Newsbrief: Steam has added a way for VR users to check their PC's desktop in VR. Dubbed Steam Desktop Overlay, it brings up a virtual monitor inside VR that allows you to check and interact with your PC desktop without taking off your Vive HMD.
This is the latest move from VR developers to make using the headsets more productive. At GDC, we got hands-on with Epic's implementation of Unreal Engine's editor in VR, which was surprisingly usable. You can read about that here.
If you're interested in Steam Desktop Overlay, you'll have to update to the beta Steam client. More details are available here.