Summary: Microsoft folks (disguised as journalists and/or analysts) pass on the company's message against competitors

Microsoft's control of the press -- and to be fair, Apple too has increasing influence over it -- is a subject that is not foreign to us. The simple rule is that those with money to spare can control the trade press. It is sad, but it has always been true. Who would ever admit this? The press??? Examples are abundant and we bring some up on a regular basis.

“The simple rule is that those with money to spare can control the trade press.”When it comes to Chrome OS, there is a lot of press control, probably with several sides involved. As ThistleWeb puts it, "I noticed the BBC take on it had quotes from Rob Enderle and Gartner."

What more need be said? Rob Enderle is all about Microsoft and in this article from the BBC, at the side bar they even link to the (essentially) Microsoft-sponsored Enderle Group. Those in the BBC who admittedly have lunch with Microsoft love quoting him (sometimes with full video) and Microsoft is also a BBC partner, so it is more or less expected.

But to address that latter bit about Gartner, doesn't everyone know what they are to Microsoft? And specifically Michael Silver for example? Watch this new article where he defends Windows XP, which is an antique of an operating system. That's like Microsoft talking.

Analysts like Gartner's Michael Silver say the fact that the Vole allows downgrades for those who buy Vista means that we can't really be sure how much hardware still depends on XP.

Michael Gartenberg -- like Michael Silver -- is a rather notorious Microsoft promoter because their extensive track records on the subject speak for themselves. So why on Earth is Gartenberg approached for his opinion on Chrome OS (a Microsoft competitor) as though he is an independent analyst? He is a former Microsoft "evangelist" (as in "TE"). Attila responds as follows:

Google Chrome: Naughty, naughty Guardian

Today's online Guardian has this article: "Google's new platform Chrome aims to show Microsoft's Windows the door" http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/ju... In the article Michael Gartenberg is mentioned as follows: Not everyone is convinced Google will succeed, however. Michael Gartenberg, a consumer devices analyst at Interpret, based in Los Angeles, was unimpressed. 'Folks who have never seen it, used it or spent five minutes with it are claiming it's huge threat to Windows.(If that's the case, wouldn't it also be a threat to Apple and Mac OS, an argument I've not seen this morning?)' He added that history doesn't run in favour of Chrome OS's principles: 'Consumers have overwhelmingly rejected Linux-flavoured netbooks for Windows-capable machines that they could actually accomplish things on, such as run PC applications.'"

The bit about "...could actually accomplish things on..." sounded familiar from my readings in COLA and so I did a wee check on Mr Gartenbert on this "consumer devices analyst at Interpret" and found to my shock/horror this: "Microsoft Hires Michael Gartenberg as New Evangelist" http://www.techcrunch.com/2007/02/15/microsoft... Hmmm, not exactly a neutral observer, eh? Yet no mention of this detail in the Guardian article. Naughty, naughty, Guardian.

More examples ensue in the thread:

several Chrome OS stories.

Here's one from Computerworld from yesterday. http://tinyurl.com/nfw7os

"Nonsense, countered Michael Gartenberg, an analyst with Interpret. 'This will have no impact on Apple whatsoever,' said Gartenberg, who pointed out that users have already rejected Linux on the desktop as well as Linux on netbooks."

And another -- an opinion piece on SlashGear posted yesterday... http://tinyurl.com/n3pthw

"With much sound and fury, the blogosphere and Twitter all respond to Google’s “bombshell” announcement that they’re launching Chrome OS sometime in the 2nd half of 2010. (which I might add is a long time from now)."

Here he is again, in an article in Sci-Tech from yesterday... http://tinyurl.com/kkprkh

"A Threat to Microsoft?

"This is Google's attempt to poke Microsoft once again with a sharp stick and see what they can do to weaken Microsoft's position," said Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret. "Google has done this in the past by giving away semi-free versions of software like Google Docs, but that hasn't put Microsoft's Office business in any trouble yet."

As Gartenberg sees it, the notion of creating a free OS for netbooks doesn't make much business sense. The netbook market, he said, is beginning to disappear as these miniature machines become more like full-function PCs with new every new iteration."

Here he is quoted on Reuter's MediaFile (today) being "unimpressed" with Android: http://tinyurl.com/nz29nm

"Another analyst Michael Gartenberg of market research firm Interpret was less than impressed by myTouch. ”It’s very evolutionary. In an era of new devices offering new functionality and new features this doesn’t feel particularly exciting,” he said."

On July 6th he wrote the following in CIO Today in an article about the Linux based CrunchPad... http://tinyurl.com/m5wltk

"The key question is whether consumers want a Net-only tablet computer. Michael Gartenberg, a vice president at Interpret, called such a device "a solution in search of a problem."

In the past, he said, consumers "have rejected these kinds of 'tweener' devices," adding that he expects the CrunchPad to become "a niche product at best."

Busy, isn't he? Wonder how much Microsoft is paying him to be an "independent analyst?"

Gartenberg is still an evangelist for Microsoft, not an "independent analyst". Whether he is technically still on the payroll matters a lot less based on simple observations, even from recent months [1, 2].

“Watch out for Microsoft people wandering among us and pretending either to be "independent" or to be "FOSS people".”Microsoft typically mocks GNU/Linux using other people because it looks more credible and exposes Microsoft to less backlash.

Watch out for Microsoft people wandering among us and pretending either to be "independent" or to be "FOSS people". Just the other day we wrote about and warned about Black Duck, which has roots in Microsoft, is purely proprietary, and uses secret/imbalanced data (improperly sampled and never subjected to outside inspection or scrutiny) just like Net Applications does (Net Applications is also connected to Microsoft). Here is the compelling essay from the SFLC again.

Black Duck Report is Meaningless Without Source Code

Black Duck Software recently published some summary statistics about free and open source software license adoption, based on data it collected by crawling the web.

Some months and even weeks ago we warned about growing Microsoft influence inside Juniper. One of our readers makes the following suggestion in light of this news (more citations in Bruce Schneier's Web site).

I presume this is a Windows ATM problem and that now that Juniper managment is crawling with MS fifth columnists there will be no questioning his Billness' Holy Jihad.

For those who do not know, Gates uses the term "Jihad" to describe his competition against other companies [1, 2] and by doing so he justifies what would otherwise seem like far-fetched suspicions.

We wrote about Windows ATMs twice before [1, 2], so another discussion on the subject would be superfluous. ⬆