Accenture/Avanade, Bulletproof, winners at Microsoft’s global Partner of the Year Awards

Avnet has been focusing on solution specialization, and it’s starting to pay off

Desktop store makes it easier to search for applications by category, by popularity and by cost

Asus and Apple provide best PCs and support, while Dell dips into the seventh spot in a PC reliability survey

The company has also improved its support for Microsoft’s SharePoint

Economic troubles in the U.S. encourage distributor to look elsewhere for growth

Same ‘rearm’ command that worked for Vista extends activation-free grace period

Plus, HP CEO comments on the business and is Acer preparing for touch-enabled, Windows 7-based devices?

Sun partner executives outline channel priorities for 2010, and hint Oracle acquisition will open strong opportunity for growth

Sun Canada channel chief John Cammalleri explains why the deal registration won’t be first come, first serve

An IDC Canada analyst says Oracle will have some decisions to make once the Sun acquisition closes around two different approaches to partner engagement

Here are several key tips for resuming a rewarding IT career

Lenovo makes push outside the box and away from traditional home office PCs

The software giant hopes the court will set aside a ruling that would halt the sales of Wordrn

Freebie ends around 11 a.m. ET, 8 a.m. PT

Plus, an Apple event next month and thoughts on the Palm Pre