The more experience I gain with Office 2.0, the more I realize that some of the rules I stated for it back in January would benefit from some fine tuning. Among them, the requirement not to store any file on one’s personal computer, and the interdiction to use any browser extension. As was suggested by multiple readers in the past, carrying a thumb drive might help solve several problems at once, among them the need to log once for each application being used.

I started thinking about this option seriously when I recently came across Sony’s Micro Vault Fingerprint Access USB Flash Drive. This 512MB thumb drive is equipped with a fingerprint identification system that stores and automatically enters website IDs and passwords. Carrying such a device around would have multiple benefits.

First, it would partially solve one of the most critical bugs that is currently plaguing the concept for Office 2.0: lack of single sign-on. I write “partially”, because I assume that Sony’s Micro Vault requires the installation of a specific driver and/or browser extension, making the solution not as portable as it should be. I ordered one today and will report on this later.

Second, it would allow one to carry some applications that are required on an irregular basis, such as a good old Office 1.0 office productivity suite for example. When someone sends you a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet that makes use of macros and expects you to make some modifications to it, Gmail’s “View as HTML” or Zoho Sheet won’t be enough, and you will need a real spreadsheet editor to get the job done. Because you will want portability across operating systems (Microsoft Windows, Apple Mac OS X and Linux), using OpenOffice.org seems like the best option, and certainly is the most cost effective — remember, you can’t get cheaper than free, no matter how hard you try.

Third, it would also permit the use of a customized web browser that would provide bookmarks and specific extensions that make your life easier, without killing your productivity when you cannot use them. For OS compatibility reasons, I would recommend using Mozilla Firefox.

Last but not least, the thumb drive could be used for what it was designed at the first place, and that is storing personal documents. I find myself using such a device to carry corporate presentations that I might have to give in an impromptu manner, even when I do not have my laptop. And if I could find a larger capacity drive, I would not mind storing the 2GB or so of music that I listen to most of the time. Last time I checked, my entire collection of Stereolab EPs and LPs sampled at 192 kbps fit in less than 1.6GB.

I will start using Sony’s Micro Vault and provide feedback over time.

UPDATE 7/11/2006: PortableApps.com is a great resource. Thank you D.