The VAR Guy

Here’s part two of The VAR Guy’s five-part countdown, highlighting 50 trends and takeaways from the Ubuntu Live conference in Portland, Oregon. Items 40-31, with more to follow soon…

Software industry pioneer Mitch Kapor–the father of Lotus 1-2-3 and chair of the Open Source Applications Foundation –today compared the open source movement to the seven-part Harry Potter book series.

Yes, The VAR Guy is attending the 2007 UbuntuLive in Portland, Oregon. He’s already noticed several Ubuntu Linux trends that could potentially benefit solutions providers and their customers. So, it’s the perfect opportunity for a big countdown: 50 things you need to know about Ubuntu. Here are items 50-41, with more to follow soon…

Lookout, Microsoft. Move over Red Hat. Ubuntu is preparing a small business server and related support tools that could allow entrepreneurs to standardize their networks on the operating system. Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth dropped a few hints about the small business server during his keynote speech at Ubuntu LIVE today in Portland, Oregon.

Ubuntu now has as many as 12 million users, according to Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttlworth. But this is more than a desktop story, folks. Sounds like server deployments are ramping up fast and mobile device deployments are just around the corner.TechIQ magazine notes that Canonical — the company behind Ubuntu — will spend the next year focusing on a small business server. Shuttleworth also mentioned Ubuntu’s opportunity on mobile devices. He downplayed the opportunity on smart phones (at least initially), and instead focused on mobile Internet-enabled devices that resemble Nokia’s N800 handheld device.

Yes, The VAR Guy is attending UbuntuLIVE in Portland, Oregon. He’s already noticed several Ubuntu Linux trends that could potentially benefit solutions providers and their customers. So, it’s the perfect opportunity for a big countdown: 50 things you need to know about Ubuntu. Here are items 50-41, with more to follow soon…

I made it to Portland, Oregon — home of the Ubuntu LIVE event — safe and sound. I’ll be blogging live from here today (July 22) and Monday (July 23). I will also be attending a Canonical reception this evening. If there are any key speakers you’d like me to interview, please leave a comment on this post or send me email at joe [at] microcast.biz. Also, if you’re a solutions provider be sure to watch TechIQmag.com. I hear their lead blogger, The VAR Guy, will be somewhere in the crowd.

Ubuntu, the fast-growing version of Linux from Canonical, now has between 6 million and 12 million users, according to Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth.

Canonical founder and Ubuntu creator Mark Shuttleworth is calling for an open dialog with Red Hat, Novell and other major Linux distribution providers.

A few days ago, The VAR Guy wrote a blog entry that included a pretty nifty online version of Pac-Man for all to enjoy. One influential fellow — let’s call him Tech Emcee — asked The VAR Guy to dig a bit deeper into the past. His one-sentence feedback on Pac-Man: “Call me when you have Pong working.”

Please forgive The VAR Guy for the headline. He’s actually a Dell Inc. customer. But after reading all of the negative channel press about Dell in recent days, you’d think that Michael is working for the devil himself.

Hi Folks,

The VAR Guy saw this coming: For months, he has called on Apple to partner with Cisco Systems to ensure the iPhone worked with Cisco-based networks. Now comes word that Duke University (a major Cisco customer) is experiencing network problems — allegedly due to iPhone-related problems.

Sometimes The VAR Guy amazes even himself. Over the weekend, he was drafting a blog entry naming four companies that need to go private. His list included 3Com. (He’ll tell you about the other three companies at a later date.) Now comes word that private equity firms have approached 3Com about a buyout. There are five reasons why 3Com and its VARs would benefit from being private. Here they are…

More speculation from The VAR Guy, a blogger over at TechIQ magazine. He noticed that Hewlett-Packard’s top Linux executive is scheduled to keynote the Ubuntu LIVE conference July 23 in Portland. Makes you wonder: Will HP use the stage to announc PCs with Ubuntu pre-installed?

The VAR Guy is reaching into his sofa, grabbing all available quarters and heading to LinuxWorld San Francisco on August 7. No, not to blog about open source. Instead, he’ll attend the Vyatta Open Arcade Classic — a charity event featuring open source leaders playing Asteroids, Pac-Man, Defender, Donkey Kong and Centipede.

The VAR Guy isn’t ready to panic. Nor is he suggesting that the iPhone is prone to crashes. But a savvy software tester has managed to document at least 68 bugs with the new Apple smart phone. Hmmm. So how does that compare with other software?

The VAR Guy is packing his bags and plans to attend Ubuntu LIVE July 22 in Portland, Oregon. While prepping for the event, he spotted four key developments in the Linux market — including a possible surprise announcement from Hewlett-Packard Co. Here’s the rundown.

I’m finally spending some time in Rhythmbox, an iTunes-type system that came preinstalled with my Dell Ubuntu PC. Sure, there are lots of options for managing music on Ubuntu. But Rhythmbox seemed like a nice, easy way to get started. And it was.

I finally took the time to connect my Hewlett-Packard PSC 2355 printer to my Dell Ubuntu PC. Finding the driver on the Web, installing it and activating the printer took only a few minutes. But the process is still much easier in the world of Windows XP. Here’s why.

A debate is raging in many web forums: Which operating system is easier to install – Windows Vista or Ubuntu? Anyone who’s asking that question is missing the bigger picture.

Apple’s iPhone may be a consumer device, but the smart phone is catching on with some hosted application providers. A case in point: Some employees at Skyytek Corp. (a VAR) are using iPhones to access NetSuite’s hosted applications. So far, Skyytek sounds very impressed.

TelePresence is expensive (at the high-end, $300,000 per deployment) and bandwidth intensive. But if you get your customers to see it in action, TelePresence often sells itself, The VAR Guy hears. That’s why Cisco has deployed more than 100 TelePresence systems across the networking giant’s corporate offices, according to one trusted tipster.