The VAR Guy

Apple says their new iPhone update is going to be killer. Google’s Android Phone and OS proliferating is catching on like wild-fire. New rumors point to some groovy stuff for Microsoft’s Windows Mobile 7 experience. But the real story involves Steve Jobs’ preoccupation with Google. Here are the details.

Microsoft is looking pretty healthy for a ‘dead’ company. Sure, former Microsoft VP Dick Brass essentially buried the company in a New York Times Op-Ed piece today. But remember: Skeptics buried IBM in 1993 and Apple in 1996. Critics thought the HP-Compaq deal was forever doomed. And lots of folks thought Larry Ellison had lost his mind when Oracle started buying up big enterprise software companies. So, what’s the reality at Microsoft?

DotNetNuke, which makes an open source content management system, seems to be gaining traction with channel partners. The company, which supports Microsoft .NET environments, has gone from zero to about 50 VARs and hosting providers in the past year, according to The VAR Guy’s ongoing Open Source 50 survey. Here are the details.

Here’s an interesting tidbit out of Redmond: Microsoft is looking for “Road Warriors” to work with their New Zealand branch. The deal? Up to $43,000, but you’ll have to hustle around for four months touting the awesomeness of Office 2010 Suite. Think you’re up for the task?

Bomgar, with an assist from Intel’s Remote PC Assist Technology (RPAT), hopes to help VARs and MSPs improve remote PC support. Here are the details, along with perspectives from adopter PlumChoice, which specializes in remote services for homes and small businesses.

Siemens Enterprise Networks (SEN) has released the latest version of its OpenScape unified communications platform, with added features that could make it an even more attractive offering for solution providers.

Whether Apple’s iPad will be a hit or miss for business is yet to be decided. But one thing is for sure: Apple’s iPad A4 chip is turning heads in the IT world. If you’re a mobile VAR with ties to Apple, Intel or Qualcomm, you should pay particularly close attention. Here’s why.

Amid fierce competition with Cisco Systems and Hewlett-Packard for partner attention, Juniper has shifted the date of its J-Partner Summit away from rival event schedules to a more reasonable May 24-26, 2010. Smart move. Here’s why.

Grab a good seat while you can. The online office suite market is about to get a bit more crowded. Oracle, it appears, is working on Oracle Cloud Office — which will potentially compete with Google Apps, Microsoft Office Web, Zoho and a range of other SaaS productivity applications. Here’s some perspective.

Don’t press the panic button. SaaS and cloud market opportunities remain real. But even the big players continue to suffer from scattered outages. The latest example involves Microsoft’s Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS), a SaaS platform that has had some outages in recent days. It raises the question again: Will any IT company emerge as the Volvo — reliable, trustworthy, safe — of the SaaS market?

It looks like the all-in-one (AIO) desktop PC trend is accelerating. A case in point: In just two years, 60% of Lenovo’s desktop sales will involve all-in-one PCs, predicts TradingMarkets.com. VARs and partners might want to take note.

Microsoft is marching deeper into health care and the electronic medical records (EMR) market. The software giant has completed its buyout of Sentillion Inc., a private company that specialized in health-care software. Here’s a quick look at the deal and the implications for VARs.

Unison Communications made headlines in 2008 for launching a free, advertising-based unified communications system. The trade press cheered. Open source fans applauded because Unison supported Ubuntu Linux. But whatever happened to Unison? The VAR Guy thinks the company is preparing an encore. Here’s the speculation.

Canonical and the Ubuntu community are busy polishing Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid Lynx), a major upgrade set to debut in April 2010. But before the new Linux distribution arrives, the Ubuntu community will host an Ubuntu Global Jam from March 26 to March 28. The big question: Will customers and partners also join in the Jam? Should they? Here are some thoughts.

Parallels has launched a Cloud Services Certification Program to “help its Partners become more profitable.” The news arrives roughly two weeks before the Parallels Summit 2010 kicks off in Miami, Fla. What should partners expect in Miami? Here are some clues — involving some SaaS upstarts and some technology industry giants.

Open Tech, an open source partner program organized by Tech Data, has gained a new member. Specifically, KnowledgeTree, an enterprise content management company, has joined Open Tech. The VAR Guy welcomes the news but our resident blogger wonders: Are VARs starting to embrace Open Tech and the rival Open Source Channel Alliance? Here are some clues.

Here’s a little something for you cloud naysayers: Plex Systems, proprietors of the Plex Online software as a service (SaaS) ERP solution, issued their 2009 recap statement — and the highlights look pretty darn strong. Here’s the scoop.

In the few days since the launch of the iPad, both naysayers and cheerleaders have had ample opportunity to either harangue or applaud Apple’s newest invention. Advocates say that the iPad’s intense, high-res display combined with its body-conscious touch screen and smooth operation takes media applications from sexy to smoking.  Apple has mastered the art of making us need things we didn’t know we wanted. But can the iPad do anything for your business? There are a few possibilities.

Oh, ye of little faith. Those who mocked the iPad and called it a foolish endeavor; a gadget that would never see the light of enterprise adoption. But now, thanks to Citrix, you can have your Windows 7 experience right at your fingertips. For those who don’t know, Citrix has developed receiver software for the iPhone that’s been in the loop for quite a while. Now it’s coming to Apple’s iPad. Interested, now?

Windows XP is getting closer to kicking the bucket. According to Microsoft, July 2010 is when support for Windows XP Service Pack 2 ends. Plus, a note to all those using Windows 7 RC build 7100, your freebie is about to end. Here’s the scoop on the Microsoft executions — as the software giant seeks accelerate migrations to Windows 7.

A few weeks ago, I wrote about five features that make Ubuntu so much more enjoyable to use than certain less-Free operating systems. The comments on that post got me thinking about several other great features that I didn’t mention. So to give those their due, here’s a second list of five things Ubuntu does that I couldn’t live without.

I’ve long heard good things about Ubuntu Tweak, but never used it myself.  With the recent appearance of its 0.5 release, however, I decided to give it a go.  Here’s what I thought.

When Microsoft delivered record quarterly results last week, at least some of the credit belonged to Jane Boulware, general manager of Microsoft’s Windows Client business. Boulware (pictured) previously held top marketing posts for MSN and Kimberly-Clark Corp., the consumer goods giant. Now, she drives Windows marketing. So where is Boulware taking Windows marketing next? She offers some perspectives in this FastChat video.