The VAR Guy

Generally speaking, The VAR Guy is a procrastinator — except when it comes to timely blogs. In fact, he’s already confirmed plans to blog live from Ubuntu Live 2008, scheduled for July 21 and 22 in Portland, Oregon. Here are five reasons you should care about the Ubuntu distribution of Linux, and the Ubuntu Live conference.

Sun Microsystems is taking a pounding on Wall Street today. Weak financial results stunned investors, and CEO Jonathan Schwartz’s strategy to transform the company will surely come under fire. Is there hope for Sun? The VAR Guy seems to think so. Here’s why.

A technology revolution started today. Most people don’t know about it. In fact, most folks won’t hear about today’s events for another five to seven years. But circle April 24, 2008 on your calendar. A decade from now, historians will say today was the day Ubuntu Linux reached its tipping point — especially on servers. Here are five reasons why.

Canonical, promoter of Ubuntu Linux, has plenty of momentum on the desktop. But as Canonical gears up for a server push, one key Ubuntu partner plans to sit on the sidelines. Indeed, Dell has no plans to ship Ubuntu on its servers, according to a Dell source who spoke with The VAR Guy today.

In an interview with Reuters, Canonical CEO Mark Shuttleworth confirmed what The VAR Guy already knew: Sun Microsystems is increasing its bets on Ubuntu Linux. Here’s the scoop.

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 Sun announced a major open source initiative targeting small and midsize businesses this week, a lot of people failed to realize that Sun would include servers certified for Ubuntu. Here’s the scoop, from our sister site, The VAR Guy (www.thevarguy.com).

Ubuntu Linux is moooovin’ on up in the Linux server neighborhood. When Sun announced a major open source initiative targeting small and midsize businesses this week, a lot of people failed to realize that Sun would include servers certified for Ubuntu. Here’s the scoop.

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, according to our sister Web site, www.thevarguy.com. And if Ubuntu gains server traction, it could move more easily into the Software as a Service (SaaS) industry.

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.

I’m out in Colorado Springs this week for an Avnet/Sun Microsystems partner conference. Although I’m blogging away from my MacBook Pro, I was pleased to see dozens of attendees using Sun Ray 270 thin clients. Sun donated the systems for the event’s cyber cafe. Each thin client includes the Thunderbird e-mail client, StarOffice 8 and Firefox. Sun would be wise to show these thin clients — and their open source components — at additional events across the country. Most users don’t even realize they’re on a thin client rather than a PC.

Google vs. Microsoft is always a fun topic. Throw in open source software and Sun Microsystems, and the discussion gets even more fun. Apparently, Google is quietly offering Sun’s StarOffice to customers. That’s suite … er, sweet! StarOffice, the big brother to OpenOffice, will certainly benefit from the Google exposure. And in my experience, OpenOffice is a great, free, reliable replacement for about 95 percent of all Microsoft Office users.