no work and far fewer friends.
I keep up with friends in the US, India, Canada, Australia and Japan via iChat. I have a phone number in Adelaide and free calling to the US. My weblog has been around nearly six years. I am a member of several online communities and volunteer projects. Friends know how to reach me online.
I am a partner in Collectik, along with Chris in Sydney and Hugh in Montreal. We work collaboratively using Basecamp for general messages and Mantis for bug and assignment tracking. Once every couple of months we hold a conference call via Skype or chat in iChat.
And I’m working with Jez at SegPub in Sydney on another project. We use Basecamp, too, but chat and video conference almost every day. A new guy, Tim, joined the company last week and now we’re starting to feel like a real team, rather than Jez & me blabbering to one another while we write, code and plan stuff.
If only there were an online espresso maker…