Sure, things have changed, but ...
Even though today our computers serve us more for the internet than for any "work"
we might do with it that gets saved to our hard drives, personalization is an
inherent part of the PC experience. Windows users can't help but be familiar with
the My Computer icon on their desktops, though they've probably never stopped
to ask how, if it's theirs, it got there without they themselves putting it there.
And of course each of us has "our own" My Documents folder (and
strange as it may seem, as I've learned from glancing into the innards of many
computers, that folder actually houses just about all the documents the owner
of that particular computer user has ever created). These icons reinforce a particular
attitude toward the computer. Even if nine years ago
I was heralding the decline of these machines as "personal" (and of
course I wasn't the only person doing so) the simple fact that we click on these
icons almost every time we use our computers further establishes our relationship
toward the machine as something highly personal.
Go to: Taking it personally.