WE ARE WELL aware already that Net Applications is funded by Microsoft in the form of clientèle and the company's output sure feeds a lot of anti-GNU/Linux writers like Preston Gralla from IDG. They just need some manufactured numbers with which to suppress and demoralise the competition, as explained very lucidly in Microsoft's effective evangelism courses.

“They just need some manufactured numbers with which to suppress and demoralise the competition, as explained very lucidly in Microsoft's effective evangelism courses.”Net Applications has admitted that its sample set is not representative of the global population of Web sites and a lot of people conveniently ignore this (with exceptions that get washed away by "yes men"). Moreover, Chips has just told us that the company's Twitter account is run by Matt Hopkins, a former Microsoft Employee. He is with Net Applications now. And here is another link: Vicinity Corporation. Hopkins was there when Microsoft bought it and also, according to Chips, Hopkins does investing. He is listed as a former employee of Microsoft and Vicinity Corporation, which Microsoft bought.

"On the Net Applications page," elaborates Chips, "[do] a google search on Matt, says that he is also an investor [...] one wonders if he owned part of Vicinity, and got the money from Microsoft." Net Applications is an insult to GNU/Linux, as explained in:

• Three New Articles Question Net Applications' Integrity
• Net Applications: the Big Lie, Boosted by IDC|IDG et al
• Is Netcraft Promoting Microsoft Just Like Net Applications?
• Summary: Lies, Damn Lies and Net Applications (Fake 'Statistics')

--Paul DeGroot, a Directions On Microsoft analyst