Let me wish everyone who celebrates a happy Passover and a good Easter.

Expect major changes to come to the Apple ecosystem.  There are rumors that Apple intends to replace Intel processors in their Mac line with their custom A series processors used in the iPhone and iPad.  Changing CPUs will have major impacts on Apple products:

• Many people use Apple Macs to run Windows instead of Apple’s native MacOS.  Windows computers also use Intel architecture, so it is unclear if future Apple Macs based on A series processors will be able to run Windows.  Apple may have to add emulation software to run Windows, but emulation software is usually slow, buggy and limiting.
• By using the same processor family on all their products, Apple devices will be able to share data and applications seamlessly between Mac computers and portable iPhones/iPads.
• By switching to their A series processors, Mac computers will be able to run iOS (iPhone/iPad) applications.
• Apple will test moving native MacOS applications to their iOS counterparts.  It has already leaked that Apple will be retiring its iTunes application on the Mac and replace it with 2 to 3 iOS applications.  At this point the fate of the Windows iTunes version is unknown.

In Microsoft news, the company has announced public testing of Windows Virtual Desktop.  A virtual desktop is a Windows 10 client that runs in the cloud; it does not require a physical PC.  It offers several advantages over a physical PC:

• Inexpensive: there is no hardware cost and maintenance
• Scalability: you can add/subtract resources (disk, memory, processor) as needed
• Snapshots: you can take a snapshot of your virtual desktop and revert to a previous version
• Management: you can create a template for all your virtual machines so everyone has the same environment with your settings and applications
• You can access the virtual desktop from another PC, a tablet or cell phone

Windows Virtual Desktop is a subscription model, part of Microsoft’s Azure offerings.  When the product is released, I expect Microsoft will offer bundle pricing that includes Windows 10, Office 365, security and device management.

For those of you concerned about privacy in Windows 10, the link below is an excellent article on how to manage and protect your privacy in Windows 10:https://www.myjewishlearning.com/the-nosher/we-asked-a-chef-and-bubbe-to-make-chicken-soup/