Bonum Certa Men Certa

IDG, IDC, and Microsoft Money on Their Table (Updated)

ComputerWorld, NetworkWorld, LinuxWorld and many other publications tainted by Microsoft influence

The honourable Larry Lessig argues that when there is money on the table, trust is gone (highly recommended speech by the way). He is absolutely right. As witnessed many times in the past, at least within the scope of this Web site, money is being used to distort the computer industry. Examples include:



  1. Microsoft bribes to fight against (and almost ruin) an already-signed Mandriva GNU/Linux deal [1, 2, 3, 4]
  2. Microsoft pays its employee millions of dollars to stop his lawsuit against Microsoft (over financial fraud) and for the evidence to disappear from sight
  3. Novell pays millions of dollars to its investors in order to end a securities fraud lawsuit [1, 2], which was never resolved
  4. Novell supports Microsoft's OOXML after receiving hundreds of millions of dollars from Microsoft
  5. An author encourages a lawsuit against Linus Torvalds, using a book whose writing is funded by Microsoft [1, 2, 3, 4]
  6. Microsoft recommends investment in SCO and also invests in SCO itself amid lawsuits against Linux users
  7. Polymorphic pressure groups, which are funded by Microsoft [1, 2, 3], attack Microsoft's rivals and defend Microsoft from regulation
  8. Microsoft-funded groups attack ODF, GPL, and call for software patents to spread


The catalyst for today's post is the following new article from IDG, which parrots IDC. This appeared in LinuxWorld and it need not be considered innocent. It just happens to include Novell too, but that's not the point.

Sydney, 2 September 2008, A new IDC report has shown the competition in the Identity and Access Management (IAM) market in Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) has intensified over the last 12 months. Oracle has established a strong presence in the market, challenging other incumbents including IBM, CA, Sun and Novell.


It's unfortunate to find IDG as an almost-exclusive source that publishes not one but two articles (ComputerWorld and NetworkWorld) about identity and security management from Novell, as mentioned less than an hour ago.

We hereby decalre that IDG too has Microsoft money on its table. And sadly, the publication known as ComputerWorld is owned by IDG, which is quite an empire. It has a great effect on people's minds, especially in information technology. IDG owns a variety of others such as NetworkWorld and LinuxWorld, which used to carry blatantly anti-GNU/Linux ads and run Windows.

IDC and IDG are virtually the same thing by the way.

IDC is a subsidiary of IDG , the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. Additional information can be found at www.idc.com.


IDG is huge, so the bias is clearer to see. IDC has been in Microsoft's pocket for a long time [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]. Here is an example from 6 years ago (intended to show that these biases may have gone on for a long time):

Microsoft-sponsored white paper from IDC found the Windows 2000 server cheaper over a five-year period.


It was also covered here. The key phrase is "Microsoft-sponsored". IDC/IDG is doing business with Microsoft, so a relationship was formed.

Just yesterday, Matt Asay complained once again about the uselessness of analysts (like IDC).

The problem is that analysts like Gartner get their information from the vendors that subsidize their research, as well as from CIOs. Neither is a good indicator of where the market is going.


This is not the first such complaint from Asay. There are other publications as such, which are worth exploring in the future. For example, according to one reader, LinuxInsider was sold to ECT, which now uses it to attack GNU/Linux sometimes. It didn't use to be like this. LinuxInsider is also somewhat notorious for quoting Laura Didio extensively (she and her employer are a Microsoft talking point [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]) and for allowing Rob Enderle to write and publish entire articles there on a regular basis. As an introduction to Enderle's inclinations, consider some quotes:

"I saw what appeared to be a word-for-word copy of about every third line of code in the central module of the Linux kernel" -- Rob Enderle (regarding SCO)

"Many Linux supporters are a bunch of potty-mouthed malcontents. Enterprises are better off staying away from Linux and open source" -- Rob Enderle

"Linux is being widely used on the desktop in the third world, where applications are limited and labor is inexpensive..." -- Rob Enderle

"I have a hard time seeing the Zealots as any different from terrorist... I strongly believe that if September 11 showed us anything, it was that zealots" -- Rob Enderle

"I started writing about Linux because I was told I couldn't and the more people told me I couldn't, and particularly when they said 'or else,' the more the Linux dirty laundry became attractive to me" -- Rob Enderle

We've also addressed the problems in ZDNet and CNET [1, 2] very recently. The bias in the media is a known problem and we shall continue to study it.

"As discussed in our PR meeting this morning. David & I have spoken with Maureen O'Gara (based on go ahead from BrianV) and planted the story. She has agreed to not attribute the story to us....

