Both Oracle and SAP have trimmed their support fees--a good thing for customers, who often cringe at the support and maintenance costs of enterprise ERP installations.
Microsoft's ForeFront integrated security suite, currently in beta (code named "Stirling"), won't be available in its prior release until the end of the year, but it's likely to shake up the security business when it does.
Bsquare, a developer of mobile software, issued a press release yesterday that seemed to imply that Dell was going to release an Android-based netbook.
This will be a fun one to watch. CRN editor Robert DeMarzo drew a line in the sand in his blog last week, effectively daring Acer CEO Gianfranco Lanci to respond. Is Acer clueless about the American channel community?
Last week I wrote about Apple's COO calling netbooks junky and unusable--but it would be a good idea for Mr. Cook to take a look at the most recent sales figures from IDC.
It's been quite common for vendors to require VARs to become certified on their product before taking them on as a partner, or giving the VAR a higher-level partner status, and in the long run, this is not a bad system--besides the education gained from the certification, it also gives the VAR bragging rights, and a good marketing tool.
There has long been speculation that Microsoft would launch its own smartphone, but that speculation was for the most part dismissed. Until yesterday. Yesterday's Wall Street Journal reported that Microsoft and Verizon are talking about launching an iPhone competitor. The new device will also be a touch-screen, multimedia smartphone.
Netbooks run counter to the general trend of progressively larger and more powerful computers, but they are nonetheless gaining popularity. And why not? They're cheap--and for ordinary people who don't need to run power applications, more than adequate for day-to-day use. And in today's economy, cheap is good.
Some early reports are coming in that VARs are on board with the Oracle-Sun deal. to date though, neither Sun nor Oracle has said much of anything about how the deal will affect the sales channel, but it seems to be welcome.
Managed email and web security solution provider MX Logic conducted a survey in March, and the results show a surprising level of optimism in the reseller channel.
Sidekick: The Good News & the Bad News Either way you look at it Microsoft Data Center management did not follow standards or best practices in this failure. In which case it makes me wonder more about the outsourcing of corporate data much less personal data.
- mburton325
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