Stories by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

The end of the desktop?

Microsoft is introducing the Windows Virtual Desktop, and ushering in the end of the traditional PC desktop operating system.

You still can’t turn off Windows 10’s built-in spyware

Microsoft is reducing the data it collects from your Windows 10 PCs, but what does that really mean? Good question. Microsoft isn’t saying.

Open source has won, and Microsoft has surrendered

Many Linux users are ticked off and anxious about Microsoft joining the Linux Foundation. They are missing the real significance of that move.

I’m going to say no to the new MacBook Pro

Many of the design choices are likely to add up to user frustration.

Windows 10 runs again — but for how long?

Microsoft finally issued a patch that released Windows 10 PCs from reboot hell. So why is ungrateful me just bracing for the next awful thing to happen?

I want out of Windows patch hell

You’d think that when it made patches pretty much inescapable, Microsoft would have made darn sure those patches were problem-free. But you’d be wrong.

AirPods: Just as bad as you thought they’d be

No matter how much you love Apple gear, you’re going to have trouble loving AirPods.

I don’t like being force-fed Windows 10

The nagware announcements are gone, but Microsoft, along with AMD and Intel, has made darn sure you’ll be running Windows 10 and not Windows 7 on the next PC you buy.

Cortana: The spy in Windows 10

Cortana, Windows 10’s built-in virtual assistant, is both really cool and really creepy.

Would you subscribe to Windows?

Instead of buying Windows, you may soon be subscribing to it — that’s how much Microsoft wants you off of Windows 7.

I don’t want to be LinkedIn with Microsoft

Microsoft buying LinkedIn makes good sense — for Microsoft. I’m not so sure about LinkedIn users.

Pausing on the PC death march

Does it bother you that we’re heading toward a post-ownership computing world where we will have little control over our videos, music, software programs and devices? It does me.

The dying technologies of 2016

To every thing there is a season, and for some technologies the time to die is almost upon us.

How to put your movies on your media server

I have a huge movie collection. It used to all be on VHS tapes, then I moved to DVDs, and now I'm slowly moving to Blu-Ray. That's all well and good, but along the way I decided I liked the convenience of making my hundreds of movies accessible from ...