The VAR Guy

In your opinion, what’s the best netbook operating system you’ve used? Be honest. Tell us. Over at Lifehacker.com, they  already asked the same question. So far, the leading answer is… (drum roll, please…): Windows 7. The other results may surprise you…

Canonical’s channel partner program for Ubuntu, the fast-growing Linux distribution, took two promising steps forward this week. One step involves a vote of confidence from a key consulting company. The other step involves a key move in the government market. Here are the details.

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.

One of the little gizmos floating around CES 2010 this year was the Dell Mini 5. It’s not a netbook like the Mini 9, but a touch-screen tablet, of sorts. While 5  inches seems a little small for the tablet, it’s got some interesting potential. Read on to see how Dell is adapting to some new trends in the Linux world — even as the PC giant balances its Windows 7 relationship with Microsoft.

If you thought the market wasn’t crowed enough with Linux netbooks, here comes another contender: MSI is launching the first netbook to be shipped with Novell’s SUSE’s Moblin operating system. Moblin is designed to deliver a mobile computing experience that’s easier to use, and suitable for smaller screens. Here’s the deal.

The Netbook. Once considered a toy, it now seems like the preferred device for many productivity-driven workhorse travelers. And even if you’re not a mobile workaholic, there’s something simplistically perfect about sofa-browsing while watching TV and catching up on some e-mail. With a small form factor, there comes caveats at the expense of size and portability. But recent moves by Lenovo and others show some promising trends — several of which involve Linux.

How can a storage cloud be open yet private? ParaScale thinks it has the answer. The company has launched version 2.0 of a Cloud Storage platform that can turn any Red Hat Linux or CentOS cluster into a private storage cloud. What’s the hook for channel partners and hosting providers? VISI, a managed hosting provider in Minnesota, offers some perspectives. Here’s a look.

Tech Data, a $24 billion technology giant with deep Microsoft relationships, has developed a 24-month plan to emerge as “the voice for open source in distribution,” The VAR Guy has learned. The proposed strategy includes potential open source hardware solutions from Dell, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Fujitsu. And it has broad implications for the software industry and the global IT channel. Here’s the scoop.

Stuart Crawford, a long-time IT consultant who is fluent in all things Microsoft, claims OpenOffice isn’t ready for business. The VAR Guy agrees with many of Crawford’s points — but our resident blogger sees a bigger problem with OpenOffice that Crawford failed to mention.

Forgive The VAR Guy for saying it: But he told you so. A few months ago our resident blogger predicted Netbooks — the name for an emerging market of sub-notebooks — would increasingly shift to open source and put the squeeze on Microsoft. Fast forward to the present, and Microsoft is already feeling the heat from Netbooks. Here’s the scoop.

How’s this for ironic: Microsoft is actually spending some sponsorship dollars here at OSCON (Open Source Conference) 2008, but Apple is stealing the show — without spending a dime. Here’s how.

One innovation is easy. But sustainable innovation — building lots of worthwhile new things again and again, even as you maintain your old products — is challenging. The VAR Guy wonders: Is open source the key to sustainable tech innovation? Is open source the best way to keep a maturing company feeling vibrant and young? Before you answer, consider some of these scenarios.

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.

Novell is making The VAR Guy look pretty darn foolish. Our resident blogger keeps hyping Red Hat and Ubuntu Linux, yet Novell keeps scoring small victories and picking up momentum. The latest example: Micro-Star International (MSI) has agreed to pre-load Novell SuSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10 on MSI’s mini-notebooks. Here’s the scoop.

The VAR Guy is trying his best to attend both OSCON (July 21-25, Portland, Oregon) and LinuxWorld Expo (August 4-7, San Francisco). In particular, he wants to learn more about the emerging Ubuntu Linux community. But if he only had the time and money to attend one of the events, which should it be?

Okay, it has been about a month since Red Hat said it had no plans to offer a consumer Linux release. Lots of folks went ballistic. The VAR Guy didn’t. Instead, he took some time to digest the news. And now he’s ready to say — definitively — that Red Hat made the right decision. Here are five reasons why Red Hat should ignore pleas for a consumer Linux release.

The secret is out. The VAR Guy has a crush on Ubuntu Linux. So, he helped to launch Works With U–a new site from Nine Lives Media Inc. that offers 24×7 coverage of Ubuntu Linux. Here’s a bit about the site’s mission.

The VAR Guy’s sister site, MSPmentor, has an interesting scoop today about Ubuntu Linux. The fast-growing operating system, it seems, is leaping beyond PCs, servers and mobile devices. Next step: Network security systems. Here’s the scoop from MSPmentor.

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.

One of The VAR Guy’s favorite web sites is IdeaStorm, a Dell-run forum where readers share business and technology ideas, vote for their favorite reader concepts, and interact with Dell. IdeaStorm has been a huge hit with Dell customers and critics alike. Now, Dell may build a similar site for partners, solutions providers and managed service providers, The VAR Guy has learned.

The VAR Guy is in the market for a small office printer that supports Ubuntu Linux, Mac OS X and Windows XP. Alas, most PC companies do a lousy job describing which of their printers work with Ubuntu. Which means they’re leaving easy money on the table. Here’s our resident blogger’s sad story so far.

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. Here’s the scoop.