The VAR Guy

Reports are circulating that Microsoft may make a run at acquiring Facebook. If true, this would be more than a consumer social networking move for Microsoft. In recent months, several Fortune 500 companies — including a major bank — have begun using Facebook to enhance employee communications and collaboration. Here’s the scoop.

The VAR Guy always worries when two big, market-trailing companies try to merge. Alcatel-Lucent, for instance, has failed to compete with Cisco Systems. Microsoft-Yahoo would have faced an uphill battle against Google. Ironically, Microsoft’s failure to acquire Yahoo — at least for now — could be a blessing in disguise, especially for customers.

Now that Microsoft has ended its pursuit of Yahoo!, a lot of folks are analyzing the big picture at both companies. Yada, yada, yada. But instead of focusing on the forest, The VAR Guy would prefer to focus on one tiny tree: Zimbra, the open source email platform that Yahoo owns, can now breathe a little easier.

The VAR Guy has read some rather misleading headlines about Windows XP in recent weeks. While thousands — perhaps millions — of customers try to avoid Windows Vista, a myth about Windows XP seems to be spreading rapidly. And frankly, the XP myth is false. Here’s the scoop from The VAR Guy.

PC makers and their customers continue to push back against Windows Vista. Software as a service (SaaS) and open source are giving Microsoft fits. Yet, it’s far too early to bury Microsoft. Here are seven reasons why the software giant’s empire won’t completely fall anytime soon.

Move over, Microsoft Bob. That lame 1990s product is no longer the low-point in Microsoft’s marketing and development history. Alas, a video produced by Microsoft shows just how lame the software giant’s own Vista marketing and sales efforts have become.

The VAR Guy admits it: He left Novell for dead last year. But recent conversations with the company forced him to rethink all of those negative notions. In a few markets, Novell may actually thrive. And in one particular market, Novell could give Microsoft a run for its money.

Question: What is a consultant? Answer: Someone you pay to look at your watch and tell you the time. The VAR Guy thought of that old yarn while reading all the coverage about Gartner stating Windows Vista is too monolithic. Memo to Gartner: Thanks for telling the world what it already knew. Windows has become too big, too complex and too much of a headache for corporate IT.

When the Cisco Partner Summit kicked off earlier this week, The VAR Guy expected the networking giant to spend a good portion of the event talking about Unified Communications ISVs. That didn’t quite happen, but Cisco is finally making some statements to engage software developers.

The VAR Guy was guilty of hyping Windows-based Ultra-Portables from startups like OQO a year ago, but he has drastically changed his thinking about the Ultra-Portable computer market. He thinks current market dynamics greatly favor Linux over Windows in the Ultra-Portable industry. Here’s why.