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7. Meeting Pending: Novell is set to hold its annual shareholder meeting on May 13. But the Massachusetts meeting could be canceled if Attachmate‘s buyout of Novell is approved before that time. In the meantime, Novell Channel Chief John Dragoon has assured VARs that the company remains committed to its partner program.

6. Strange But True: Tech Data issued a press release describing Channel Link, a recent or forthcoming event for more than 600 resellers, vendors and executives focused on cloud, social media, mobility and Tech Data’s new StreamOne — a software licensing selected. When exactly was the event held — or when will it be held? The VAR Guy didn’t see a specific date in the press release…

5. Open Alternative?: EnterpriseDB, an open source alternative to Oracle’s MySQL database, made a rather interesting competitive move this past week. Indeed, EnterpriseDB sponsored the MySQL Conference and Expo (April 11-14, San Francisco).

4. More Clouds Ahead: The VAR Guy will spend April 20 in Atlanta, getting an update on Arrow Enterprise Computing Solutions’ Fusion Cloud strategy… Curious to learn how Arrow’s efforts compare to recent cloud moves at such distributors as Ingram Micro and Synnex.

3. Nearly Connected: The VAR Guy and Digium CEO Danny Windham are trying to connect. Time for an update on Asterisk, the open source IP PBX. Digium has a strong commitment to VARs and service providers that specialize in VoIP and IP telephony. More details soon.

2. Sour Grapes?: HP has made several smart channel moves in recent weeks. But the hardware giant’s continued complaints about Oracle dropping Itanium development seem hollow and empty. Why didn’t HP complain so loudly when Red Hat and Microsoft each dropped Itanium from their development lineup?

1. Check the Headline: This is a Top Six list. Always has been. Always will be. So there is no number one.

That’s all for now. The VAR Guy thanks you for the ongoing dialog.

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