...Will get paid to spread the FUD he used spread for free

We already know for a fact that Microsoft is using journalists (through collaboration) to promote business agenda. We saw proof of this before [1, 2]. It does the same thing with analysts and we are therefore discouraged to find that Microsoft has officially captured Peter Galli. Hardly surprising though. He can carry on doing what he used to do but wear a Microsoft hat rather than a 'journalist' hat. Zonker is the same thing for Novell.

Peter Galli was not a writer about technology in the first place. He appears to have come from the south to San Francisco where he wrote about Microsoft technologies and open source. Under the reign of what's sometimes known as "Ziff/Gates", Galli wrote the most outrageous things sometimes. In some cases, his headlines, which are significant, were incorrect or deceiving, so they needed to be consequently changed.

Memorable examples of missteps include a saga where he repeatedly threw FUD at OpenDocument format. Other people complained about him as well.

So to sum up - really, Mr Gilli, stop trying to make out there’s a major controversy and massive fighting amongst the Open Document Format advocates, because in reality there is none. The only thing which has happened is that a from what I can tell extremely minor participant in the Open Document Format committees has basically gone away in a hissy fit because they didn’t get their own way - that’s how I personally see it anyway.

Galli also used the IDC lies (Galli & Gillen) to produce poison-filled headlines that slam GNU/Linux. It's all part of the Big Lie, which is manufactured through bogus statistics. Galli was typically covering "Microsoft Linux" stories at the later stages (before 'disappearing'). This was pointed out in the IRC channel on several occasions [1, 2].

Since Microsoft-Xen-CItrix is something that's discussed at the moment, it's worth adding that Galli once wrote the article "Will Microsoft Buy the New Citrix?"

Anyway, according to Matt Asay, Galli is now a Microsoft employee. He can carry on the deception without any journalistic guilt.

Microsoft's pulls its new community manager from the press corps

Who knew that when eWeek's Peter Galli wrote in 2007 about Microsoft fracturing the open-source community, Galli would become the very person to help strengthen Microsoft's role in the open-source community?

This past week Peter Galli accepted a job as the newest member of Microsoft's open-source team, focused on community relations.

In our eyes, Galli lost his credibility a long time ago. This latest step from him merely seals the envelope.

While we're on the subject of Microsoft-faithful 'reporters', it's worth adding Laura DiDio as an example of an 'analyst' Microsoft rewards through lucrative contracts to produce 'studies'. DiDio's past is far from flattering. There's the Amityville Horror story, which Wikipedia summarises thusly:

Ms. DiDio made a splash on the national scene many years before she turned to reporting the computer industry. She was intimately involved in the alleged haunting referred to as The Amityville Horror. Two months after the Lutzes moved out, she held what she called a "psychic slumber party" involving herself and a number of paranormal investigators.[9] During this time, pictures were taken in which some claim to see a small child in a window. There is also some evidence to suggest that DiDio encouraged the Lutzes in their initial reporting of the story. Also involved was Hans Holzer.[10]

Here is one article of interest, which can also be found here

As word spread of the Lutzes' experiences, people interested in the paranormal contacted them. Two months after the Lutzes moved out, reporter Laura Didio assembled a group of psychic researchers to evaluate the family's claims.

The investigators spent a night in the house, walking from room to room trying to pick up ghostly vibrations. "It was like a psychic slumber party," didio remembers.

One of the researchers, Lorraine Warren, remembers an "overwhelming feeling" of "horrible depression" in the house. The team also took a series of time-lapse photos of the upstairs landing. None of the photographs showed anything out of the ordinairy except one, which had what Didio describes as "the face of what appeared to be a little boy, peering out from one of the bedrooms."

"Didio, got a book out of the Amitiville horror. turned out later it was the family cat looking in the window. And some damp stain on the wall, used to be called distemper, stuff to prevent mold growing, it stains through to the surface," says a reader of ours. Where does Microsoft find these people, who later slam Microsoft's competitors [1, 2]? ⬆

"Working behind the scenes to orchestrate "independent" praise of our technology, and damnation of the enemy's, is a key evangelism function during the Slog. "Independent" analyst's report should be issued, praising your technology and damning the competitors (or ignoring them). "Independent" consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts in the new technology, available for just $200/hour). "Independent" academic sources should be cultivated and quoted (and research money granted). "Independent" courseware providers should start profiting from their early involvement in our technology. Every possible source of leverage should be sought and turned to our advantage."

--Microsoft, internal document [PDF]