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Microsoft tried to muck with anti-Linux ‘facts’ | |
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| Time: 12:47 EST/17:47 GMT | News Source: ZDNet | Posted By: Robert Stein | ||
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Microsoft's practice of paying analysts to conduct studies showing Windows' superiority over Linux have never sat right with me. It looks like my hunch was right that Microsoft's "Get the Facts" campaign wasn't and isn't all it's cracked up to be. According to an e-mail message, dated November 1, 2002, that has been entered as evidence in the Iowa consumer antitrust case against Microsoft, some Microsoft executives favored hiding the fact that Microsoft paid International Data Corp. (IDC) for one of the total-cost-of-ownership studies comparing Windows and Linux that the firm conducted at Microsoft's request. (It looks like fear of being outed triumphed, and Microsoft ultimately decided to admit its role in commissioning the IDC TCO and subsequent anti-Linux studies.) | ||
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| #1 By 6859 (206.156.242.36) at 2/2/2007 12:56:23 PM |
| Paying anyone for a TCO study automatically biases the study. |
| #2 By 16797 (142.46.227.65) at 2/2/2007 2:07:01 PM |
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#1 Why?
It's like saying that, for example, a study showing that men get bald more often than women, is biased because it was done by a woman and/or paid for by another woman :D What should they do then? Should MS do the study themselves -- you'd believe then? Or should thay ask third-party to do studies for free? Would you do the work for Microsoft, for free? I know I would not. Actually, all published studies are probably 100% valid --- if a study showed that Windows does worse than Linux, Microsoft wouldn't have it published. It's that simple. This post was edited by gonzo on Friday, February 02, 2007 at 14:08. |
| #3 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 2/2/2007 2:30:34 PM |
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I thought MS paid for all of the studies associated with this campaign. It's not like it was top secret! Its just like an attorney calling an expert witness who will support his/her argument the best.
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| #4 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 2/2/2007 2:43:55 PM |
| Unless it favors Linux, of course. |
| #5 By 28801 (65.90.202.10) at 2/2/2007 2:50:47 PM |
| Nothing stopping Red Hat from paying for a study or two. |
| #6 By 7754 (216.160.8.41) at 2/2/2007 3:22:14 PM |
| I meant to say, it's "biased" unless it favors Linux. If you look at the test methodologies (and the reproducible nature of many of them) rather than giving the knee-jerk reaction of "biased!" ...well, that's just too dispassionate for some folks to handle. These studies have become more about than readers (or more accurately, the title-readers) than the content. |
| #7 By 3653 (68.52.143.149) at 2/2/2007 3:25:57 PM |
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"Paying anyone for a TCO study automatically biases the study."
Anyone thats been 'in the business' for awhile is inundated by survey requests. I know I'm not alone in saying I really only return the calls of 1) the well-known research groups, 2) those that mention a $100 amazon gift certificate for partipating. Nothing wrong with getting paid for your time and expertise. |
| #8 By 13030 (198.22.121.110) at 2/2/2007 3:53:44 PM |
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#2: It's like saying that, for example, a study showing that men get bald more often than women, is biased because it was done by a woman and/or paid for by another woman :D
Only if she's bald! ;-) |
| #9 By 15406 (216.191.227.68) at 2/5/2007 12:58:26 PM |
| Paid-for commercial studies are garbage most of the time. The results of the study never see the light of day unless they match the desired results of the entity paying for the study. There can be a nugget of truth in a paid-for study, but oyu have to be very careful in reading between the lines. Reminds me of an MS study a few years back that showed Windows was better at serving webpages. It turned out that the Linux they used was out of the box, while the Windows platform was tweaked to the nth degree for performance by a team of MS engineers. The results of the study were correct, but failed to highlight the uneven playing field. In the end, the study technically had the right result but the result was meaningless because of garbage data. I could show you a study that says I'm faster than a cheetah and the report would be 100% correct. I'd just fail to mention that I'm faster than one specific cheetah, and that one was dead. |
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