Pay-to-say analyst speaks out

F&S is considered somewhat of a Microsoft shill, for it is publishing studies that are commissioned by Microsoft without proper disclosure. The research is self-serving rather than informative. They frequently do studies that are funded by Microsoft and it's safe to assume that they are not more reliable than IDC and Gartner, which Microsoft holds by the pockets.

Anyway, F&S has just decided to kindly (and very arbitrarily) inform us that the Novell-Microsoft deal wins an award for "innovation" -- a term that Microsoft favours for all the wrong reasons.

The Novell and Microsoft alliance is based on a foundation to expand innovation and collaboration through a mutual respect for intellectual property.

This press release (quoted at the bottom in full) smells rather bad. It can be said almost for certain that someone pulled a cheque or made these notorious phonecalls to have it dispatched. Mind the use of the weasel word (or term) 'Intellectual Property'. It's there for a reason. F&S seems to have been very busy with Microsoft lately. Only 3 ago it also unleashed a press release that praises Microsoft. What does that firm do anyway? The 3-day-old press release says it best:

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Consulting Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth.

”They will attack the European Commission, the FSF, the GNU GPL, and anything else that puts Microsoft's business goals or ambition in jeopardy.“It's safe to assume that F&S's "client and partner" is Microsoft in this case, and it is trying to help Microsoft "accelerate their growth". It pretty much sums up the role of such analysts. Remember CompTIA, a Microsoft lobbying arm? We mentioned it before and always in a negative context because it merely serves the Microsoft business agenda [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16]. That is what such parties are being paid for. When Microsoft needs a third-party proxy that serves as a seemingly-independent mouthpiece, a group of analysts and lobbying arms such as ACT will be available. They will attack the European Commission, the FSF, the GNU GPL, and anything else that puts Microsoft's business goals or ambition in jeopardy.

Recent telling examples from CompTIA include:

1. Industry body to push OOXML in Philippines

Microsoft and industry body Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA) have teamed up to drive the adoption of Office Open XML in the Philippines.

2. Bill Gates, Steve Jobs Top CompTIA Poll on Most Influential IT Industry Personalities of the Past 25 Years

The co-founders of two of the world's most successful, recognizable and innovative information technology (IT) companies are the industry's most influential personalities of the past 25 years, according to a poll by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

All praise Mr. Gates. In another recent press release, CompTIA called Internet Explorer -- as notorious as it may be -- the most influential technology.

Here are some examples of individuals serving Microsoft using the hat of "independent analysts". Michael Gartenberg was a Microsoft Evangelist (briefly), but that didn't prevent him from commenting positively about Microsoft products and slamming Microsoft's competitors with the hat of "just another pundit".

After only three weeks at Microsoft as an "evangelist," Michael Gartenberg is returning to his old job as vice president and research director at JupiterResearch.

Just a few days ago came this:

Defending Windows Vista

Vista hasn't done so well in other year-end reviews. Last week, my former JupiterResearch colleague Michael Gartenberg observed that "Vista's been really getting slapped around lately." Oh, is that an understatement.

Here he is once again defending Microsoft's products. Nothing in this article mentions his relationship with Microsoft.

"It's a nice evolutionary development to the product line," said Jupiter Research analyst Michael Gartenberg.

Here he is getting caught for slamming GNU/Linux baselessly.

There are other individual examples just like that. Jeff Gould, for instance, is frequently caught provoking, trolling, flame-baiting, and assisting his friends at Microsoft with such FUD. Laura DiDio, Maureen O'Gara and Dan Lyons fit the bill as well. And then there's Rob Enderle, who appears to be struggling to have his stuff accepted for publication nowadays (he is embargoed in places).

We wrote a lot in the past about the coordinated smear campaign, which this leaked set of documents from Microsoft [PDF] says more than plenty about. It's a strategic thing. It is deliberate and it is seen as vital.

