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Time for The VAR Guy to stir up a little controversy, this time in the Linux desktop market. He thinks a small desktop setback at Red Hat could lead to more PC momentum for Ubuntu Linux. Here’s the scoop.

A power outage knocked out The VAR Guy's Ubuntu system from Dell. Time for this novice Linux user to abandon Ubuntu? Guess again. Reinstalling Ubuntu was so easy a novice could do it. Here's the horror story and the happy ending.

Microsoft, desperate to freeze a market, has started evangelizing a “new” version of Windows (called MinWin) that will correct Windows Vista's bloatware problems. But don’t blame Microsoft for the noise about MinWin and Windows 7.0. Blame the trade press. Here's why.

[Wow, you mean I can get a Windows OS that isn't stuffed full of everything I didn't want in the first place..in three years?. - Scott]

If you're a technology consultant who serves small businesses, you can drive your profits higher by combining open source desktops with managed services. It's the perfect business model: You promote Ubuntu Linux PCs running OpenOffice and you manage those systems remotely for a monthly fee. That's right: You can actually bill customers on a monthly basis to support hardware that barely needs any support. Here's how it works.

Yes, you can purchase a $200 Linux desktop -- the Everex gPC -- from Wal-Mart this holiday season. That’s great news for consumers and the open source movement. But it might be wiser to look elsewhere for affordable, reliable PCs running Ubuntu Linux. Here's why.

Another long-time Windows user has reached an inflection point. Mike Perkowski, a 30-year veteran of business and technology journalism, is ready to scrap his Windows PC. The veteran of PC magazine, CMP Media and Ziff Davis Media suffered a Windows meltdown days ago. Now COO of Microcast Communications, Mike's days with Windows appear over. But should he go with Mac OS or perhaps even Linux? Here's his horror story. He welcomes your advice on what to do next.

The iPhone reinvented smart phones. Google's Android operating system could up the ante again. Android could make open source the key component of smart phones that roam between cellular and WiFi networks in 2008 and beyond, The VAR Guy believes. Check out this video of Android, which provides a first look at Google's mobile phone operating platform.

At first glance, The VAR Guy was underwhelmed by Dell’s decision to offer Sun Solaris on selected servers. But after an hour of digesting the news — and his lunch — The VAR Guy thinks this deal is a rare triple play for Dell, Sun and customers. Here's why.

Whispers of a potential economic recession ahead continue. That made The VAR Guy wonder: If the U.S. does head into an economic recession soon, are open source companies (like Red Hat, MySQL and SugarCRM) better positioned to weather the storm than their closed source counterparts (like Microsoft and Oracle)? Let’s take a look.

Whenever I hear chatter about Novell, I think of Avis — the Number 2 rental car company that proudly declares “We try harder” as it pursues the market leader (Hertz, er, Red Hat). Hmmm. Is 2008 the year that all of Novell’s hard work in the open source market finally pushes the company into the fast lane? UBS, the Wall Street analyst firm seems to think so. But I'm not so sure. Here's why.