Scot’s Newsletter Blog

Scot’s Newsletter began life in 1999 as the Windows Insider newsletter, a product of the long defunct Windows Magazine. In 2000, the newsletter split in two, becoming the Broadband Report and Windows Insider newsletters. Windows Magazine was shuttered in March 2001, and Scot’s Newsletter was launched a few weeks later — merging the Windows and broadband coverage back into one newsletter.

The newsletter’s focus has changed over the years, moving from Windows only to multiple operating systems. Scot’s Newsletter Forums launched in March of 2003, and the forums’ All Things Linux forum quickly became a vibrant and valuable resource for Linux and would-be Linux users. The newsletter began publishing Linux Explorer content, a product of the All Things Linux forum, and especially its lead moderator, Bruno of Amsterdam.

Finnie is a longtime computer product reviewer whose focus has largely been review coverage of Windows and other operating systems, browsers, security software, and mainstream business applications. His coverage of the beta cycles of both Windows XP and Windows Vista are chronicled in Scot’s Newsletter. Finnie’s extensive Vista alpha and beta coverage began in 2003 and was capped off in late 2006. His Vista articles appeared on TechWeb, InformationWeek, PC World, and Computerworld.

In 2005, Finnie purchased one of the first Mac mini computers because of his interest in the OS X operating system. In March 2006, he bought an early Intel MacBook Pro and over the next 12 months bought two additional MacBook Pros. After wrapping up his final review of Windows Vista (A Hard Look at Windows Vista, Computerworld, co-authored with Preston Gralla), Finnie undertook the research and writing of a series of articles about the Mac. The concept for the first series was Macintosh total immersion — a three-month trial with nothing but the Mac and a copy of Windows XP running in a virtual machine.

The Mac experience was a game changer for him. Four months into the “three-month test,” he knew he wasn’t going back. So, early 2007 saw the beginning of a regular contribution of Mac coverage to the newsletter.

Scot’s Newsletter has been a hobby, not a vocation. Finnie’s career as a magazine editor, author, reviewer, reporter, and manager has grown in parallel to the newsletter. Finnie worked for many years at Ziff Davis, where he was a reviews editor and editorial manager at PC/Computing, FamilyPC, and ZDNet. In 1997 he moved to CMP Media, and worked at Windows Magazine, TechWeb, and InformationWeek. In 2006 he accepted the position of Online Editorial Director at Computerworld magazine. In November 2007, he was promoted to Editor in Chief of Computerworld.

Today, Scot’s Newsletter covers Microsoft, Apple, Windows, OS X, broadband, security, applications, do-it-yourself networking, the Internet, and broadband. It also contains a good deal of commentary, analysis, and opinion about a wide variety of tech-related topics, including Internet publishing, consumer electronics, wireless, and the future of automotive technology.