The VAR Guy

At Oracle OpenWorld 2009, Channel Chief Judson Althoff opened his keynote by addressing the “small elephant in the room” — Oracle’s pending acquisition of Sun Microsystems. Here’s the scoop.

As Oracle OpenWorld 2009 kicks off today in San Francisco, Channel Chief Judson Althoff (pictured) and several other Oracle team members are talking up the company’s SaaS (software as a service) strategy for channel partners and ISVs (independent software vendors). Here’s the scoop.

It was another week of planes, trains and automobiles for The VAR Guy. Alas, here are six channel blog entries The VAR Guy failed to write for the week ending Oct. 9, and their implications for readers.

Imagine the following scenario: You’re a security company and you’ve spent millions of dollars acquiring data loss prevention (DLP) technology. Then a rival comes along and offers DLP for free with its endpoint security platform. Have the rules of the DLP game just changed? Sophos thinks so. Here’s why.

Google Wave — Google’s heavily hyped unified communications effort — continues to generate a ton of buzz all over the Internet, despite only being in semi-open beta. Wave sounds promising but it won’t be a part of the Google Apps reseller program, at least not at launch.

As Avaya’s channel team heads south to a partner conference in Tennessee, The VAR Guy is looking north to Canada. The reason: The Canadian government is reviewing Avaya’s pending takeover of Nortel Networks’ enterprise division. Let’s hope the review goes quickly. Here’s why.

Starting with Karmic, Ubuntu now has its own slideshow for users to view while waiting for the installation to finish.  Besides representing one more thing Ubuntu has in common with Windows XP, the slides have some real value to new users.  Below, we take a look.

First, here’s a run down of the slides, which are pretty self-explanatory:

(The slideshow has apparently not yet gotten the memo that the Software Store was rechristened “Software Center” recently.  But this will presumably be fixed before Karmic’s final release.)

These slides perform some very useful tasks for people new to Ubuntu.  Among the things I like most are:

1. They cater to normal people, not geeks.  No advanced computer knowledge is assumed, and the slides focus on practical applications that normal people will use–there’s no terminal to scare neophytes away, which is a good thing.
2. The slides answer a lot of the questions that normal people tend to have before trying Ubuntu, such as “Can I open Word documents?” and “Does Ubuntu support my iPod/digital camera/favorite chat protocol?”
3. Ubuntu is presented as a coherent operating system with a full and clearly defined set of productivity applications ready to go out-of-the-box.  There are no distracting notes mentioning that there are three dozen alternatives to Rhythmbox or that Pidgin can replace Empathy if users don’t like the latter.  A reluctance to privilege certain applications over others is a chronic problem in the free-software community, and this slideshow avoids it.

Of course, the impact and importance of these slides might be dampened by the fact that they’re shown after the user has already decided to install Ubuntu, but they still don’t hurt.  And the slide show could be made available for viewing from a normal installation, as a sort of introduction to Ubuntu, for the benefit of individuals who don’t install Ubuntu themselves.  It could also serve as a quick presentation of what Ubuntu can do when trying to evangelize new users.

Most geeks installing Karmic next month will probably not be bothered to pay much attention to the slides.  Nonetheless, the presentation represents a solid step in the direction of usability and user-friendliness on the part of Ubuntu.

At OnForce, we see thousands of service work orders come through our marketplace every day. And with companies still looking to maintain their current infrastructure, the “fix, not buy” mentality has remained steady through 2009. And while many are still managing IT budgets tightly and are conservative, I cannot help but wonder: will this mentality change in 2010?

The practice of putting Mac OS X on your vanilla computer is kind of old news. Since 2005, Intel code has been hacked and executed on gray boxes all over the world. But the Dell Mini 9 netbook falls into a special category of this kind of hacking. The Mini 9′s 8.9 inch form factor and expandability deliver something that Apple fanatics — and perhaps even some mobile executives — would buy in a heartbeat. Here’s why.

There have been promises of an overhaul to Ubuntu’s default theme for quite some time.  Ubuntu 9.10, set to be released at the end of this month, will begin delivering on those promises.  Below, we take a look at the new system theme and artwork that will debut in Karmic Koala.

