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During a visit to a major university last week, The VAR Guy listened as an integrator slammed Asterisk as a “toy.” The open source VoIP platform, he asserted, lacked a service and support network for big enterprise and university deployments. Apparently, the folks at Digium (located a few hundred miles away…) somehow overheard the conversation. The Asterisk market leader has launched a new warranty program that could give skeptical partners and customers more faith in open source-based IP telephony. Here are the details.

Through partnerships with more than 125 integrators and consulting firms, SugarCRM hopes to double in size this year, according to MSPmentor. Plus, a lot of that growth will come from software as a service (SaaS). Here's a quick look at the strategy and some quick quotes from SugarCRM CEO John Roberts.

Whether you attended this past weekend’s Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE) or another recent open source event, one trend is clear: Linux advocates certainly love their Apple MacBooks. Here's the proof.

The VAR Guy is skipping Disneyland this weekend and keeping a close eye on the Southern California Linux Expo (SCALE), which runs February 8-10 at the Westin Los Angeles. Here are five trends and themes The VAR Guy will be tracking at the event.

Yes, Sun is acquiring MySQL for $1 billion. But Sun CEO Jonathan Schwartz isn’t done modernizing his company. Not by a long shot. The VAR Guy isn’t ready to predict which company Sun will acquire next, but he has noticed Schwartz getting pretty darn cozy with two fast-growing open source businesses.

When Yahoo acquired the Zimbra open source email platform in September 2007, some Zimbra backers worried the search company would mismanage the email asset. Fast forward to the present, and some Zimbra proponents have gone from concern to outright panic over Microsoft’s bid to acquire Yahoo (and, ultimately, Zimbra). Here's why.

Microsoft has confirmed that it’s seeking to acquire Yahoo! Some folks — you know, the open source crowd — will likely bash a proposed Microsoft-Yahoo! combo. The VAR Guy, however, is willing to give Microsoft a chance to explain the proposed business combo. Here’s why.

Perhaps The VAR Guy pursued the wrong career. He’s blogging for free, but could be making $229 per hour or so — that’s nearly $460,000 a year — troubleshooting Windows Vista PCs for his neighbors. That may sound a little far fetched. But check out this amazing math, using some quick cost estimates from The Geek Squad. Consumers are actually paying Geek Squad a hefty fee ($129 to $229) to set up and optimize their Windows Vista PCs. Can you imagine calling Linus Torvalds to re-boot Linux? The VAR Guy thinks not. Here’s a look at the fees Geek Squad is charging to keep all of those poor Windows Vista customers up-and-running.

The VAR Guy loves Red Hat, open source and software as a service. But if you think open source and SaaS will quickly kill Microsoft, guess again. It takes Microsoft only 10 hours -- yes, 10 hours -- to equal Red Hat's entire quarterly profit of $20 million. Skeptical? Check out this stunning look at Microsoft's quarterly profits, from The VAR Guy.

Last week, The VAR Guy raised questions about Novell's overall business strategy. This week, Novell Chief Marketing Officer John Dragoon responds with key points about Novell's strategy and momentum. Among the highlights: Even without license revenue from the Microsoft-Novell agreement, Novell's Linux growth rates would equal or slightly exceed the overall Linux market growth rate. Here's a recap of Dragoon's conversation with The VAR Guy.

It’s one small step for Dell, and another great leap for Asterisk — the open source VoIP phone system. Dell plans to promote Fonality (a major Asterisk proponent) to small business customers seeking IP telephony systems. It’s a landmark development, folks. Here’s why.

Remember when Lotus Notes was tightly tied to Windows? Those days are over. IBM has announced a series of major initiatives involving long-time partner Red Hat and even Canonical, backer of Ubuntu Linux. Here are the top six highlights from this week's Lotusphere, many of which involve open source.

Now that Sun is acquiring MySQL, which open source application provider is best positioned to launch an initial public offering? The answer is likely SugarCRM. But don't look for the IPO in the next few months. Here's why, according to MSPmentor.

Okay, the headline is a bit dramatic. But the Sun-MySQL business combo makes The VAR Guy wonder: Will Novell wake up and start buying open source application providers … or is Novell doomed to repeat the exact same mistakes it made in the 1990s? Alas, Novell in 2008 looks a lot like Novell from a decade ago. That’s not good. Here’s why.

Sun Microsystems finally matters again. The company is buying MySQL, the open source database leader, for $1 billion. But this new opportunity for Sun also includes five key challenges, according to The VAR Guy. Here’s a look at those challenges, and how Sun will need to address them

Red Hat, OpenBravo and the rest of the open source industry missed a huge opportunity this week to connect with eager technology customers in New York. Here's what went wrong, and why it's time for open source application providers to start targeting vertical markets.

Brace yourself for a rare event: The VAR Guy -- an open source fanatic -- is about to eat crow. Last fall, he dumped Microsoft Office for an open source suite. Now, he’s making the leap back into Microsoft’s arms. What went wrong with our resident blogger’s open source experiment? Here’s the scoop.

Apple and open source fanatics are about to engage in a group hug, The VAR Guy has learned. It will soon be easier to run Mac OS X and Linux side-by-side on Apple servers. How will this magic occur? The answer will surface at Macworld Expo January 14 in San Francisco. Here's what to expect.

Open source companies often lose their way when they try to build channel and partner programs. One rare exception is Untangle, an open source security firm that has lined up 60 partners since September. You can find some quick details about the company and its momentum over at MSPmentor.net, a fast-growing editorial site for managed service providers (MSPs)

The VAR Guy spent most of 2007 blogging about open source start-ups and open source business models. As he looks ahead to 2008, The VAR Guy knows hundreds of open source software providers are seeking to catch on in the corporate market. Here are the top 10 open source providers and platforms that are set to succeed in 2008.