The VAR Guy

The VAR Guy doesn’t have time to attend the funeral… but he was expecting this death: Microsoft is discontinuing future development of Windows Essential Business Server, effective June 30th, 2010. Here’s the scoop.

In a speech to the student body University of Washington, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer elucidated the promises and perils of the cloud, shedding some light on Microsoft’s cloud strategy.  Gizmodo’s got the blow-by-blow – here’s a recap and our take.

That headline might go a little far, but Microsoft has announced plans to hold workshops across the United States to educate VARs and other IT pros about what Windows Azure is, what it can do, and how best to deploy it.  It seems like the closer we get to the February 1 grand opening of Azure, the more eager Microsoft is to push their new cloud platform.

The VAR Guy has a hunch: Microsoft’s best hope for future growth is Windows Azure, the company’s cloud-based operating system. So Microsoft’s decision to merge Windows Server and Windows Azure into a single organization — called the Server & Cloud Division (SCD) — was a smart one. Here’s why.

As Windows 7’s October 22 launch date approaches, Microsoft has started describing why its server counterpart — Windows Server 2008 R2 — could also be a hit with customers. Here’s a quick look at what’s coming in R2, and why VARs should care.

At first glance, you might think the headline to this blog entry is an oxymoron. In reality, Microsoft certainly does have an open source chief (Sam Ramji). And in some cases, Microsoft is downright happy to support open source. Skeptical? Allow The VAR Guy to explain.