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Sugar sweet for GPLv3: The big news today is that SugarCRM has bowed to community pressure and will release the next version of its CRM software under an OSI-approved license.The bigger news may be the identity of the license, GPLv3.Currently Sugar uses a version of the Mozilla Public License, adding a non-standard "attribution" requirement...; Tags: strategy, software licensing, resellers, legal, general, enterprise policy, applications, gpl; Blog posts 2007-07-26
VARs still have Long Reach in small business market: In the real world of small business, costs matter more than license terms.These are Michael Whitehead's customers at The Long Reach in Ottawa, Canada."All businesses really care is can I get something that's cost effective, which does the job, which is priced to suit my business, and do I have someone...; Tags: strategy, software licensing, resellers, mass market, marketing, legal, general, enterprise policy, database management, business models, applications; Blog posts 2007-07-13
Microsoft recruits vendors to integrate Office into business apps: Microsoft is stepping up its campaign to get more independent software vendors to integrate Office front-ends with their own business applications.There already exist a number of these Office-front-ended applications -- which Microsoft has christened Office Business Applications, or OBAs. Some are commercial applications, like the jointly developed Microsoft-SAP Duet. Others...; Tags: channel, corporate strategy, office, office 2007, resellers, sharepoint server, systems integrators; Blog posts 2007-07-10
Open source security arrives with Untangle: A few months after launching this blog I asked why there was no open source security.Now there is. Untangle has released its network gateway under GPVv2. CEO and blogger Bob Walters compares his product to SONICwall and Watchguard, saying "we'll sell services and premium products on top of it."Load the software...; Tags: security, resellers, mass market, gpl, general, business models, applications; Blog posts 2007-07-05
Time to get off Red Hat's case?: Red Hat is a company that is easy to dislike.Maybe it's the relationship with IBM. Maybe it's the way they absorbed JBOSS. Maybe it's CEO Matthew Szulik, or the proprietary way in which the company operates.Maybe it's because they're based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and don't schmooze the Silicon Valley...; Tags: strategy, resellers, red hat, middleware, mergers &, acquisitions, management, linux, general, bsd; Blog posts 2007-06-29

Microsoft to simplify downgrades from Vista to XP: Microsoft is simplifying the processes via which its PC-maker partners will be able to provide "downgrade" rights from Windows Vista to Windows XP for their customers.Microsoft will implement the first of the policy changes for its Gold Certified (top-tier) OEM partners within the next couple of weeks. The company will...; Tags: channel, corporate strategy, oems, resellers, system builders, vista, windows client, windows xp; Blog posts 2007-06-28
Should this blog cover OpenMFG?: Life is good these days at OpenMFG.The ERP software company, with products "powered by open source software such as Linux, PostgreSQL, and Qt," continues to expand its channel, its customer base, and its product's capabilities.One of those channel partners, Yellowdog of Canada no relation to the political consultancy has...; Tags: applications, business models, database management, management, resellers, strategy, wireless; Blog posts 2007-06-28
Copying Microsoft in a good way: Aping a world class business process is never a bad thing. Even when it comes from Microsoft.So it is that the Open Solutions Alliance OSA, which was created to build the Linux channel, has created a customer-level membership class. Redmayne-Bentley, a UK stock broker, is the first customer member.Microsoft has brought...; Tags: support, strategy, resellers, microsoft, marketing, linux, general, applications; Blog posts 2007-06-25
Distance makes the switch go quicker: Which is a better sign of open source progress: Microsoft is changing Vista, based on a Google complaint. A major British retail chain switches to RedHat Linux.I think it's the latter. Because in all our talk about desktop Linux' market share, we're focusing on the wrong people.While most reporters, and most commenters,...; Tags: resellers, marketing, infrastructure, enterprise policy, development, applications; Blog posts 2007-06-20
July 1: No more Office 2003 for OEMs: It's only been six months since Microsoft launched Office 2007 at retail. But as of July 1, 2007, Microsoft won't be making the OEM version of Office 2003 to its PC partners, a k a "OEMs."Eric Ligman, Senior Manager of Small Business Community Engagement with Microsoft, reminded OEMs and customers...; Tags: channel, corporate strategy, oems, office, office 2007, resellers, system builders, vista, windows client, windows xp; Blog posts 2007-06-18