"[...] Inform Maureen O' Gara (Senior Editor Client Server News/LinuxGram) or John Markoff (NYT) of announcement on Aug 28, 2000. Owner dougmil (Approval received from BrianV to proceed)

"Contact Eric Raymond, Tim O'Reilly or Bruce Perrins to solicit support for this going against the objectives of the Open Source movement. Owner: dougmil [Doug Miller]. Note that I will not be doing this. Maureen O'Gara said she was going to call them so it looks better coming from her."

(From Microsoft's smoking guns)



Update: To give a more complete list of the publications owned by IDG: InfoWorld, CIO, ComputerWorld, CSO, Demo, GamePro, Games.net, IDG Connect,IDG World Expo, Industry Standard, IT World, JavaWorld, LinuxWorld, MacUser, Macworld, Network World, PC World and Playlist.

LinuxInsider changed hands in 2003 or 2004.

Recent Techrights' Posts

SoylentNews Grows Up, Registers as a Business, Site Traffic Reportedly Grows
More people realise that social control media may in fact be a passing fad
 
Garden Season Starts Today
Outdoor time, officially...
More Information About Public Talks That Richard Stallman Gave This Week in Europe
Two talks in Switzerland
Engadget is Still a Spamfarm, It's Just an Amazon Catalogue (SPAM/SEO), a Sea of Junk Disguised as "Articles" With Few 'Fillers' (Real Articles) in Between
Engadget writes for bots now, not for humans
Richard Stallman's Talks in Switzerland This Week
We need to put an end to 'cancer culture'; it's trying to kill people and it is even swatting people
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, March 28, 2024
IRC logs for Thursday, March 28, 2024
[Meme] EPO's New Ways of Working (NWoW), a.k.a. You Don't Even Get a Desk at Work and Cannot be Near Known Colleagues
Seems more like union-busting (divide and rule)
Hiding Microsoft's Culpability in Security Breaches and Other Major Blunders (in the United Kingdom, This May Mean You Can't Get Food)
Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is vast
Giving back to the community
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 28/03/2024: Sega, Nintendo, and Bell Layoffs
Links for the day
Open letter to the ACM regarding Codes of Conduct impersonating the Code of Ethics
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
With 9 Mentions of Azure In Its Latest Blog Post, Canonical is Again Promoting Microsoft and Intel Vendor Lock-in, Surveillance, Back Doors, Considerable Power Waste, and Defects That Cannot be Fixed
Microsoft did not even have to buy Canonical (for Canonical to act like it happened)
Links 28/03/2024: GAFAM Replacing Full-Time Workers With Interns Now
Links for the day
Consent & Debian's illegitimate constitution
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
The Time Our Server Host Died in a Car Accident
If Debian has internal problems, then they need to be illuminated and then tackled, at the very least in order to ensure we do not end up with "Deadian"
China's New 'IT' Rules Are a Massive Headache for Microsoft
On the issue of China we're neutral except when it comes to human rights issues
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, March 27, 2024
IRC logs for Wednesday, March 27, 2024
WeMakeFedora.org: harassment decision, victory for volunteers and Fedora Foundations
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Links 27/03/2024: Terrorism Grows in Africa, Unemployment in Finland Rose Sharply in a Year, Chinese Aggression Escalates
Links for the day
Links 27/03/2024: Ericsson and Tencent Layoffs
Links for the day
Amid Online Reports of XBox Sales Collapsing, Mass Layoffs in More Teams, and Windows Making Things Worse (Admission of Losses, Rumours About XBox Canceled as a Hardware Unit)...
Windows has loads of issues, also as a gaming platform
Links 27/03/2024: BBC Resorts to CG Cruft, Akamai Blocking Blunders in Piracy Shield
Links for the day
Android Approaches 90% of the Operating Systems Market in Chad (Windows Down From 99.5% 15 Years Ago to Just 2.5% Right Now)
Windows is down to about 2% on the Web-connected client side as measured by statCounter
Sainsbury's: Let Them Eat Yoghurts (and Microsoft Downtimes When They Need Proper Food)
a social control media 'scandal' this week
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, March 26, 2024
IRC logs for Tuesday, March 26, 2024
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
Windows/Client at Microsoft Falling Sharply (Well Over 10% Decline Every Quarter), So For His Next Trick the Ponzi in Chief Merges Units, Spices Everything Up With "AI"
Hiding the steep decline of Windows/Client at Microsoft?
Free technology in housing and construction
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
We Need Open Standards With Free Software Implementations, Not "Interoperability" Alone
Sadly we're confronting misguided managers and a bunch of clowns trying to herd us all - sometimes without consent - into "clown computing"
Microsoft's Collapse in the Web Server Space Continued This Month
Microsoft is the "2%", just like Windows in some countries