It has been roughly a month since Tech Data launched Open Tech — an open source channel partner initiative. Why is the big distributor interested in the open source market? And how is Open Tech performing so far? I caught up with Tech Data VP Stacy Nethercoat for answers. Here's the interview.

It is a proven fact that most Linux operating systems, if not all run like a duck soup on the netbooks now. We have compiled a list of compatible distros for the netbooks which support the hardware of the netbooks; are easy to install and run at acceptable speed.

Netbooks are fantastic portable devices. They’re portable, lightweight and–perhaps best of all–really cheap. But netbooks can seem hopelessly limited when used with standard desktop operating systems such as Windows or Ubuntu. This is why I recommend every netbook owner look into getting a netbook operating system.

Company suggests demand for Internet Explorer a key reason for move to Windows 7 on netbooks

From everything I have seen, Ubuntu Netbook Remix is one of the best netbook operating systems out there, and works a lot better than most of the things we see on most current netbooks. Because of this, it seems like promoting Ubuntu on netbooks would be a win for everyone.

Open Tech, an open source partner program organized by Tech Data, has gained a new member. Specifically, KnowledgeTree, an enterprise content management company, has joined Open Tech. The VAR Guy welcomes the news but our resident blogger wonders: Are VARs starting to embrace Open Tech and the rival Open Source Channel Alliance? Here are some clues.

I read the reviews last year where people claimed that netbooks looked more like portable DVD players than computers. Well... nobody has mistaken mine for a DVD player. Lots of people recognize it as a netbook. I keep running into more and more people, both in the real world and online who have taken the plunge and bought themselves a little netbook.

Netbooks are all the rage at the moment, with Asus predicting that it will sell 5 million of its Asus Eee PC netbooks by the end of this year. However, one of the tricky aspects of netbooks is that they have much more limited hardware resources than larger, traditional notebooks. For that reason, it makes sense to put applications on your machine that are both lightweight and powerful.

Back in February I wrote about how Linux had gone mainstream as netbooks became ubiquitous. Nobody doubts that Windows has captured the overwhelming majority of the netbook market. Even so, Dell claimed around that time that one third of their Inspiron netbooks were selling with Ubuntu preloaded rather than Windows XP.