The VAR Guy

Memo to Steve Ballmer: It’s time for Microsoft to rethink its Windows Vista marketing plan. Sure, Vista has sold 20 million licenses. But everyone from Wall Street to Main Street U.S.A. knows Vista isn’t living up to its hype. Here are 10 logical steps Microsoft should take to jumpstart the Vista sales engine.

An interesting debate has started in The VAR Guy’s home. His old Windows XP PC is running out of gas. He was leaning toward a Mac Mini as a replacement. But now, Dell just complicated things. Michael & Company has officially announced plans to introduce desktops and notebooks with Linux. So what’s it gonna be: Dell Linux or Apple? Any advice out there? The VAR Guy is all ears.

OnForce, an online marketplace that connects VARs with IT customers, today unveiled a new service that caught The VAR Guy’s attention. The service, called OnForce MarketView Index, provides VARs with some very interesting state-by-state IT project data. The VAR Guy sees big potential for the index. If OnForce plays its cards right, it could become the Google Maps of the IT channel, connecting VARs with customers across the country.

Finally, The VAR Guy believes, Dell is listening to the market. The hardware giant spent recent weeks gathering data about customers’ interest in Linux desktops and notebooks. And on the server, Dell continues to show more love for MySQL–the increasingly popular open source database.

The VAR Guy will be in Las Vegas next week, first to stop by Kaseya’s customer event and then to attend Cisco’s annual Partner Summit. Although he typically works in the shadows, here are five ways to spot The VAR Guy in Vegas.

For better or for worse, these are interesting times for Novell SuSE Linux VARs. Even as some VARs strive to profit from the Novell-Microsoft partnership, that high-profile relationship continues to draw concerns from The Free Software Foundation (FSF).

We’ve all seen it: Friendships that start in grammar school, blossom in high school and collapse in college. Or worse, the grade school friends who become fierce rivals in the corporate world. Does such a fate await Red Hat and MySQL?

The VAR Guy has a confession: He likes Best Buy. A lot. He blows 12o percent of his holiday budget and most of his annual tax refund (before Uncle Sam even cuts him a check) at the Big Box retailer. Some channel watchers consider Best Buy a big, scary company that will smother small business VARs. “Oh no: Here comes Best Buy and The Geek Squad.” Settle down, folks. There’s no reason for alarm.

VARs that partner with Aruba Networks can breathe a collective sigh of relief. Aruba, which specializes in secure wired and wireless networks, launched a successful IPO today. Shares rose 29 percent during Aruba’s first day of trading. Alas, The VAR Guy didn’t get in on this offering.

The VAR Guy will be in Las Vegas next week (April 2-5) for several business meetings. But don’t try striking up a conversation with him when he’s walking The Las Vegas Strip. He’ll be too busy testing a new wireless broadband network deployed by Cheetah Wireless Technologies (CWTI). The network, which uses wireless mesh technology from BelAir Networks, highlights growing opportunities for VARs in the public broadband sector.