DiDio rides again

Posted Dec 14, 2004 17:25 UTC (Tue) by pksings (guest, #93) [Link]

The good thing about press releases like this is that they are available for all posterity, public record, saved in numerous cache repositories. That way in a year or two when the real motivations and alliances of the writer become evident, such as being paid by Microsoft to write such crap, everyone who is smart enough and aware enough both knows and remembers what this person and organization did. And never takes anything they say seriously. Knowing that they will lie and fabricate to satisfy the whims of their paycheck issuer.

What you put out always comes back to you. Especially when it's purposeful prevarication.

Posted Dec 14, 2004 17:26 UTC (Tue) by stumbles (guest, #8796) [Link]

Ah yes, it must be time. Funny how such corporate mouthpieces go into great detail
about this great bugaboo called indemnification. And yet.... they never go into an equal
amount of detail of just what is not covered by this farce and just what the customer is
left holding. Of all these type articles I have read they amount to nothing more than
scare tactics and disinformation.

Posted Dec 14, 2004 18:22 UTC (Tue) by ccchips (guest, #3222) [Link]

Myself, I think it's time for people like these to be exposed for what they are, and thereby clear the way for continued human progress (unless, of course, you're of the mind that this kind of friction drives us even harder.)

At any rate, as an example, some of the folks at NASA have pointed out issues that we (as humans) will need to face in both the near and far future---issues that will require ubiquitous, freely-available, computing power such as we can only now barely imagine. The kind of corporate greed and divisiveness exemplified by peole like this so-called "analyst" can only serve to hold us back from accomplishing some of these (quite possibly vital) goals in our industry.

It also occurs to me: Why did this tripe come out right after Palm announced they will use Linux as their underlying OS?

Another aspect of the situation that I find most troubling is that this is another indication that we often get immature, power-hungry corporate leaders, and that sometimes, they get far more power than we should ever allow them to. Then, they take the money and power they have wrested from people, and use it to buy government leaders and analysts, to help them proclaim that their way is the only way.

I look forward to the day when people stop putting up with it.

Posted Dec 14, 2004 19:25 UTC (Tue) by Max.Hyre (subscriber, #1054) [Link]

I love their reference to MS's ``specific and comprehensive'' offer:

By contrast, Microsoft--which in the past has been criticized for the cost of its Volume Licensing Agreements when compared to free Linux--provides some of the most specific and comprehensive indemnification provision in the industry.

LWN mentioned Groklaw's specific and comprehensive analysis of said offer, and IIRC (Groklaw seems to be momentarily unavailable), the specifics were that in the end, at MS's pleasure, they could comprehensively satisfy the indemnification by refunding your money. Note also that if you use non-MS software, all bets are off.

Isn't is fascinating how a completely true description can convey such falsity?

Posted Dec 14, 2004 19:50 UTC (Tue) by dmarti (subscriber, #11625) [Link]

Meanwhile, here's how patent-fearmongering-based marketing plays to customers. MSFT does have the common sense to bail out of plans that don't work well for the intended audience, so give them a couple months to switch to something more effective, such as...

• Rights Management" for MS-Office documents. Go all MSFT for office suite and mail, and make your potentially embarassing memos "Leakproof" by disallowing features such as cut, copy, attach to email and print.
• Rapid development for business apps -- productivity studies comparing .NET/Visual Studio to Java/Eclipse.

Posted Dec 14, 2004 20:42 UTC (Tue) by NZheretic (guest, #409) [Link]

What is Microsoft's Indemnification really worth? See The devils in the small print - LOOPHOLES

Posted Dec 14, 2004 23:20 UTC (Tue) by s_cargo (guest, #10473) [Link]

A corporate Linux or open source user that lacks indemnification and product warranty...

Love the "product warranty" bit. I think the Linux product warranty is right on par with commercial software product warranties. Ie. NONE.

Is DiDio really just Darl McBride in drag?

Posted Dec 15, 2004 0:41 UTC (Wed) by bojan (subscriber, #14302) [Link]

> "The minute a corporation gets sued, it loses," says Laura DiDio

I was under the impression that those folk actually *got sued* for something or other Linux related (vaguely) and it seems that they didn't actually lose anything. Both of them are doing rather fine in the courts of law, thank you very much. One may also get the impression that after those two cases are finished, a certain company from Utah may think twice before starting another suit, no? Ditto others with similar ideas based on complete nonsense.

In order to win in court, you *have to have* something. *And*, you don't want to expose yourself to flank attacks by big patent holders such as IBM and Novell. Which truly limits who can actually start a campaign like that - posslibly only a parasite company like Eolas.

Posted Dec 15, 2004 0:42 UTC (Wed) by gvy (guest, #11981) [Link]

Didn't they already take incalculable loss to their reputation at TYG with this child porn?

Posted Dec 15, 2004 7:21 UTC (Wed) by freddyh (subscriber, #21133) [Link]

The Yankee Group (from their 'facts page'):

...global leader in communications and networking research and consulting, focusing on the areas of strategic planning, tactical decision support, technology forecasting, and industry analysis.
...worldwide reputation for its accurate, reliable, and trusted analysis of key technology issues.
...direct, frequent, and easy analyst access.
...expertise includes: telecommunications, wireless/mobile communications, enterprise applications, and consumer technologies and media.
...founded in 1970 as the first technology research and consulting firm.
...maintains offices and research staff in North America, Europe/Middle East/Africa, Latin America, and Asia-Pacific.
...employs over 200 associates.
...provides complete technology and management consulting capabilities.
...showcases a full calendar of technology-related conferences and seminars held around the globe.

Bwahahaha!