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Stories by Steven J. Vaughan-Nichols

  • What does HP think it's doing?

    Winston Churchill once said of Russia, "It is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma." Now, I don't deal with international politics. I just write about technology. But when I've looked at HP lately I've been left thinking of its strategy as, well, "a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma."

  • iOS 8 hate

    Enough is enough. Apple's iOS 8 mobile operating system came out in mid-September. Since then, the company has delivered seven -- count 'em, seven -- patch releases, and iOS 8 still doesn't work that well. Argh!

  • Pulling net neutrality from a swamp of lies

    On Feb. 26, the Federal Communications Commission voted, along strict party lines, to <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2889261/fcc-approves-net-neutrality-rules-reclassifies-broadband-as-utility.html">approve new net neutrality rules</a> by reclassifying broadband as a regulated public utility. So does that save the Internet or lock it up in a bureaucratic, censored, expensive prison?

  • Chromebooks spank Windows

    Last summer Microsoft talked its partners into trying to stop the growing popularity of Chromebooks in its tracks by making a big push during the holiday season. While full retail results won't be in for a while, we do know the laptop sales results from the most important retailer of them all, Amazon. Guess what. With that retailer at least, Microsoft and its buddies failed. Miserably.

  • 2015: The year the Internet crashes. Hard.

    An Internet joke that goes back at least to the early 1980s consists entirely of the phrase: "<a href="http://catb.org/jargon/html/I/Imminent-Death-Of-The-Net-Predicted-.html">Imminent Death of the Net Predicted</a>!" Every year, even more often than you'd hear "This will be the year of the Linux desktop!" someone would predict that the Internet was going to go to hell in a handbasket -- and nothing happened. This year it's my turn, but I fear I'm going to be proved right.

  • Microsoft will surprise in 2015

    You may have noticed that I take a rather cynical view of Microsoft. But I think I am able to recognize when it does good things. As a matter of fact, I think the company made some smart moves in 2014, and it's going to benefit from them in 2015.

  • At Microsoft, quality seems to be job none

    I actually had been feeling <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2845313/say-hi-to-windows-8-2-er-10.html">optimistic about Windows 10</a>. No, really. You can look it up. I mean, I didn't think Windows 10 was the greatest thing since the advent of the Internet, but it did strike me as a solid replacement for the lamentable Windows 8.

  • Say hi to Windows 8.2 -- er, 10

    <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2476464/microsoft-windows/did-microsoft-just-admit-windows-8-is-its-worst-operating-system-ever-.html">Windows 8 is quite possibly the worst</a> desktop operating system that Microsoft ever released. Since Windows 8 is going up against such all-time flop-a-doodles as Vista and Windows ME, that's saying something.

  • Microsoft heads back to the desktop

    Microsoft has flopped on smartphones and tablets. At the same time, its Windows 8.x has continued to be such an abject failure, with a mere <a href="http://www.computerworld.com/article/2600775/windows-pcs-windows-8s-uptake-climbs-but-still-trails-vistas.html">13.4% share of the PC market</a>, that it's trailing even legendary fiasco Vista in market acceptance.