Computerworld: Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Patent trolls under attack, but not dead yet

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Fri, 15 Aug 2014 18:04:00 GMT

The patent wars keep going and going and we keep paying and paying.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Bye, Nokia, nice knowing you

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Tue, 22 Jul 2014 12:24:00 GMT

Nokia, once a great company and the pride of Finland, is shuffling to its grave under Microsoft's leadership.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Who should really worry about Apple/IBM? Microsoft

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 17 Jul 2014 03:09:00 GMT

Sure, the enterprise push by Apple and IBM should worry the Android camp, and business writers should make sure they have an up-to-date obituary ready for BlackBerry. But Microsoft is the company with the most to lose.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Does HP have a development pipeline or a pipe dream?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 19 Jun 2014 11:51:00 GMT

HP claims that its light-based, next-generation Machine will do everything except scrub the kitchen sink. But given HP's recent innovation track record, why should we believe any of it?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Give us the Windows 8 Start menu and no one will get hurt

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 12 Jun 2014 13:31:00 GMT

It's looking like Microsoft won't be bringing back the Start menu until 2015. Way to put the customer first, Microsoft!

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Windows 8.1 Update 1, now with less annoyance

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 19 May 2014 10:30:00 GMT

After trying Update 1 for the last few weeks, the best I can say for it is that it sucks less.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Here comes the black market for XP patches

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 24 Apr 2014 16:12:00 GMT

For most people, XP patches will be unobtainable through legitimate channels. Sounds like a market to me.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: What's the best smartphone? That's the wrong question.

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 21 Apr 2014 10:30:00 GMT

There is no one 'best.' All we can really do is determine the best smartphone for you.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Office for iPad: Big deal, or big yawn?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 11:34:00 GMT

Flop or not? Users will soon decide whether Office for the iPad is the greatest thing since Flappy Birds or the next Microsoft Kin. What's a Kin, you ask? Exactly.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Who needs operating systems anymore? Not you.

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 24 Mar 2014 10:30:00 GMT

OSs will still matter to developers and engineers, but ordinary users are going to be more and more in the cloud, where their OS doesn't matter at all.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Windows 7 lives!

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 24 Feb 2014 17:31:00 GMT

More and more for Windows users, there's no OS like an old OS.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: You can keep using XP for another year, but do you really want to?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Tue, 18 Feb 2014 15:50:00 GMT

While clinging to the 11-year-old OS after Microsoft issues its last security patch in April is defensible, the security risks are going to keep mounting.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Told you so! Microsoft backs off on Metro

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Fri, 31 Jan 2014 22:27:00 GMT

Microsoft appears to be backing off on its biggest user interface fiasco since Microsoft Bob: In the Windows 8.1 update, the desktop rather than Metro reportedly will be the default interface.

Steven J. Vaughan Nichols: Windows 9 in 2015: Desperation isn't pretty

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 16 Jan 2014 16:13:00 GMT

Yes, Windows 8's been a failure. It's been worse than Vista. But is the solution really to push out a new operating system in double-quick time?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Lessons for IT from Windows 8/Metro

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 13 Jan 2014 11:30:00 GMT

What went wrong? The answer could keep your IT team from a similar design fiasco.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: The Windows killer: Chromebook

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 02 Jan 2014 19:55:00 GMT

Could the Chromebook knock out Windows on the desktop? Don't bet against it.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Amazon Drone: Stunt or service?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 05 Dec 2013 19:46:00 GMT

Is Amazon's 60 Minutes revelation serious, or just a publicity ploy?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Microsoft after Ballmer: Can this company be saved?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 02 Dec 2013 11:30:00 GMT

Even as he heads to the door, Ballmer is changing how Microsoft will run for years to come.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: From Microsoft, more Windows fail

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Is Windows 8.1 better than Windows 8? Yes. Is it any good? No.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: The Web at 20: What's in store over the next two decades?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 07 Oct 2013 10:00:00 GMT

The younger you are, the harder it is for you to imagine what life would be like without the Web. And in 20 more years, very few of us will be able to live without it.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Does Windows 8 help the government to spy on us?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 09 Sep 2013 10:00:00 GMT

TPM has always sounded like a good idea. But the problem with 'trusted computing' has alwasy been knowing how trustworthy it is.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Microsoft Bing-bang-bungles local search

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 12 Aug 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Search in Windows 8.1, now in preview, will use Bing to deliver targeted ads, even when you're just searching local drives.

All about Prism, Internet privacy and -- wait! -- squirrel!

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 01 Jul 2013 12:31:00 GMT

Some people are deeply upset about the latest incursions into our privacy. But as a society, we don't seem to care all that much.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Google Glass will be a big deal, so deal with it

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 20 May 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Some people are having fits about Google Glass. True, it will change how we think about privacy in public places, but such rethinking started years ago.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: The CIA and the cloud

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Get this: The CIA sees the cloud as being more secure than conventional IT.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: You want me in the office? How 20th century of you.

