The VAR Guy

Red Hat already focuses on Linux, JBoss middleware and virtualization. But there are multiple signs the open source company will make a business intelligence move soon. And Red Hat’s move could involve either Jaspersoft or EnterpriseDB — or both. Here’s some analysis, some speculation and some potential implications for Red Hat’s channel partners.

Is Canonical serious about pushing Ubuntu into businesses? The company’s latest corporate move provides a clear answer. Indeed, Canonical has hired Matt Asay (pictured) — one of the open source industry’s best-known names — as its new chief operating officer. The move comes amid a CEO shift and several major product initiatives at Canonical. Here are some perspectives.

Which software companies deserve partner attention in 2010? Here’s a clue: Look at the virtualization market, where VMware, Red Hat and Citrix lead a list of software companies that will score more dollars from CIO budgets over the next 12 months, according to survey results from Goldman Sachs. Here’s the scoop.

Matt Asay, author of The Open Road — a popular blog on CNet — suggests two reasons why Dell should acquire Red Hat. Alas, The VAR Guy strongly disagrees with Mr. Asay. Here are seven reasons why Dell will never acquire Red Hat.

Even as some VARs begin to embrace open source applications, they must deal with a new force: The shift of open source applications into the cloud and SaaS (software as a service) models. A case in point: JumpBox has pushed a dozen open source applications into the Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) service. Here are the implications for VARs.

Perhaps it’s time for The VAR Guy to eat more crow. A few days ago, he said that the Wall Street financial crisis would even hurt open source companies. But The Open Road blog, penned by Matt Asay, claims that open source companies are actually accelerating their growth during these stressful times. Take a look at Asay’s analysis. Then feel free to bash The VAR Guy.

Matt Asay (not pictured), the man behind CNet’s Open Road blog, speculates that Oracle could go shopping for Red Hat because Red Hat shares are trading near a 52-week low. Alas, The VAR Guy agrees: Oracle has deep pockets and Red Hat would be a good buy for the company. But The VAR Guy hopes it doesn’t happen. Here’s why.

A year ago, 15 percent of Alfresco’s sales involved channel partners. This year, the open source content management company will drive 60 percent of its sales through channel partners, The VAR Guy has learned. So, what can other open source companies learn from Alfresco’s channel strategy? Take a look.

Lots of open source fans booed when Novell jumped into bed with Microsoft. But perhaps sleeping with Microsoft really is good for Novell’s health. Anecdotal evidence is starting to suggest that CIOs (chief information officers) actually like seeing Novell and Microsoft arm in arm.

Two small Linux companies are merging. What does it mean to Linux market leaders like Red Hat, Novell and Ubuntu — and Linux customers? Here are some clues from The VAR Guy.

Some folks say VARs are dead. After checking his own pulse and web site traffic, The VAR Guy disagrees. Instead, he believes channel pros are reinventing themselves via managed services and new software stacks. In fact, a new survey by Channel Insider suggests that Red Hat Linux is now the most popular platform among VARs.

Matt Asay, a leading voice in the open source community and a top blogger at CNet, claims he has met The VAR Guy — and The VAR Guy’s beautiful wife. Asay’s yarn makes for an interesting read. But is it true — did he really meet our resident blogger? Weigh the following facts before deciding for yourself.