Office AlternativesEarlier this month, Corel released WordPerfect X3, the latest version of it's office suite. Along with its flagship word processor, WordPerfect X3 includes the Quattro Pro spreadsheet, a presentation package and e-mail client. The CRN Test Center just tried out the new suite and found a lot to like. "The product’s ability to mimic MS Office will sharply reduce any learning curves, while enhanced features, such as native PDF import and export capabilities, bring a richness to the product... Some tasks that can be complicated in Excel, such as graphing, are noticeably more straightforward." Last fall, WordPerfect was put through it's paces in the Test Center's office alternatives roundup, along with Sun's StarOffice and Evermore Software's Java-based E!Office. Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:24 PM, January 30, 2006 New Channel RSS FeedsWe've just added new RSS 2.0 feeds for GovernmentVAR, Digital Connect, and TechBuilder, and shortened the urls to reach our feeds for CRN, VARBusiness and ChannelWeb (the old urls will still work, though). If you haven't given RSS a try, please do--it will change the way you surf the web. Check out our feeds page for links to RSS readers, and more information on using RSS. To try our feeds out, add these links to your favorite RSS reader. CRN Posted by Joe Caponi at 03:53 PM, January 27, 2006 Sign Up: Top Channel Vendor ExecutivesVARBusiness has opened up nominations for Top Channel Vendor Executives, to be announced in April. If your company is a hardware, software or services vendor with a channel progaram, they want to hear from you. Posted by Joe Caponi at 09:32 AM, January 27, 2006 The ABCs Of Managed Services
"According to the 2006 VARBusiness State of the Market survey, nearly two-thirds of all solution providers offer or plan to offer some form of managed services...There is still a lot of growth potential and fat margins in all sectors of managed services." Posted by Joe Caponi at 02:12 PM, January 26, 2006 Firefox HowlsOpen-source browser, Firefox, which recently passed the 20 million download mark, has generated a whole ecosystems of plug-ins. InternetWeek discusses ten essential Firefox extensions. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:45 AM, January 26, 2006 Build A Terabyte Desktop PCTechBuilder's latest recipe provide step-by-step directions for constructing a Windows PC equipped with the latest "SATA-II" [definition] drives. Before you know it, you'll have a terabyte of storage at your fingertips. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:14 AM, January 24, 2006 Apple's Last, Best Shot At The ChannelIf you're a company, you can't ask for a better run than Apple's had in the last couple years. But can they leverage that success into serious market-share growth in the business space? Robert Faletra looks at what it will take. "So, Apple has good products that will become more price-competitive. It has buzz in the market. And it faces a channel that is willing to take a more serious look at its offerings and ultimately sell them. It has a real opportunity right now to change the market dynamic, but that opportunity won’t last forever." Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:19 PM, January 23, 2006 IBM Gets On Intel/Mac BandwagonYou might imagine some bad blood between IBM and Apple after Apple's decision to switch from IBM's PowerPC chip to Intel's DualCore processors, but it's not so. In IBM To Bless Apple, Barbara Darrow looks at Big Blue's upcoming Lotusphere announcements, including a new Notes client for Mac, and sees cooperation on a number of levels. "Observers say this newfound Apple love is actually a throwback to an era in which IBM and Apple collaborated on projects such as Taligent in the early 1990s." And thanks to all the our visitors "digging" this article at Digg.com. We noticed the traffic first thing this morning! Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:37 AM, January 23, 2006 Newt Gingrich In GovernmentVARGovernmentVAR's Jill Aitoro sat down with former House Speaker Newt Gingrich to talk about the channel's role in modernizing government. Gingrich insists that private industry--especially the channel--not only can be, but must be, the spur to change in outmoded government practices in healthcare, education and homeland security. "It's physically impossible for contemporary bureaucracies to keep up with the world (around them)." On health care, Gingrich observes, "We should've established a national standard of interoperability for electronic health records a long time ago." but health care may be easy to change, compared to the education system. "What you have in education is a castle of unionized obsolescence surrounded by a moat of bureaucratic credentials that make it very hard to change. But the moment it does change, it will change dramatically." Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:12 AM, January 20, 2006 Updated: January Earnings LinksCheck back for updates... AMD Apple CA E-Bay IBM Intel Lenovo McAfee Microsoft Siebel Sony Ericcson Wipro Xerox Posted by Joe Caponi at 09:56 AM, January 19, 2006 Unsurprising Workplace NewsA new study shows: the more meetings you attend, the worse you feel about your job. "Despite the fact that meetings may help to achieve work-related goals, having too many meetings and spending too much time in meetings per day may have negative effects on the individual." Posted by Joe Caponi at 03:23 PM, January 18, 2006 Vista And GPL UpdatesWhether you're a Windows or Linux shop (or both), Paula Rooney has you covered today. In Microsoft Makes Full-Bit Windows Vista Bet, she examines Microsoft's deployment plans for it's upcoming OS release. "Observers expect the packaging and distribution strategy will eliminate costly support headaches for OEMs, system builders and service partners and help customers step up." Meanwhile, Paula also takes a look at the first draft of the General Public License 3 for Open Source software, and finds it good, at least as far as ISVs and Open Source VARs are concerned. "Richard Stallman, founder and president of the Free Software Foundation, said the intent is to ensure users and developers with continued rights to use, copy, modify and share open source code, while also not imposing "harsh" restrictions that interrupt commercial use. " Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:22 AM, January 17, 2006 Downloading Google PackJeffrey Schwartz does just that, testing out the new desktop suite from Google. "While there's nothing particularly groundbreaking in bundling software, much of which is free, the impact of this move could prove significant... What's to say Google won't eventually include other wares in the Google Pack, say Star Office? And by giving customers a free six-month license to Norton Antivirus, what does that portend for Google's intentions as a distributor of software?" Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:18 AM, January 16, 2006 IM AnxietyI've never been a big fan of instant messaging (I'm easy enough to reach otherwise). Reports such as December IM Attacks Jump 826 Percent and IM Worm Makes New Use Of Old Techniques do little to reassure me. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:29 AM, January 13, 2006 Dawn Of The Intel MacsToday at MacWorld, Steve Jobs announced Intel Core Duo processor-based iMacs and notebooks, running at up to 2GHz. The iMacs are shipping now and the notebooks in February. They may not expand Apple's business market-share, but they sure are cool. Posted by Joe Caponi at 08:39 PM, January 10, 2006 The Top Channel Articles of 2005That's kind of a tricky thing to figure out, for a few reasons: some articles appeared with multiple parts; new features were rolled into our stats system over the course of the year, and articles can show up in multiple places on our sites, though not always with exactly the same headline. Posted by Joe Caponi at 03:07 PM, January 9, 2006 State of the Market 2006Speaking of VARBusiness research reports, the newest is State of the Market 2006. In this annual report VARBusiness spoke to hundreds of solution providers about issues such as vendor relationships, partnering, strategy and technology choices, and hiring trends. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:45 AM, January 9, 2006 Technology InnovatorsAy caramba! I worked on it for a week in December, but neglected to mention VARBusiness' Tech Innovation Special Report. We count on innovation to make our businesses more successful, workloads easier, even our lives more prosperous. But can we quantify innovation, measure it, see how it's feeling? Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:26 AM, January 6, 2006 Gates Knocks Out Ballmer At CESAt least in a video game. The XBox 360 demo durning Bill Gates' pre-show keynote at the Consumer Electronics show was only one hightlight of a speech that previewed Windows Vista and Windows Live services, and included an array of other product and partnership announcements. Follow all the CES news on Digital Connect's CES page, including Ed Moltzen's video updates from the show. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:19 AM, January 5, 2006 CES PreviewEd Moltzen previews this week's CES show in Vegas. You'll find plenty of CES coverage this week, on CRN, Digital Connect, and in our own CES NewsCenter. Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:27 PM, January 2, 2006 |
Go To The New Hot Topics HomeBy Joe CaponiManaging Editor, Operations, ChannelWeb Email Joe Recent Entries• Office Alternatives Archives By Categories
Archives By DateMarch 2009 Powered by: |
VARBusiness has posted their two-page graphic "The Managed Office" as part of their 
