Memo to FOSS Force: The VAR Guy Won't Ignore Open Source

FOSS Force

Dear Christine Hall: Thanks for reading The VAR Guy. You are raising some important questions about editorial freedom, editorial quality and the future of journalism. In a recent blog post, you wrote:

Sorry, but The VAR Guy’s cloak of secrecy remains in place. Forever. But please give The VAR Guy a chance to explain why.

Our resident blogger has written about the open source and closed source software worlds since 1992. The VAR Guy’s own Website launched in January 2008, and has emerged as the leading IT Channel blog. By remaining anonymous, The VAR Guy gains far deeper access into the IT Channel. A few examples from recent weeks:

Maintaining Trust?

But how can you and the rest of The VAR Guy’s readers trust an anonymous blogger? The simple answer: Clear disclosures about sponsor relationships. For instance, The VAR Guy has always listed his sponsors — from day one — so that readers can make their own judgments about The VAR Guy’s business relationships. Yes, sponsors write monthly guest blogs. And they are disclosed as such.

If you read something on The VAR Guy that seems to pander to sponsors then please post a comment or send The VAR Guy an email (TheVARguy [at] NineLivesMediaInc [dot] com). The VAR Guy cares about reader perceptions. And he wants to maintain your trust.

It’s Not Open Source vs. Closed Source

Going forward, The VAR Guy will offer a mix of open source and closed source coverage — as he always has.

Imagine this: The VAR Guy’s home office includes a MacBook Pro, an Ubuntu Linux netbook from ZaReason, a Dell workstation running Ubuntu, and a Lenovo IdeaPad running Windows 7. The VAR Guy also has a Samsung tablet running Android, and an Apple iPad (version 1; our resident blogger didn’t open his wallet for iPad 2).

But here’s the thing: The VAR Guy won’t get caught in a religious war between open source and closed source. Instead, he judges each piece of technology on its business value. If Red Hat Enterprise Virtualization (RHEV) gains ground on VMware, The VAR Guy will report it. But if Microsoft gets a big win against Red Hat Enteprise Linux, The VAR Guy will report that as well.

Generally speaking you can count on the following from The VAR Guy and his team:

Dollars Plus Good Editorial Sense

Yes, The VAR Guy is a business that generates sponsored revenue. But that’s been the case since January 2008, long before Penton Media acquired Nine Lives Media and this web site. And going forward, The VAR Guy expects to greatly benefit from the talented marketing, SEO and business leaders at Penton.

In the meantime, please give The VAR Guy a chance to maintain his voice and his editorial quality. And if you see quality slipping please raise your hand, post a comment and demand that we get things right. The VAR Guy appreciates your time. And your readership.