The VAR Guy smiled a bit when he read Matt Asay’s blog entry about media folks who pretend they’re unbiased. Asay says he prefers media and blogs that disclose their biases about tech products, companies, investments, etc. The VAR Guy certainly agrees. So here are some of his biases.
Microsoft: The VAR Guy loved Windows NT Workstation and NT Server in the 1990s, but he was bitterly disappointed with Windows Vista and he thinks Microsoft has lost its way — though not fully — in the Web 2.0 age. Strategies like hosted SharePoint, Exchange and Dynamics CRM seem really promising. But Microsoft’s desktop operating system is, um, a pathetic attempt to charge people for bloated software.
Open Source vs. Closed Source: The VAR Guy runs Ubuntu on a Dell desktop. He’s a fan of the open source model, but he doesn’t believe all open source is better than closed source. He sees hybrid models emerging, where customers choose the best of open and closed source, and piece them together into solutions.
Apple: The VAR Guy loves all things Apple. Pathetic, we know. He blogs using his MacBook Pro on most days, but jumps over to his Ubuntu system whenever he needs to get into the open source mindset. He admires Steve Jobs but can never imagine working for him. The reason? The VAR Guy is arrogant and opinionated. And he always needs to get the last word in an argument. Steve would surely have security escort The VAR Guy from Apple’s campus within 10 minutes of meeting our resident blogger.
Tech Investments: The VAR Guy has a few bucks in the stock market, but not enough to brag about. His one individual tech holding at the moment is Salesforce.com (CRM). He’s owned Red Hat, Intel, Dell, Cisco and a few other tech companies in recent years. But he generally loses more money than he makes on tech stocks. Perhaps he’s too close to tech companies to make wise investment choices. How’s that for a lame way of saying The VAR Guy is a terrible investors.
Cisco Systems: Generally speaking, The VAR Guy worries when tech companies get too big and too dominant. But in Cisco’s case, The VAR Guy remains upbeat and generally positive. Perhaps it’s because Cisco PR has been returning The VAR Guy’s calls since 1992.
Star Wars vs. Star Trek: Luke and Leia beat Kirk and Spock any day.
Red Hat vs. Novell: The VAR Guy was upbeat on Red Hat and down on Novell from about 2002 through 2007. But then, Novell started calling our resident blogger and asking why he was such a negative dude. The more The VAR Guy watched Novell and spoke with their customers, he realized that the world of Linux servers had two real contenders — not one.
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Perhaps…. But Star Wars didn’t have href=”http://www.debbieohi.com/trek/pics/04uhura.jpg”>Lt Ohura
And the world of Linux servers in increasingly becoming a 3-horse race.
I’ve been the same on Novell, but have been increasingly impressed by its execution. That (and the Microsoft deal) was always what frustrated me with the company, especially when I was an employee there. The company is turning itself around now.
As for you and your despicable biases, how will I ever be able to read your blog again?
Between the VAR Guy and Matt there isn’t any reason to read anywhere else. I know my opinion and perspective have been changed by your “bias”. Thanks for the great job of writing.
Gotta go with Star Trek though.
Richard: You’ve left us hanging. WHICH Star Trek? The original? TNG? DSN?
I have a signed cast photo on the wall behind my shoulder of TNG. TOS is a close second.
I was able to introduce 4 of my 5 daughters to the Star Trek world in Las Vegas during their spring break this year. We ended up going through the Star Trek Experience at the Las Vegas Hilton a half dozen times and now have photos of us in uniform sitting on the bridge of TNG Enterprise.
Priceless
I am a long-time trekkie (Next Generation FTW!), but have come to realize the power of the dark side. So now I appreciate both. I will say that the star wars games are more fun than trekkie games.
RE: Novell - Yes, they made a mistake (the agreement with Microsoft) but they are doing a lot of good for open source. So don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
Tristan
Hmm … I can’t deal with Microsoft or Apple on the principal I just don’t like monopolies and I don’t like bullies. I also don’t like having chairs thrown at me because I don’t agree and think with my own mind.
These days I prefer open source. Although I’ve used some really good closed source Windows applications in the past. Video Studio 9, Vue d’Esprite 2 and the Boreland Delphi IDE.
I don’t have any investments and right now I trust Cisco to do their job and keep us all in touch. Without Cisco a huge part of the internet’s infrastructure just wouldn’t exist. And they’re now embeding Linux into some of their products. Go Cisco!
As soon as I noticed Leias knockers everything else was a blur. Even her hairstyle.
openSuSE was the first Linux distro I used full time. My pet hate about it was the constant RPM dependency hell. Which is why I switched to Ubuntu. I do love the openSuSE installer though. That always worked a treat. Especially if you weren’t scared to experiment. It’s disaster recovery tools were also second to none. Fixing Grub after Windows XP nuked it was just too easy. I’ve never really used Fedora. But I did used to dual boot with Red Hat Linux 5.x?
I remember it had a cool little snow fall effect that piled up snow on any open window.