Need some data to support your cause? Hire an analyst
,----[ Quote
| CIO.com raises an important issue about the integrity of research being done
| by industry analysts. Namely, if a sponsor pays for the research, do they get
| favorable treatment in that research?
|
| [...]
|
| I'm not suggesting that the research is corrupted. I'm just suggesting that
| it's hard to remove the taint of sponsored research. Just take a look at
| Gartner's "Hype Cycle" on open source, which is woefully inaccurate, probably
| in part because Gartner gets its information from the vendors who sponsor its
| research, not the customers who are buying into open source in droves.
|
| So, the next time you read a report, blog entry, or article, consider who
| pays the writer (including when reading this blog).
`----
http://www.cnet.com/8301-13505_1-9894178-16.html?part=rss&tag=feed&subj=TheOpenRoad
Referring to:
http://advice.cio.com/thomas_wailgum/it_research_brought_to_you_by?page=0%2C0
>From Linonut:
http://thirdworldtraveler.com/Herman%20/Manufac_Consent_Prop_Model.html
Manufacturing Consent
A Propaganda Model
In countries where the levers of power are in the hands of a state
bureaucracy, the monopolistic control over the media, often
supplemented by official censorship, makes it clear that the media
serve the ends of a dominant elite. It is much more difficult to see
a propaganda system at work where the media are private and formal
censorship is absent. This is especially true where the media
actively compete, periodically attack and expose corporate and
governmental malfeasance, and aggressively portray themselves as
spokesmen for free speech and the general community interest. What is
not evident (and remains undiscussed in the media) is the limited
nature of such critiques, as well as the huge inequality in command
of resources, and its effect both on access to a private media system
and on its behavior and performance.
. . .
SIZE, OWNERSHIP, AND PROFIT ORIENTATION OF THE MASS MEDIA: THE FIRST
FILTER
Ben Bagdikian stresses the fact that despite the large media numbers, the
twenty-nine largest media systems account for over half of the output of
newspapers, and most of the sales and audiences in magazines,
broadcasting, books, and movies. He contends that these "constitute a new
Private Ministry of Information and Culture" that can set the national
agenda.
. . .
This trend toward greater integration of the media into the market system
has been accelerated by the loosening of rules limiting media
concentration, cross-ownership, and control by non-media companies. There
has also been an abandonment of restrictions-previously quite feeble
anyway-on radio-TV commercials, entertainment mayhem programming, and
"fairness doctrine" threats, opening the door to the unrestrained
commercial use of the airwaves.
. . .
In sum, the dominant media firms are quite large businesses; they are
controlled by very wealthy people or by managers who are subject to sharp
constraints by owners and other market-profit-oriented forces; and they
are closely interlocked, and have important common interests, with other
major corporations, banks, and government. This is the first powerful
filter that will affect news choices.
. . .
THE ADVERTISING LICENSE TO DO BUSINESS: THE SECOND FILTER
The power of advertisers over television programming stems from the
simple fact that they buy and pay for the programs-they are the "patrons"
who provide the media subsidy. As such, the media compete for their
patronage, developing specialized staff to solicit advertisers and
necessarily having to explain how their programs serve advertisers'
needs. The choices of these patrons greatly affect the welfare of the
media, and the patrons become what William Evan calls "normative
reference organizations," whose requirements and demands the media must
accommodate if they are to succeed.
. . .
Advertisers will want, more generally, to avoid programs with serious
complexities and disturbing controversies that interfere with the "buying
mood."
. . .
Television stations and networks are also concerned to maintain audience
"flow" levels, i.e., to keep people watching from program to program, in
order to sustain advertising ratings and revenue. Airing program
interludes of documentary-cultural matter that cause station switching is
costly, and over time a "free" (i.e., ad-based) commercial system will
tend to excise it. Such documentary-cultural-critical materials will be
driven out of secondary media vehicles as well, as these companies strive
to qualify for advertiser interest, although there will always be some
cultural-political programming trying to come into being or surviving on
the periphery of the mainstream media.
. . .
Related:
http://antitrust.slated.org/www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/3000/PX03096.pdf
"Consultants: These guys are your best bets as moderators. Get a well-known
consultant on your side early, but don’t let him publish anything blatantly
pro-Microsoft. Then, get him to propose himself to the conference organizers
as a moderator, whenever a panel opportunity comes up. Since he’s well-known,
but apparently independent, he’ll be accepted - one less thing for the
constantly-overworked conference organizer to worry about, right?"
