The VAR Guy

Herb Siegel, the former VP of channel marketing communications at Computer Associates International Inc., talks the talk. But today he couldn’t walk the walk — due to a freak accident at home.

CNet’s Matt Asay beat The VAR Guy to the punch — writing a blog about potential Oracle-Ubuntu Linux synergies. Still, the potential Oracle-Ubuntu partnership gets a little sexier when you throw OpenOffice into the mix. Not even Jack, Janet and Chrissy looked this good together in their prime. Here’s why.

When Oracle announced its SaaS (software as a service) strategy for ISVs, The VAR Guy wanted to hear more. So our resident blogger opened his ears and listened to this podcast, featuring Oracle Channel Chief Judson Althoff. During the conversation…

Oracle Channel Chief Judson Althoff on SaaS [ 9:35 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

After weeks of speculation, Microsoft has essentially killed Response Point — the company’s former VoIP system for small businesses. According to a Microsoft Town Hall meeting today with VARs, the product is in maintenance mode with no future releases planned. Sorry for the following comparison, but Response Point has become Microsoft’s modern day OS/2. Here’s why.

Red Hat has launched a cloud partner and certification program, and Amazon is the first to join. The VAR Guy is hardly surprised. This is a sign of things to come from Red Hat — and another indication of Amazon Web Services’ growing influence over next-generation solutions providers. What’s in store for Red Hat Enterprise Linux and JBoss open source partners? Here’s the scoop, from The VAR Guy.

Will Microsoft continue forward or pull the plug on Response Point — a small business VoIP phone system? The answer could be known on June 30, when Microsoft is expected to host a Response Point Town Hall Meeting for VARs. But here’s a clue about the situation: A source close to Microsoft says Response Point will have limited to no presence at Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference 2009 (WPC09). Here’s the scoop.

Dell’s Linux strategy includes close relationships with Red Hat, Novell, Canonical and Intel, among others. But during my June 26 visit to Dell, we shifted our attention to Dell’s consumer Linux strategy, which mostly involves netbooks and PCs running Ubuntu. I captured portions of the conversation — including Dell’s early thoughts on Moblin (Mobile Linux) — in this vodcast…

If you’re striving to better understand hosted security solutions — recurring revenue models, sales strategies and technology considerations — then join us on July 15. That’s when we’ll host The VAR Guy: Live webcast. Here’s some quick information about the webcast.

I spent June 26 at Dell’s headquarters in Austin, Texas, meeting key members of Dell’s Linux team. We spent an hour discussing the broad Linux market; Dell’s current Ubuntu strategy; and the PC giant’s early reaction to Moblin (Mobile Linux).

Imagine sipping a Pepsi in Coca Cola’s lobby. Or parking a Ford in GM’s executive parking lot. That’s the situation facing The VAR Guy today. In a few hours, he’ll be booting up an Apple MacBook Pro during interviews at Dell’s headquarters. Will “Hello” become a quick “Goodbye”? Hopefully not…

When Red Hat announced first quarter results on June 24, The VAR Guy spotted a rather interesting detail: Red Hat’s quarterly open source revenues are nearly four times larger than its closest Linux rival, Novell. Next, can you guess who’s growing faster in the open source market? Here’s the math, and the potential implications.

Here’s a quick riddle from The VAR Guy: How does Stuart Crawford, a solutions provider in Alberta, Canada, plan to make money by giving away $5,000? Here’s the answer.

Rewind to June 16. That’s when Channel Chief Judson Althoff promised Oracle would get serious about social networks for partners. Now fast forward to July 7, when Althoff and Oracle President Charles Phillips will attempt to prove the social media point — during the Oracle Virtual Partner Kickoff event. Here’s the scoop.

TheVARguy.com and MSPmentor are confirmed to interview Dell Channel Chief Greg Davis in a few days. If you have questions for Davis, feel free to email me (joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com) or post a comment below. I hope to weave in five or more reader questions during my conversation with Davis.

If you have questions about Dell’s Ubuntu Linux strategy, please email me your thoughts (joe [at] ninelivesmediainc.com) or post a comment below. I am meeting Dell’s Ubuntu team members in a few days. Here are five questions I hope to address. Plus, I welcome your questions to help shape the interview.

Who’s running Ubuntu — and why? You can find the answers in our WorksWithU 1000 survey and associated research report — which will ultimately track 1000 businesses, schools, government agencies and non-profit organizations running Ubuntu servers, desktops and mobile devices. Here’s some background.

Vyatta positions itself as the open source alternative to Cisco Systems. But what exactly does that mean? And how is Vyatta working with Citrix Systems, which recently invested in Vyatta? To find the answers, I spoke with Kelly Herrell (pictured), CEO of Vyatta.

Podcast Vyatta CEO Kelly Herrell [ 11:18 ] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

FatWire Software, which focuses on “Web Experience Management,” has launched a new FatWire Global Partner Program. Here’s the scoop and some quick details from The VAR Guy.

The VAR Guy hears it all the time: VARs and managed service providers generate hefty profits with on-premise and hosted Microsoft SharePoint. In fact, SharePoint has grown to become a $1 billion business for Microsoft. But now, Red Hat and Alfresco are trying to direct some of those SharePoint channel dollars toward open source alternatives. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

Meow. A cat fight has broken out between ChannelWeb and ChannelInsider, and Hewlett-Packard got caught in the middle. On the one hand, ChannelWeb praises HP’s new Web connected printer. Clap, clap. On the other hand, rival ChannelInsider pans the printer. Boo, hiss. But perhaps that isn’t the full story.

At first glance, Lenovo’s new ThinkPad T400s model fits somewhere between Lenovo’s existing X300 and T400 notebooks. But take a closer look, and VARs will find the T400s designed for customers that have fallen for voice-over-IP (VoIP) applications. Here’s why.

Ubuntu developers recently announced a new system that will make it easier to brand third-party applications with Ubuntu imagery in Ubuntu 9.10.  While decorating the desktop with benign images of a Koala may not hurt anything, Ubuntu should be careful not to take the branding too far.  Here’s why.

Talk about a quiet revolution. More than 24,000 of Microsoft’ U.S. channel partners have embraced Pinpoint — a new locator service (still in beta) that helps customers find Microsoft solutions providers. Now, the Pinpoint partner search and rating service is spreading across Europe. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.