The touch-ups to Ubuntu’s default look in Karmic are a bit short of the complete overhaul that Mark Shuttleworth has alluded to since the time of Hardy’s release.  But they represent much more than the negligible aesthetic changes that have marked other recent releases.

System theme

Although the rusty-orange color scheme that Ubuntu users have known and loved (or not) for years remains prevalent in Karmic’s default wallpaper, Ubuntu 9.10′s window-decorator theme features a dark-brown tone.

Besides the color change, the window decorations haven’t changed much since previous releases.  This is still the “Human” theme, just in a different color.

Icons

The second major aesthetic update in Karmic is a (with few exceptions) totally new set of default icons.  Here are some examples:

The applets in the system tray have also received a makeover:

Nor have Nautilus icons been neglected:

In my opinion, at least, the new icons, which are more detailed and three-dimensional, are a refreshing update to the simplistic artwork that has predominated in previous Ubuntu releases.

A total overhaul of the Ubuntu look will have to wait for future releases.  But for the time being, the touch-ups to Karmic should help placate users who worry that Ubuntu’s default look is ugly and outdated.

Dell’s U.S. website has finally made good on a promise to re-introduce an Ubuntu desktop PC. The move should silence critics who were worried that Dell wasn’t committed to the growing Ubuntu desktop and mobile markets. Here are the details.

When Oracle OpenWorld kicks off Oct. 11 in San Francisco, Channel Chief Judson Althoff will be unveiling a new Oracle Partner Program. Sounds intriguing. Next up, The VAR Guy wonders if Oracle has any SaaS surprises in store for partners attending the conference. Here’s the scoop.

Hate is a strong word … especially when you’re in love. Consider the situation between Red Hat and Microsoft. During the Red Hat Summit in September, the open source company warned customers and channel partners not to get locked into Microsoft’s Windows Azure cloud strategy. Fast forward to the present, and Red Hat and Microsoft are locked in a virtual hug. Here’s the scoop.

When the Astricon conference kicks off Oct. 13 in Glendale, Ariz., The VAR Guy will be checking to see if Asterisk — the open source IP PBX — is ready for mainstream VARs and solutions providers. Actually, The VAR Guy thinks he already knows the answer to that question. Here’s why.

The Linux Foundation recently announced the second annual Linux Foundation End User Summit, to be held this November.  At face value, it might sound like a conference dedicated to assessing and addressing the needs of the type of people who use Ubuntu and other distributions for day-to-day computing.  Unfortunately, it’s not quite that.

Given the popularity of Gmail, it’s not surprising that a score of desktop applets have emerged for notifying users of new messages.  I recently set out on a quest to find the best one.  Here are the results.

Until about a month ago, I clung defiantly to Evolution for managing email on my main computer.  Gmail’s Web interface is great, but I really liked the responsiveness of a stand-alone email client.  Unfortunately, Gmail and Evolution never got along very well–Evolution had a habit of hanging sometimes when connecting to the Gmail servers, and it lacks support for some Gmail features, like labels.  So I gave up on Evolution a few weeks ago, when I switched to Gmail’s Web interface full-time.

This meant, however, that I no longer received notifications in the system tray when new mail had arrived, which Evolution provided by default.  I missed this feature, since it allowed me to keep track of new messages no matter which workspace I was in.  To fill this void in my post-Evolution life, I went in search of a standalone applet for Gmail notifications.  Here are my findings.

CheckGmail

CheckGmail is a reliable and feature-rich notifier applet.  Unlike the other applets in this list, it can watch the Gmail feed for new messages, rather than merely pinging the server at a specified time interval (although it can do that too if you want).

In addition to displaying a pop up notification when new mail arrives, CheckGmail will display a preview of the newest message when the mouse hovers over its applet in the system tray, which is another cool feature.