Returning to the root of this post, here is the press release in full (appended for completeness and for future reference):

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Microsoft & Novell win 2007 Frost & Sullivan Industry Innovation and Advancement Award for System Interoperability

Sunday December 30 6:09 PM

Frost & Sullivan awarded Microsoft & Novell the Industry Innovation and Advancement Award for System Interoperability at its recently held '2007 India ICT Awards'. The award for Industry Innovation is presented each year to companies for broader, more comprehensive participation in the industry and contributions to the advancement of the market. This is the first time the award has been presented for interoperability.

Receiving the award, Mr. Radhesh Balakrishnan, Director- Platform Strategy, Microsoft India, said, "Interoperability is one of the top priorities for Microsoft and this award is a testament to our effort and investments in this area. We are focused on achieving Interoperability by design and by working closely with the industry, community and the standards bodies. We are excited about this prestigious award recognizing our approach to addressing the customer needs in partnership with Novell. This award further strengthens our commitment and we look forward to working closely with customers in India to help systematically address their interoperability needs."

Enterprises are familiar with issues associated with working in a heterogeneous IT environment. Late last year, on November 2nd, 2006, Microsoft and Novell signed a landmark agreement focused on bridging the worlds of proprietary and open source technology with a focus on to improving interoperability for mixed IT environments.

The Novell and Microsoft alliance is based on a foundation to expand innovation and collaboration through a mutual respect for intellectual property. As a result, both organizations have collaborated to help improve Windows and Linux interoperability in four areas: virtualization, systems management, directory integration and identity, and office document formats. This technology will help customers reduce costs in their data centers, gain new levels of flexibility, and streamline operations, all with complete IP peace of mind.

According to Dr. T.R Madan Mohan, Director (Consulting), ICT Practice, Frost & Sullivan, South Asia & Middle East, "Enterprises today have geographically dispersed complex, heterogeneous hardware and software systems. The ability of systems to cooperate, communicate and use the information transferred amongst them, is interoperability, hence it becomes important to exploit the IT systems deployment. From a software perspective, interoperability of the systems is to exchange data based on common set of procedures, protocols, and formats. Microsoft and Novell, by signing to support interoperability between world's largest OS and popular Open Source Novell Suse Linux have committed to reduce the cost of operating hybrid systems."

To choose a recipient of this award, the analyst team tracks emerging and existing markets and evaluates the contributions of industry participants. This is accomplished through interviews with all the market participants, and extensive secondary research. Industry contributions that are considered, are elements such as the creation of new industry standards and the adoption of a product or process by leading manufacturers. Finally, competitors are compared and ranked for relative position. Frost & Sullivan then narrows down and presents the award to the company that has most altered the industry due to its creativeness and innovation.

In addition to the above methodology, there are specific criteria used to determine final competitor rankings in this industry. These criteria include, Technology innovation contrasted against competitors, New product/process introduction, Adoption of the technology/process by the leading market participants, Advancement of the industry through research, Ability to conceptualize industry activities while successfully addressing customer needs

About Frost and Sullivan

Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Consulting Company, partners with clients to accelerate their growth. The company's Growth Partnership Services, Growth Consulting and Career Best Practices empower clients to create a growth focused culture that generates, evaluates and implements effective growth strategies. Frost & Sullivan employs over 45 years of experience in partnering with Global 1000 companies, emerging businesses and the investment community from more than 30 offices on six continents. For more information about Frost &

Sullivan's Growth Partnerships, visit http://www.frost.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software-any time, any place and on any device. Microsoft Corporation India Private Ltd is a subsidiary of the Microsoft Corporation, USA. It has had a presence in India since 1990 and currently has offices in Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai, New Delhi, and Pune.

About Novell

Novell, Inc. (Nasdaq: NOVL) delivers Software for the Open Enterprise(TM). With more than 50,000 customers in 43 countries, Novell helps customers manage, simplify, secure and integrate their technology environments by leveraging best-of-breed, open standards-based software. With more than 20 years of experience, 4,700 employees, 5,000 partners and support centers around the world, Novell helps customers gain control over their IT operating environments while reducing costs. More information about Novell can be found at http://www.novell.com.

Contact:

Frost & Sullivan
Caroline Lewis, +91 22 4001 3438
Corporate Communications, South Asia
Fax: +91 22 2832 4713
caroline.lewis@frost.com