FUD Alert: Microsoft's Burton Group at It Again, Slamming Microsoft Rivals
- Dr. Roy Schestowitz
- 2008-05-07 12:26:18 UTC
- Modified: 2008-05-07 12:26:18 UTC
"Analysts sell out - that’s their business model... But they are very concerned that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes them very prickly to work with."
--Microsoft, internal document
Here is just a quick word of caution: Now comes the latest
FUD from the Burton Group, Microsoft's left-arm FUD buddy, which was only recently used against Google, VMWare and ODF. As usual, it all comes in the form of a report Microsoft can cite and distribute copies of. It's now
used against Free software, too.
Open source software (OSS) frequently flies under the radar in IT organizations, and if governance is not in place to identify it and manage legal licensing implications, it may crash and burn, Burton Group Inc. warns.
Developers working on SOA and other software projects are making use of OSS components, and IT, QA and legal departments are ignoring the licensing ramifications at their peril, according to a new Burton report.
For background about the Burton Group, which appears to be compensated by Microsoft using consulting contracts (spendings sprees rather), see [
1,
2,
3,
4,
5,
6,
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8,
9,
10,
11,
12,
13,
14,
15,
16,
17,
18,
19,
20,
21,
22,
23,
24]. Also see
this for further explanation about reimbursement methods. The business of consults and analysts is brutally dishonest one.
⬆
"Consultants: These guys are your best bets as moderators. Get a well-known consultant on your side early, but don’t let him publish anything blatantly pro-Microsoft. Then, get him to propose himself to the conference organizers as a moderator, whenever a panel opportunity comes up."
--Internal Microsoft document
Comments
Chris Haddad
2008-05-09 14:41:19
For the record, Burton Group is a proponent of open source software. Personally, I have been an Apache Axis committer in the past, have successfully used and championed open source solutions during my career, and open source alternatives are always mentioned in our research. Within the Application Platform Strategies service research library, we have reports which provide 'balanced coverage' of open source. Proper governance controls including evaluation processes, adoption strategies, and incubation programs are critical success factors when introducing any technology into large organizations.
More insight onto the team's position can be found in our open source blog postings
Again, I welcome the opportunity to have an introductory conversation with you and better understand your perspective.
Roy Schestowitz
2008-05-09 15:20:35
I do not doubt your qualifications, but knowing what I have been seeing from the Burton Group over the past year, I believe that facts speak for themselves.
I know for a fact that Peter O’Kelly earned some nice pile of cash and publicity for (co) producing that report which, among many things, downplays Microsoft's sheer corruptions (well documented) and puts labels on those who 'dare' to denounce such unacceptable behavior.
Miles
2008-05-09 16:32:12
Indeed Roy has very little experience at anything outside of trying to slander every group he happens to disagree with in an attempt at painting them as morally corrupt.
He only pays attention to articles that side with his world view and so any facts to the contrary are completely ignored and written off as propaganda.
If he actually made an effort to understand both sides of any of the issues he is vocal about, he might see that the world is not black and white. There are no evil entities just like there are no entities that are purely good.
Of course, this all comes with experience gained by living in the Real World. Things like working for a living. If you have everything handed to you as Roy does, then it is easy to think of yourself as morally superior because you never have to make tough decisions.
That's really what this is about, too, Roy wanting to feel morally superior.
Your words would gain a lot more respect, Roy, if you had to live by your beliefs, but you aren't a software engineer, you aren't a business man trying to make a software company work - you aren't working in the business of software at all (nay, you aren't working at all).
I've read comments by you in the past that claimed you lost respect for engineers at Novell who didn't quit their jobs when Novell made that deal with Microsoft - yet I doubt you would have quit your job either. You make these statements as if you think you are somehow morally superior, yet you have taken no actions to ever prove where you stand. Slandering people and companies on a website is not taking a stand - you have nothing to lose. Try taking a stand when it will cost you dearly, and I'll maybe gain some respect for you.
Same goes for people like CoolGuy and cojii who have likely never worked a day in their lives or ever taken the "morally correct" choice when it hurt themselves or their families (either financially or otherwise).