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.

The VAR Guy loves crunching numbers. So he spent some time today looking at the iPod’s installed base and the cell phone market — trying to determine how many of those customers would purchase an Apple iPhone … and how soon.

Even as Microsoft continues to promote its most ambitious operating system launch ever, Michael Dell is finally ready to dance with the penguin. The PC giant is “crafting product offerings” in response to customer demand for Linux desktops and notebooks, according to the company’s Direct2Dell blog.

The unified communications market is quickly organizing itself into two camps: There’s Cisco Systems Inc. … and then there’s everybody else. Sure, that’s a bit of an exaggeration from The VAR Guy. But it’s clear that Cisco’s rivals–from Avaya Inc. to Juniper Networks Inc.–are working with each other to gang up against the networking giant.

The VAR Guy skipped last week’s Novell BrainShare event because of other pressing deadlines, but he got a comprehensive brain dump from a senior IT manager who attended. Here are some hits–and misses–from the event.

The VAR Guy just had dinner with a buddy of his. Call him The Network Guy, a savvy IT manager who just returned from Novell’s Brainshare. Lots of info to share from the show. Stay tuned for updates over the weekend. But the hit of the event appears to be Novell advertisements that poke fun at the current “Hello, I’m a Mac…” television ads. The VAR Guy loves ‘em. If Novell throws these ads on CNBC, he suspects the company could have a hit on its hands.

3Com reported a narrow quarterly loss on March 22, but the bigger story is the company’s blossoming partnership with IBM. Within the next few days, The VAR Guy hears, IBM and 3Com will announce that they’re ready to ship an integrated IP telephony server with email, messaging and other business software.

Lookout, Novell: Red Hat is getting ready to leap from Linux servers onto desktops and mainframes, The VAR Guy hears. After focusing mainly on x86 servers in recent years, Red Hat will move both downstream and upstream while rallying partners at regional events later this year.

If you’re a Cisco VAR moving into managed services, it might be wise to arrive a little early for the Cisco Partner Summit 2007 (April 3-6, Las Vegas). That’s because Vegas will also host the first Kaseya User Conference on April 2-3.

As they wake up for work Thursday morning, Symbol Technologies employees may feel like hitting the snooze button. Sure, many of those employees survived a corporate accounting scandal and fierce competition from Cisco Systems. And life was supposed to be just dandy once Motorola acquired Symbol in January. But unfortunately, Symbol jumped in the car just as Motorola’s business was accelerating–toward a cliff.

Panasonic ToughBooks, those rugged notebooks that survive extreme climates and severe poundings, aren’t just for Uncle Sam anymore. Sure, one-third of all ToughBook sales involve the federal government. But several other vertical markets are now hitting the road with ToughBooks in hand, The VAR Guy hears.

Amid deadlines at the office, The VAR Guy didn’t attend Novell’s BrainShare conference this week. But several of his trusted sources are feeding him info from the event. One loyal tipster says Novell is quietly launching a thin client offensive with Wyse Technology. Although The VAR Guy has criticized many of Novell’s recent moves, this thin client approach is super smart.

The VAR Guy told you in December that EVault recruited Dave Ferretti as its new channel chief. Apparently, a few people who actually don’t read The VAR Guy (say it ain’t so) missed the news. EVault, now owned by Seagate, issued a press release today announcing Ferretti’s position at the managed storage company. The release also described some new channel initiatives at EVault.

Attention all Apple fanatics. Open today’s Wall Street Journal and you’ll find one of the most glowing product reviews The VAR Guy has ever read. Walt Mossberg–the Roger Ebert of high-tech reviews–writes the following about the new Apple TV device: