The Great Big Vista Launch EventMicrosoft has kept this pretty well under wraps, considering, but Barbara Darrow has the details: "The gala Vista/Office 2007/Exchange 2007/Sharepoint 2007 launch event will be at New Yorks' Marriott Marquis on November 30. Nothing like a good Times Square event on T-Day Plus 7." T-Day is Thanksgiving. That threw me for a minute. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:06 AM, October 31, 2006 Alternative KeyboardsCan you improve business productivity and ease muscle strain with a non-traditional keyboard? TechBuilder tries out three possibilities, ranging from Microsoft's ergonomic beauty; to one where the keys are laid out from A-Z; to one with blank, yes, blank, keys. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:37 AM, October 30, 2006 Emerging Channel VendorsCRN highlights new, emerging vendors providing innovative technology and actively engaging the channel. "Not since the dot-com phenomenon at the turn of the century has there been such an infusion of new companies with new technologies bent on disrupting the way that old-guard IT vendors and their channel partners conduct business. But unlike the dot-com mirage, these new emerging vendors are real companies with real technologies, and solution providers that join forces with them are making real money." Online, find a database of emerging vendors and their technology specialties, including Virtualization, VoIP, Security, Networking and Storage. Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:50 PM, October 27, 2006 Hello, NewmanMy old boss Keith Newman hosts a panel on the past and future of computer retailing, next week, November 2, at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, CA. The museum, of course, has collaborated with CRN on it's Hall of Fame awards, coming up again later in November. Stop in if you're around, and you may want to hang out all weekend for the museum's Vintage Computer Festival. Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:19 PM, October 26, 2006 Channel M&A On The RiseHeather Clancy says the channel merger-and-acquisition boomlet has a ways to go: "We haven't seen so much channel consolidation since the post-bubble days from 2001 to 2002." Posted by Joe Caponi at 09:45 AM, October 26, 2006 Apple Ascendant, Part 2Apple, which last week announced record sales of Macintosh computers the previous quarter, this week upgraded it's line of MacBook Pro laptops to use the Intel Core 2 Duo processor. This catches them up with most other laptop manufacturers, in terms of processor, but allows Apple to once again push it's softer advantages over Windows PCs. One Gartner analyst says Apple has the capacity to "grab 10, 15 or possibly 20 percent of the consumer computer market", if it partners correctly. The analyst, Mark Stahlman, suggests Dell. Our Robert Faletra looks in a different direction and says the right answer is the channel. "With the superiority of the Apple operating system and an increase in the availability of critical applications offered as a service, the company has an opportunity to make its mark. Apple's pullback from the channel in the 1990s was a result of its declining market share, which was really caused by the compatibility problems of the day. Today, Apple has the resources to get serious about the channel again." Posted by Joe Caponi at 01:52 PM, October 25, 2006 Web-Based RSS ReadersTechWeb has just released a review of three web-based RSS readers. I'm a big RSS fan, and we've seen interest in our RSS feeds growing steadily all year. The three web-based readers reviewed here all allow anyone to dive into RSS without installing software. (They're also all great ways to access your feeds from anywhere.) I use Bloglines every day myself (enough that I gave it a button over on the right side of the blog), have tried out Google reader, and know people that are big fans of Newsgator. Give one a try! UPDATE: Okay, we'll add a NewsGator button on the right as well! And here, too!
Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:41 AM, October 24, 2006 Tech Innovator AwardsVARBusiness presented their Tech Innovator Awards last night. Awards went to products in thirteen categories, including servers, storage, wireless and security, as well as to the top Innovative Company, and to the Technologist of the year. See all the winners online now, and look for more details in an upcoming VARBusiness. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:35 AM, October 24, 2006 Remote Server Management OpportunitiesToday's TechBuilder recipe finds that remote server management isn't just for enterprises: "Leveraging the Internet for seamless connectivity regardless of location, even if the system administrator is away from the server room, can be a valuable—and yes, billable—service for system builders to offer. System builders can now take on the duties of a remote sys admin for their SMB customers." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:08 AM, October 23, 2006 Convergence At Tech InnovatorJeff O'Heir reports from our XChange Tech Innovator conference this week, on for what technologies are grabbing the attention of innovative solution providers. "What we quickly learned is that innovative solutions can be as simple as providing clients with what they need but don't have, to something as sophisticated as quadruple play convergence solutions. In between those, there's a hell of a lot of talk about VoIP and advanced managed services." Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:03 AM, October 23, 2006 Apple AscendentApple Computer, so often counted out of the PC game over the last two decades, once again confounds its critics: "Apple sold 1.61 million Macs during its 2006 fourth fiscal quarter, breaking its previous quarterly record of 1.38 million Macs sold, in the first fiscal quarter of 2000. The company sold 8.72 million iPods during the fourth quarter. That represents 30% growth in Mac sales and 35% growth in iPod sales over the same period last year. " But the most significant trend may be this: "A CIO at a large U.S. university, who requested anonymity, says that the percentage of incoming freshmen using Macs at his college increased from 11% in 2005 to 25% this year, reversing years of decline. " If Apple could finally get its channel act together, these guys could be formidable... Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:17 PM, October 19, 2006 DST DilemmasI have never been a big fan of Daylight Savings Time... if we're micromanaging time, we've gone too far. Despite this, Congress has altered the dates for Daylight Savings Time for 2007 and beyond (one minor improvement - more daylight for trick or treating!). Of course, this wreaks havoc for time-dependent programming. Ed Moltzen has more: " Before anyone jumps off the deep end, though, (IBM Software Services) provides some useful links as to how to fix or mitigate the problem." Ed's also been keeping an eye on All Things Dell - go to The Chart and keep scrolling. Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:57 PM, October 18, 2006 Hiring Troubles In IndiaHeather Clancy looks at a report that now Indian tech firms are having trouble hiring, despite the high numbers of engineering graduates available. "The (Indian) National Association of Software and Service Companies... found that only one in four engineering graduates were "employable." The study pointed to deficiencies in technical skills, English language skills and presentation skills as issues." She says American companies need to step up their efforts help local young people learn the necessary skills for IT jobs. Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:47 PM, October 18, 2006 Five Steps To Fast GrowthRobert Faletra is back from CRN's Fasth Growth event, and he's boiled down growing your business into five easy steps: "Once you have answered those basic questions and determined first that, yes, you want to grow, and second, that you want to grow rapidly, I believe there are a few basic practices you can adopt to set you on the right course. To me, there are five critical steps you must take " Okay, they're easy to say. It'll take a little more work to do. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:45 AM, October 16, 2006 Speedy, Secure Backups With Disk MirroringIn today's TechBuilder Recipe, Andy McDonough puts together an inexpensive Raid 1 solution for small business backup: "Any magnetic drive, by its nature, is subject to failure. More precisely, every disk will fail at some point. The question is when. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:38 AM, October 16, 2006 Discoveries With TextWranglerSometimes you discover a solution that completely resets your expectations of what's possible. This week I found TextWrangler's Shebang menu. Continue reading "Discoveries With TextWrangler" Posted by Joe Caponi at 04:13 PM, October 13, 2006 Annual Report Card 2006VARBusiness' Annual Report Card special report for 2006 is online now. In this annual survey, hardware and software vendors are rated by the people that know them best--their own solution provider partners. It takes top technology and solid partner programs to win. This year's hightest scorers: SonicWall, for security appliances, and Intel, for processors. But there were 19 technology categories and dozens of vendors and programs rated. Review each report card and check out the complete package. See how your vendors scored and who you might want to consider as an alternative. Posted by Joe Caponi at 03:01 PM, October 13, 2006 Vista CountdownWell, write it in pen this time. Microsoft has reiterated its November launch date for Vista to volume license business customers. All that waiting, and now time's nearly run out to get ready! Get current with these links: TechWeb's Alex Wolfe tests out Vista RC2 and likes what he sees: "Vista's GUI continues to improve. It certainly is pretty. More importantly, when one compares RC2 to RC1 and previous betas, Microsoft is clearly making intelligent tweaks to the interface. There's a subjective sense that the UI has settled down, and that changes to color, shape, transparency, and position have been done from a solid human-factors perspective rather than by some programmer run amok." The CRN Test Center examines the Top 5 Vista Features For VARs, including it's security features, performance improvements, and bundled apps. Microsoft claims 250 products are already certified for Vista, and Viewsonic promises their's will be too. But don't miss the updates on Microsoft's tightened licensing requirements for Vista use. And keep an eye on our Windows News Center for all the latest. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:40 AM, October 13, 2006 Tech Paychecks Rise, SlowlyConsistent with low unemployment across the economy, tech pros have seen their wages 'inch up,' according to a report from the Yoh staffing firm. Across America (just like Australia!), tech professionals with specialized enterprise application skills were the big winners. "Yoh has seen the same type of solid growth this year that it tracked for wages in 2004 and 2005, when pay began to climb "out of the trough" in 2002 and 2003, Lanzalotto says. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:59 AM, October 12, 2006 Google Preps Writely For Prime TimeBarbara Darrow on the Google Apps suite, soon to include Writely, its web-based word processor: "The company has apparently taken on the big Office clone bugaboo—file format compatibility—up front. The new Google Docs & Spreadsheets will accept most of the major formats including .doc, .xls, .odf, .ods, .rtf, etc. according to the post. Posted by Joe Caponi at 05:18 PM, October 11, 2006 Big Government VARs Revealed!The new Fedspending.org website puts a searchable database of federal contracts online. Ed Moltzen looks up some names you'll know: "IBM did $943,896,510 worth of business with Uncle Sam, including $276,748,609 in contracts where there was an open competition but only one bid; There's more on CDW, GTSI, HP and others. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:03 AM, October 11, 2006 Vista RC2 ArrivesMicrosoft Vista Release Candidate 2 went out to testers Friday, and represents the last milestone before the new OS goes to manufacturing for release to corporate customers by the end of the year. CRN examines the issues solution providers will face regarding the "The Microsoft Software Protection Platform, unveiled formally on Wednesday, requires that all customers —consumers who buy PCs and business customers with volume licensing agreements — activate their Windows Vista and Windows Longhorn Server licenses with Microsoft and prove that they have a genuine copy of Windows client or server running — or face punishment." In other Vista news, Microsoft admitted that there would be issues running Visual Studio 2005 on Vista "Visual Studio 2005 will run on Vista, but with glitches and breaks requiring workarounds... Meanwhile, Microsoft officially put the kibosh on support for Visual Studio .Net 2002 or Visual Studio .Net 2003 on Vista." Visual Studio 2005, of course, is the main way developers write software to run on Microsoft Vista. Chicken, meet egg. Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:47 AM, October 9, 2006 Network Troubleshooting To GoTake a old laptop, install FreeBSD and a suite of open-source network analysis tools, and you'll have a micro-cost network troubleshooting toolkit you can carry with you and leave running on any troublesome network to gather data. This week's TechBuilder recipe: Turn an Old Laptop Into a Portable Network-Troubleshooting System goes through the steps. "But troubleshooting a network when you're not constantly on-site can be difficult, especially when the problems are intermittent (as they frequently are). One alternative is to temporarily connect a machine to the customer's network, then let the machine gather data for a day or two. This often is enough to help you pinpoint the root cause of network issue. This system can also help you taking proactive steps to audit a network for performance and security issues, so these issues can be addressed before they become major problems." Posted by Joe Caponi at 09:58 AM, October 9, 2006 The Chart On HP and Dunn's DefenseEd Moltzen surveys blogger reaction to the terrible mess former HP Chair Patricia Dunn has gotten herself into: "As of now, it appears the two-track defense Dunn is using is both ignorance of the law, and that she believed HP engaged in industry-standard practices." He also looks at a unique aspect of the case--how it has illuminated the difference between Silicon Valley's old guard and new: "Dunn accused former HP Director Tom Perkins of trying to cover up the findings of an investigation into boardroom leaks of information when the trail led to George Keyworth, another ex-director." We'll likely hear more about that in Carly Fiorina's new memoir. Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:05 AM, October 6, 2006 October Careers and Employment LinkfestSo far, so good. Despite the cooling economy, today's new jobless claims report shows that the employment picture overall remains healthy. With the big September unemployment report due out tomorrow, it's a good time to look at some of the latest links on the high tech employment scene: Continue reading "October Careers and Employment Linkfest" Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:57 AM, October 5, 2006 Lawsuits Involving VARsA reader emails: "I would like to know if there is any information regarding cases in which VARs were sued for errors or omissions, in their failure to provide services to end user clients." I don't have a current example of such a situation that we've covered in VARBusiness or CRN. It seems to me more likely the VAR will end up suing when the customer witholds payment. Have you been in court over a dispute with a client - let me know. Comments can be anonymous! Posted by Joe Caponi at 12:42 PM, October 3, 2006 Flaming Laptops -- A System Builder OpportunityWith Toshiba and Fujitsu joining Apple, Dell, IBM and Lenovo in recalling Sony laptop batteries in their products, some whitebook builders are enjoying the benefits of their close relationships with customers. "Glenn Pubal, sales manager at Royal Business Equipment, a solution provider and system builder in Elyria, Ohio, keeps two news photos of exploding Dell notebooks up in his showroom. "' think it's effective. If someone comes in looking for notebooks, I say just look at these pictures,' he said. 'It's an issue people are aware of.'" Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:37 AM, October 2, 2006 HP's Ethical IcebergRobert Faletra looks at the unfolding HP scandal and forsees a regulatory backlash against executives who couldn't find their moral compass. "The HP scandal may be top of mind right now, but there are a lot of other things going on. At some point, the politicians will see an opportunity to pounce on this purely for political reasons, and high tech will be faced with more and more regulatory issues as a result."
"Many in the media have long suspected tech titans of such snooping... Some reporters won't call key sources from known phone numbers or contact them at all at work. This was standard operating procedure for the very paranoid but now seems like plain ol' common sense. " Posted by Joe Caponi at 11:12 AM, October 2, 2006 In The War ZoneThink your job's tough? Lawrence Walsh talks to Nizar Ghannam, a Cisco and Laserfiche VAR in Beiruit. ""It was difficult to get to the office during the war," relates Ghannam, the regional manager of BMB Group's document-management division. "I would have to travel one or two hours because the bridges were down. It was very dangerous." Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:39 AM, October 2, 2006 Business Intelligence and Data Warehousing for SMBTechBuilder's ambitious new recipe details configuring a low-cost server for data warehousing and business intelligence applications on a $7,500 budget. "The software market for BI applications is dominated by specialized vendors selling expensive programs. Companies that include IBM and SAP have traditionally served this segment by offering solutions that start at tens of thousands of dollars. But Microsoft has gotten into this market, too, with its release of SQL Server 2005." Posted by Joe Caponi at 10:33 AM, October 2, 2006 |
Hot TopicsBy Joe CaponiManaging Editor, Operations, ChannelWeb Email Joe BlogRoll
The Big Picture Feed
Archives By Categories
Books Archives By DateApril 2008 Recent Entries• The Great Big Vista Launch Event Powered by: |
Subscribe To This Feed