On the downside, CheckGmail doesn’t support the osd notification system, probably because it’s a generic *nix application rather than Ubuntu-specific.

cGmail

cGmail integrates with Ubuntu’s osd daemon to display notifications using the slick and graceful system introduced in Ubuntu 9.04, which is a definite plus.  On the other hand, the notification message, “There is a new mail” (or “There are X new mails”), is a bit awkward, but it could probably be changed easily enough, since the application is written in Python.

Among cGmail’s features is the option to store passwords using the Gnome keyring, which will help put paranoid users at ease (most of the other notifiers store Gmail credentials in plain text files).  It also offers the ability to run arbitrary commands upon detection of a new message, meaning the sky–or the Bourne-again shell, at least–is the limit when it comes to geeky things you can do when you receive email.

gm-notify

gm-notify, as its homepage explains, is a “simple and lightweight” Gmail notifier for Ubuntu 9.04.  Like cGmail, it uses the osd daemon to display notifications.

gm-notify offers no features besides the ability to play a sound when a new message arrives.  It has no system-tray icon–which may or may not be desirable, depending on individual preference–and its notifications display only the subject line of the newest message, not the sender’s email.  But its footprint is indeed small, and it’s a great option for those interested in simple and sweet notifications.

Gmail Notifier

Gmail Notifier is another relatively simple applet modeled after the application released by Google, which doesn’t support Linux.  It gets the job done, but its pop-ups are kind of ugly, not to mention barely readable with the system theme I’ve chosen (DarkRoom, one of the default alternative themes that ships with Ubuntu 9.04).  It fits in better with the desktop of yesteryear than modern compiz-enabled Ubuntu.

Mail Notification

The mail-notification applet, installable from the Ubuntu repositories, is a generic mail notifier supporting all IMAP and POP email accounts, not just Gmail, and can be configured to monitor multiple accounts at once.

I had a lot of trouble getting this to work properly.  I had to start the service manually–it wasn’t added to the Gnome panel automatically–and it crashed Gnome keyring the first time I configured an account.  The tray icon, reminiscent of the default Fedora artwork circa FC 2, is not very attractive.  Worst of all, the notifications appear as pop-up dialogue boxes, which are both intrusive and ugly.

I’d love to see the functionality and aesthetics of this applet improved, as it would be a great choice for checking all of my mailboxes from one place.  But its implementation in Ubuntu 9.04 needs a lot of work.

Conclusion

After trying each of these different applets for a few days, I think I’ve settled on cGmail, although CheckGmail is a close second and would definitely be a winner if it integrated with osd.  But that choice reflects personal preference more than anything else; all of these utilities perform the same basic function well.

Most people like to fix their mistakes, especially the big ones. Anyone who has had even a casual point-and-click encounter with Vista would know that, indeed, Microsoft made a blunder. But my experience with Windows 7 suggests Microsoft is back on track. Here’s what’s right with the new operating system.

Representatives from Accel Partners, a leading venture capital firm, visited the SMB Nation trade show in recent days, according to multiple sources who attended the Las Vegas conference. What attracted Accel to the conference? Glad you asked.

Cisco Systems and Lenovo are holding executive-level discussions about a potential powerhouse partnership, The VAR Guy has learned. Their mutual goal: Knock out Hewlett-Packard in the server, PC and networking markets. Here’s the scoop.

VARs interested in offering hosted applications need integrated Operations Support Systems (OSS) and Business Support Systems (BSS). Your business needs to be able to handle key operational processes, such as defining and managing service or product offerings, provisioning new customers, and managing your infrastructure. Additionally, you want to easily support ordering, billing, customer relationship management, and other essential business functions. But what are the three top challenges facing VARs in the hosted applications market?

At the McAfee Focus Security Conference this week in Las Vegas, McAfee is expected to show MX Logic channel partners like Spam Soap some serious love. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

The beta version of Ubuntu 9.10, which appeared last week, brought a number of much-anticipated aesthetic improvements to the desktop.  Here’s a look at the slick new login manager that users can expect when Karmic is officially released at the end of this month.

The VAR Guy is pumped up on Latte but a bit distracted in Sin City. Alas, here are six channel blog entries The VAR Guy failed to write for the week ending Oct. 2, and their implications for readers.