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 25 Mar 2013 10:00:00 GMT

Not every job is suitable for telecommuting. But for those that are, there are multiple benefits.

To Surface or not to Surface

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Tue, 26 Feb 2013 11:00:00 GMT

Microsoft needs to make up its mind whether it wants to stay a software company or if it's really serious about being a hardware power as well.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Vendors just can't stop trying to lock us all in

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 14 Jan 2013 11:00:00 GMT

We're heading to a new era of platform lock-in that extends to vendors' Internet services.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: OSs are leaving the user out of user interfaces

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 03 Dec 2012 11:00:00 GMT

The problem is that far too many people have forgotten User Interface 101: Make it easy.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Grandpa the programmer

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 05 Nov 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Too many of us of a 'certain age' are facing an IT work environment that is hostile to older workers.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: The shocker that wasn't: Intel CEO disses Windows 8

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 12:46:00 GMT

Intel, as in Wintel, says Windows 8 won't be ready when it ships. But since when did anyone believe Windows 8 would ever be ready to ship?

Steven J. Vaughan Nichols: Losing the 'Personal' in 'Personal Computing'

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 10 Sep 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Pretty much every tech company -- Apple, Microsoft, Google and more -- wants your data and your programs under their control and running on their machines, not yours.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Are Android tablets ready to take on the iPad?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 13 Aug 2012 10:00:00 GMT

The Nexus 7 seems to be taking off among consumers, but the real game-changer is Android 4.1, known as Jelly Bean.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: The perils of BYOD

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Tue, 10 Jul 2012 12:36:00 GMT

I'm not talking about the hassle for IT departments when people bring in their own devices. I mean the perils to the people doing the bringing.

Build your own Linux server on Amazon's cloud

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 05 Jul 2012 18:34:00 GMT

While you can run TurnKey Linux on an ordinary server or on VMWare, OpenStack or OpenVZ, the mindlessly simple and fast way to do it is to spin up your own server on the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: It's 2016, and Chrome OS is ascendant

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 18 Jun 2012 17:18:00 GMT

The fat client desktop system has ruled computing for 30 years. Could Google Chrome OS and other cloud-based, thin-client systems dominate the next 30?

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: I, robot owner

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 21 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Are we ready for robots that share our highways and homes? We'd better be, because they're coming.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Facebook + Instagram = one big acquisition flop

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Facebook's foolish buyout of Instagram is a waste of a billion of its pre-IPO dollars, but it's not the all-time worst tech business deal.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Does VMware have a real future?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Price is a big weakness when every player in the virtualization market is offering a good-enough free option.

Which is the best Linux server for you?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 20:57:00 GMT

All Linux servers may be built on the same code base and can run the same applications, but that doesn't mean they're the same.

BYOD: Good for whom exactly?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:00:00 GMT

What we usually hear is that the 'bring your own device' concept brings problems for IT but is cool for users. But is it really that good an idea for them? Insider (registration required)

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: For the good of the nation, broadband for all

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 16:34:00 GMT

The digital divide is shutting many Americans out of the economy.

Steven J. Vaughan Nichols: Microsoft is finally making good products -- but it's too late

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

Now that the company is finally making good server and desktop operating systems, we're moving to the cloud, smartphones and tablets.

Image gallery: Which Linux desktop is for you?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

The four top Linux distributions -- Fedora, Mint, openSUSE and Ubuntu -- differ widely in their approach to the desktop. We look at all four and figure out which is right for you.

Fedora, Mint, openSUSE, Ubuntu: Which Linux desktop is for you?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:00:00 GMT

The four top Linux distributions -- Fedora, Mint, openSUSE and Ubuntu -- differ widely in their approach to the desktop. We look at all four and figure out which is right for you.

Rumble in the cloud: 5 cloud storage services compared

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 17:29:00 GMT

It used to be that when I said "cloud services," people's eyes would glaze over and in minutes they'd be gently snoring. That was then. This is now. While CIOs and CTOs still debate about what role the cloud will have in business, personal cloud services have been slowly easing their way into almost everyone's computing plans.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Operating systems don't matter much anymore

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 05 Dec 2011 11:00:00 GMT

Operating systems will remain important for as long as we use computers, but mostly they will matter only to the people behind the scenes.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: After Jobs, will Apple target the enterprise?

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 11:00:00 GMT

CEO Tim Cook should seriously try to get Apple into the enterprise market.

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Microsoft's Metro is on the wrong track for many Windows users

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 10:00:00 GMT

If Windows 8 was just another step forward in the Windows family, it would be fine. But if you really look at Metro, you might see a scene from Microsoft's past -- a Vista-style train wreck. Insider (registration required)

Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols: Life on Jobs-less Earth

sjvn@vna1.com (Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols) — Wed, 31 Aug 2011 19:06:00 GMT

Some people have already forgotten about just how important Steve Jobs was, not only to Apple, but to all of technology.