Comments on: $332 Million (Or More) Awaits Red Hat Partners

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 14:18:01 +0000

Scott: The VAR Guy doesn't know Whitehurst. But he generally respects the Red Hat management team. Particularly Michael Tiemann, VP, open source affairs. Fantastic evangelist and public speaker.

By: Scott

Scott — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:42:43 +0000

VAR guy, let me put you on the spot, if I may.

What is your take on Red Hat’s new CEO, Jim Whitehurst?

I read an article about him (I follow the slashdot links from time to time!) taking over with little interest. Yet another CEO swapping industries *yawn*. Until I got to the part where they mentioned he used to hack around with Slackware. “Now you’ve got my attention!”

I watched Jim Whitehurst give his Keynote speech and I was amazed. His message was clear, given with confidence, and had very little “corporate speak”; I’m not only convinced that he knows what he’s talking about, but I really think he understands the ‘why’ of the Red Hat business model. Either that, or he’s a world class actor with an uncanny ability to use tech nouns and verbs correctly. But my vote is for the former rather than the latter.

Your thoughts?

By: The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:43:00 +0000

JP: So, I assume you’d offer the same math for MSFT, which generates a TON of its revenue thru PC preloads rather than true VARs?

By: JP

JP — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:31:01 +0000

Math? RH has a limited direct sales force. The “channel” in this case is not VARs it’s the Dell’s (they generated 30% of RH revenue in the past few years) and the CDW’s. The traditional VAR resells a spitball amount compared to the nationals.

The numbers are out there…re-do your math.