Microsoft headed for a services show-down with its hosting partners: Microsoft is on a collision course with its hosting partners.During the past couple of weeks, Microsoft officials have started touting publicly the handful of hosted managed services that Microsoft is selling directly to customers. This week at the NXTcomm 2007 show in Chicago, Microsoft was out hawking its"Microsoft Solution for...; Tags: channel, corporate strategy, crm live, dynamics crm, exchange server, network service providers, oems, resellers, sharepoint server, sql server, system builders, systems integrators, telecommunications; Blog posts 2007-06-18
Microsoft preps Windows-based kitchen client: Microsoft is beginning work on the first of what it plans to make a family of customized Windows platforms designed for specific rooms around the home.The "Kitchen Client" software will extend the Windows operating system and integrate with current and future Windows Live services, according to sources close to the...; Tags: fiji, corporate strategy, oems, resellers, system builders, vista, windows client, windows live; Blog posts 2007-06-06
Xandros deal is Microsoft water torture strategy: Long-time readers of this blog may remember how two years ago I sat down to lunch with Marc Fleury, then running JBoss.Fleury was celebrating because he'd signed a re-sale agreement with Microsoft. The deal was superior to one IBM offered, he told me, in that it did not interfere with his...; Tags: strategy, resellers, patents, microsoft, management, linux server os, linux desktop os, linux, legal, enterprise policy, distributions; Blog posts 2007-06-05
Is Microsoft becoming a hardware vendor?: Microsoft for years has been building keyboards, mice and joysticks. More recently, it started building Xbox gaming consoles. Then Zune MP3 players. Now, with the company's official unveiling of Surface, a k a Milan/PlayTable, Microsoft is mamufacturing large-screen, multitouch, gesture-recognizing computing devices.Does all this mean that software vendor Microsoft is...; Tags: apple, channel, corporate strategy, oems, resellers, system builders, xbox, zune; Blog posts 2007-05-31
Microsoft and Google seek partners for hosted productivity apps: There are more similarities than differences in Microsoft's and Google's approaches to building out their partner ecosystems for their respective hosted productivity suites.Google Apps and Office Live are not head-to-head competitors. Google Apps includes hosted mail, calendar, document and spreadsheets. Office Live includes hosted mail, small-business accounting, workspace and (with...; Tags: web 2.0, systems integrators, sharepoint server, resellers, office 2007, office live, office, network service providers, google, corporate strategy, channel; Blog posts 2007-05-21
Microsoft reveals more partners, plans for Windows Home Server: Gateway, consumer storage vendor LaCie and Medion International will join Hewlett Packard in delivering new Windows Home Server systems this fall, Microsoft announced on May 15, the opening day of its Windows Hardware Engineering Conference WinHEC in Los Angeles. Microsoft also announced, as many expected, that the company will...; Tags: channel, oems, resellers, system builders, windows home server, windows server, winhec; Blog posts 2007-05-15
Could Microsoft take a community lesson from Sun?: Microsoft talks a lot about community and wanting to foster/tap into it. But there really is no single, cohesive "Microsoft community," akin to the Linux community. The reasons for this are many and varied. A dominant market player-- vs. an up-and-coming underdog -- seems to inspire less vocal customer/developer...; Tags: systems integrators, system builders, resellers, oems, novell, network service providers, linux, corporate strategy, channel; Blog posts 2007-05-09
Stuart Cohen tackling the vertical application stack: Whatever happened to Stuart Cohen, former head of the OSDL, now part of the Linux Foundation?He sent out a press release today, and it seems hes launched an effort called the Collaborative Software Initiative CSI. The initials are cute, but the intent is to build open...; Tags: resellers, linux server os, linux desktop os, linux, implementations, general, development, business models; Blog posts 2007-04-16
The big problem Red Hat Exchange Does Not Solve: I call it the "One Guy Problem."Every small to medium sized business has one guy who acts as the system gatekeeper. Often its a re-seller. Sometimes its an insider, the one-man IT department. Sometimes, worst case scenario, its the boss himself. (Yes, sometimes its a woman, but not usually.)This one...; Tags: strategy, resellers, marketing, general, enterprise policy, business models, applications; Blog posts 2007-04-13
Is Microsoft still worthy of the 'Evil Empire' crown?: Forget programmer Paul Grahams "Microsoft is dead" headline. It got the desired effect: Hes gotten links on TechMeme, Slashdot and a lots of other news-starved sites this weekend. But dont dismiss Grahams question as to who if anyone is afraid of Microsoft any more. It wasnt that long...; Tags: systems integrators, resellers, oems, novell, legal, google, corporate strategy, channel, web 2.0, voip, system builders; Blog posts 2007-04-08