The VAR Guy

In our “winner take all” society, The VAR Guy is starting to wonder: Can open source companies like Concursive, Compiere and EnterpriseDB ever escape from the shadows of their larger and more successful rivals (SugarCRM and MySQL)? Before you answer, consider these lessons.

Software competition on the desktop continues to increase. The latest example includes Lotus Symphony, a free IBM software suite that could give Microsoft Office a run for its money in selected business settings.  After introducing Symphony as a free Internet download last year, IBM is now back — offering annual Symphony support contracts at the flat rate of $25,000. Suite! Er, sweet! Here’s why.

Sun Microsystems’ MySQL is the database to beat in the open source market. But another option — EnterpriseDB — has caught the attention of several investors — including IBM. Here’s the scoop for potential partners.

When the next version of Ubuntu Linux ships in April, there’s a reasonable chance that server vendors could start jumping on the Ubuntu bandwagon by May or so. Here’s the scoop.