Comments

• Eruaran

  2010-10-27 04:37:26

  John Pilger appropriately calls it "corporate journalism".

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2010-10-27 22:54:49

  I like the term. I'll use it more.

• twitter

  2010-10-28 13:11:36

  I like other terms better term. "Corporate journalists" elevates Microsoft's mouth pieces and insults real journalists. Microsoft, as we know from their court published emails, has gone as far as to create "controlled press" where every single word is approved and actively works to "subvert" real journalism. Microsoft's controlled press should not be treated with respect because it was established to betray readers. Journalists are supposed to be independent reporters of noteable events. Microsoft's controlled press is just another arm of the dishonest company's "technical evangelism" which it considers "war".

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2010-10-28 13:34:07

  "Just keep rubbing it in, via the press, analysts, newsgroups, whatever..." --Microsoft [PDF]

• twitter

  2010-10-26 21:21:15

  The reemergence of the disgraced, pseudo journalist is an amazing proof that the current patent attacks against free software are just a continuation of Microsoft's long standing judicial extortion of free software users and competitors. The only thing more perfect would be a few words from Laura Didio
  
  This reminds me that I should brush up my Poison Pens Collection.

• twitter

  2010-10-27 22:48:51

  I did not have to wait long for perfection. Laura Didio is quoted in this CNN puff piece about the death of Microsoft as a "consumer brand".
  
  

  "In this age, the race really is to the swift. You cannot afford to be an hour late or a dollar short," says Laura DiDio, principal analyst at ITIC. "Now the biggest question is: Can they make it in the 21st century and compete with Google and Apple?" Some influential analysts think not.

  
  
  The rest of the article is devoted to downplaying the obvious irrelevance and reduced profitability of the company. They run through the littiny of failures, Zune, IE, Vista but pump up supposed business purchases of Windows 7 as evidence of hope for the company. They do point out that people prefer other program when given the choice at work, but GNU/Linux and other free software is not mentioned.
  
  Laura Didio's revival as an analyst is a little less surprising than the revival of O'Gara. Didio was a principle promoter of the Amitiville Horror fraud back in the 1970s. Her Wikipedia article suffered a ghostly deletion but most of the info is still in the wikibin and the fun parts are:
  
  

  While still in collage and working as a News Assistant and News Writer at Channel 5 News in NYC, DiDio contacted Kathy and Lee Lutz who agreed to let the then Metromedia (now Fox News) news outlet have exclusive access to film a seance in the house. The seance was organized by Connecticut based paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren. The Warrens invited a number of other psychics to the seance including representatives from Duke University's School of Parapsychology. DiDio served as a producer for the evening's events and assisted reporter Marvin Scott in his reporting of the seance, which was televised on the Channel 5 10 O'Clock News broadcast. She later also accompanied well-known paranormal investigator Hans Holzer into the house to document a follow-up seance he did using trance medium Ethel Myers-Johnson. The events surrounding the alleged haunting at 112 Ocean Ave, Amityville, NY served as the basis for a book "The Amityville Horror" by Jay Anson and several movies. The topic remains one of intense interest to this day. DiDio has been interviewed frequently on the subject, but she herself has never published any articles or reports on "The Amityville Horror." DiDio believes that something extraordinary did happen to the Lutzes to cause them to flee 112 Ocean Ave, Amityville after only 30 days.

  
  
  A true story! After that, she went on to her career as a Microsoft booster, which was crowned by pretending the SCO case had merit. Seven years after signing the SCO NDA and claiming the now failed copyright extortion was on solid ground, it seems she may rise from the discredited and promote again. A happy Halloween, indeed.

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2010-10-27 22:54:28

  We covered this Amityville 'fame' in 2008.

• twitter

  2010-10-27 23:13:42

  Nice work, both articles you cite are now gone. The Wikibin article claims, "DiDio also says that she did not see or experience anything out of the ordinary during her several visits to the Amityville house." That is clearly contradicted by the dissapeared articles. One of the quotes lives on here and here.

• Dr. Roy Schestowitz

  2010-10-27 23:16:29

  'Web rot' must be good for Laura Didio's career.