The 'special' relationship between Microsoft and Gartner is simply impossible to overlook

Summary: Gartner waited until 2015 to declare FOSS fit for databases; another example spotted where Gartner staff comes from Microsoft or vice versa

OVER half a decade ago we showed how Microsoft-friendly 'analysts' were using totally bogus yardsticks to measure the market share of databases. They love to keep track of revenue, not actual usage or installed base. Well, based on this new report, Gartner is still stuck 10+ years in the past, pretending that "Relational open source databases," as the headline at IDG (parent of IDC) puts it, "come of age" (oh, really?). So how come the Internet and many other servers at the back end (server room) of businesses have been running postgres, mysql, etc. for ages? Gartner prefers to pretend that it's a new thing, but then again, Gartner is so corrupt (paid by Microsoft and Oracle) that one should expect bias. They have been in denial about Free/Open Source software (FOSS) and GNU/Linux for as long as they could get away with it. Surely they've spread FUD for years, so why the sudden change?

To quote the report from IDG, "Open source relational databases have come of age, according to a new report from Gartner. The analyst firm recommends folding an open source database into your application portfolio.

"In its report, The State of Open-Source RDBMSs, 2015, the company found that open source relatoinal database management systems (OSRDBMSs) have matured to the point where they can replace commercial databases. CIOs can now consider them as a standard infrastructure choice, the company advised."

Only now? Gartner has got to be kidding, not just lying.

What we have here is a bunch of Microsoft propagandists pretending to support FOSS, but all they really do is mischaracterise it and belittle it. They put it under negative light. They make it seem immature and borderline amateur.

Speaking of Gartner, the other day we saw a Microsoft boosting site presenting some column called "Analyst Watch" in which a former Gartner (and IDC) guy said that FOSS would "eat the world" (not a very friendly way to put it). To clarify who wrote this, see the byline: "Al Hilwa is an industry analyst at research firm IDC, specializing in application development research. He has written columns for tech publications and is widely quoted in the media, including the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, and National Public Radio. Prior to IDC, he spent seven years at Microsoft in the Server & Tools division, and five years as an industry analyst at Gartner specializing in database systems. Before Gartner, he worked in IT in various industries. "

Yes, so he spent seven years at Microsoft in the Server & Tools division and also Gartner. People can work for Microsoft and Gartner. No conflict of interest. None at all! This isn't an exceptional case. Gartner is totally corrupt. See the recent Gartner spin from Mr. Silver, the firm's lead booster of Microsoft. He went as far as lying for Microsoft.

Al Hilwa also works for IDC (by extension IDG), which is a frequent booster of Microsoft that in the above example amplified Gartner's 'findings'.

When we have Gartner/IDC/Microsoft staff commenting on FOSS in a Microsoft-friendly 'news' site we need to be very careful. Apart from openwashing of Facebook surveillance, e.g. sticking/shoving its proprietary surveillance software (call records hoarder) into Free/libre Android right now, the article is associating FOSS with anti-FOSS concepts. Al Hilwa from Gartner/IDC/Microsoft says "IP" and "IP back into the community." He speaks of "Creating IP in open source", "proprietary IP", and "Open-source IP-based businesses". Yes, sounds like real 'advocacy' of FOSS, eh?

And here comes the Microsoft apologist Adrian Bridgwater. He follows Al Hilwa's lead with an article titled "If Software Is Eating The World, Then Open Source Will Chew It Up (And Swallow)".

"In a world where ‘even’ Microsoft embraces open source," he writes, "surely we need to know what kind of software is eating the world."

Microsoft does not embrace open source, it "embraces, extends, extinguishes" open source. It's a destruction strategy, but Microsoft has not yet extinguished it (the third phase). It keeps trying though. ⬆