-- Microsoft
Ballmer's Remarks Inspire A TCO Trip Down Memory Lane
,----[ Quote ]
| The email surfaced in early 2007, while Microsoft was embroiled in an Iowa
| class-action lawsuit over alleged monopoly-pricing practices. (The company
| settled the lawsuit in February, 2007 for $179 million.) According to the
| email -- part of a slew of subpoenaed documents Microsoft would have
| preferred to keep to itself -- at least one company official argued that it
| would be "easier" not to own up to sponsoring the IDC study.
|
| The Microsoft exec, Kevin Johnson, now the head of Microsoft's Windows
| product team, wrote that he was concerned about competitors turning
| Microsoft's sponsorship of the study to their own advantage. Oddly enough,
| however, Johnson focused on the fact that the IDC study picked Windows as the
| TCO champ in only four out of five outlined business scenarios.
`----
http://www.bmighty.com/blog/main/archives/2008/03/ballmers_remark.html
Is Linux really losing market share to Windows?
,----[ Quote ]
| Should we be ready, as Kent Brockman might put it, to "welcome our new
| Microsoft overlords," or are the IDC Quarterly Server Tracker figures not
| really reflecting the reality of how servers are used in businesses? I, for
| one, think that what IDC is measuring and what server operating systems
| people are really using are two entirely different things.
`----
http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8060720094.html
Microsoft's Sponsored OOXML Study
,----[ Quote ]
| Today, Microsoft made available an IDC study about so-called open desktop
| file formats. It's yet another Microsoft propaganda effort, as a crucial
| format standards vote approaches.
`----
http://www.microsoft-watch.com/content/business_applications/microsofts_sponsored_ooxml_study.html?kc=MWRSS02129TX1K0000535
http://tinyurl.com/2tx9eo
IDC pronounces Linux unimportant to European economy [in Microsoft-commissioned
study]
,----[ Quote ]
| A recent IDC white paper on the economic impact of Microsoft's super
| soaraway new Vista operating system seems to be lacking one crucial
| ingredient -- other operating systems.
`----
http://www.theinquirer.net/default.aspx?article=34542
NY Times bans Microsoft analysts from Microsoft stories
,----[ Quote ]
| Part of the problem stems from the reticence of companies such as
| IDC and Gartner to reveal their clients. That should make everyone
| nervous, but it doesn't. So called objective technology publications
| keep publishing material bought by vendors without telling you this.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/12/15/nytimes_ms_ban/
IDC Study:
,----[ Quotes with annotation ]
| "(Microsoft manager:) I don't like the fact that the report show us losing
| on TCO on webservers. I don't like the fact that the report show us losing
| on availability (windows was down more than linux). And I don't like the
| fact that the reports says nothing new is coming with windows .net server."
|
| [...]
|
| "I don't like it to be public on the doc that we sponsored it because I
| don't think the outcome is as favorable as we had hoped. I just don't like
| competitors using it as ammo against us. It is easier if it doesn't mention
| that we sponsored it."
`----
http://www.iowaconsumercase.org/011607/9000/PX09695.pdf
Vista filip for US states, claims IDC
,----[ Quote ]
| While reviewers debate the merits of Windows Vista and analysts puzzle the
| over the pace of adoption, IDC and Microsoft are in little doubt over its
| impact for the economies of America's 50 states.
|
| To date, IDC has estimated Windows Vista will create 37,000 new jobs and
| generate $15.5bn in related products and services across just four US
| states.
`----
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/01/24/microsoft_windows_vista_idc/
IDC report on Open Document Standards
,----[ Quote ]
| This study is a fact-based analysis of the emerging open document
| standards, Open XML and ODF.
`----
http://openxmldeveloper.org/archive/2006/11/27/IDC_Open_Document_Standards.aspx
Vista launch to add 100,000 Europe IT jobs: study
,----[ Quote ]
| The study, conducted by research firm IDC and commissioned by Microsoft,
| said Windows Vista will be installed on over 30 million personal computers
| in Denmark, France, Germany, Poland, Spain and United Kingdom within the
| first year of shipment.
`----
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060914/tc_nm/microsoft_study_dc
Shill season
,----[ Quote ]
| It's often difficult to figure out the motivation behind a particular
| study - until one finds out who has commissioned and paid for it.
| The so-called tech consulting companies would love it if the consumer
| believes that they have conducted an "independent" study. The worrying
| thing is that not many people blow their cover.
`----
http://www.itwire.com.au/content/view/8109/1090/
Microsoft Press Releases: Read Between the Lines
,----[ Quote ]
| We have a game we play around the office here with Microsoft press
| releases. The game is called Find the words that make the headline
| true. It's not always easy.
|
| [...]
|
| Our point: Microsoft has a long history of using press releases top
| romote their product momentum in shall we say interesting ways,
| using words like "fastest growing" (meaning, the number we started
| with was really really small) to redefining words such as "sold."
| It's not good marketing practice. Why? Because once consumers and
| press people figure out you are playing lawyer, they stop believing
| you and your brand. And that's more likely to do you harm than good.
`----
http://biz.yahoo.com/seekingalpha/061211/22190_id.html?.v=1
|
|
