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No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 07:12 AM EST

I have decided what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a tech analyst.

No, don't bother to try to talk me out of it. My mind is made up. It's the only job I have ever heard of where you can have huge gaps in your knowledge, get random but truly vital facts utterly wrong, say the opposite of what is observably true, and nobody sues you. They don't even fire you. They don't even notice. No one says a word. In fact, they actually pay you good money, and the next time they want to know something, they forget you got it all wrong the last time and ask you for your opinion all over again.

Being a fortune teller might be just as easy. In fact, I met one once, by chance, and she confided in me what she did for a living and confessed, just between us girls, that she just made stuff up. But I think analysts get paid more, and I believe they get retirement benefits too. And of course it's steadier work.

That's got to beat being a journalist, where you have to do time-consuming actual work that's really hard, like research for hours to dig up proof for the facts you write about.

Not that we haven't had some fine examples of journalists writing silly, inaccurate things this week, but I suspect they must be auditioning to be analysts themselves.

No kidding. Think of all the time I'd save. No more toiling away at 2 AM doing icky things like reading -- with rolling eyeballs -- analysts' pontifications about the future and What It All Means. I'd just *be* one, and I could sit back, prop my feet up on the desk, and guess airily away whenever someone asked me something, like whether Linux will ever be ready for the desktop and stuff like that. If someone wished to slip me some inspiration, if you know what I mean, I might do even better. Nah. I'm sure that never happens. I mustn't get carried away with sweet monetary fantasies. But really, the hardest thing about being an analyst for me would be keeping a straight face.

Ms. Laura Didio's ineffable wisdom about software code is on display in Linux Insider (where else?):

"If you look at the success of Linux you have to ask how it got so good so fast," Didio said. "Well there's a reason. A lot of people will maintain that Linux is ripped-off Unix code -- and certainly there is a lot of Unix in Linux."

Actually, a lot of people think it has to do with the new method of software development. But why quibble? I'm thinking IBM might ask her about that sentence. "Certainly there is a lot of Unix in Linux"?? Certainly? Ripped-off code? A lot? Says who? Darl McBride and who else? But tish tosh... who cares? She's an analyst, after all. They get to say whatever they like. And nobody sues them. Of course, life is all about change, so you never want to say never.

Paul DeGroot, who is an analyst with the research firm Directions on Microsoft was interviewed late in December by the Wall Street Journal about Microsoft putting up the EU court-ordered code on its website. You don't want to miss it, if you have a sub. Here's a taste, and you'll instantly see why I've set my sights on such a position myself.

Mr. DeGroot knows quite a lot about Linux, or maybe nothing at all, I can't be sure. He says:

"Realistically, the Linux desktop has a long ways to go before anyone would want to use it . . ."

It will be at least two years, he says, before Linux solves all its problems with fonts and the interface and so on. Before *anyone* wants to use it? Two years?

Meanwhile, back on Planet Reality, Asianux is getting ready to ship in July. That's the Korean/Japanese/Chinese version of Linux for Asia:

Leading Chinese Linux software maker RedFlag Software Co Ltd expects to achieve a 50 per cent growth in sales revenues this year, pinning hopes on Asianux 2.0, a new product to be jointly launched in July with Japanese and Korean partners.

"We expect our sales revenues to increase by 50 per cent," said Bai Ke, RedFlag's marketing supervisor. "Asianux 2.0 will be a great impetus."

China is that really big country where the government decided at the end of 2003 to financially support Linux and encourage its development and adoption. I hear a lot of people live there, but I'm no analyst so I couldn't say What That Means. By the way, if any of you can read Chinese, I have a small translation request, if you would please email me.

And Bill Gates has asked to meet with the president of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, at the World Economic Forum next week in Switzerland. Brazil is another country where the entire nation is threatening to switch to GNU/Linux, but I'm sure it can't be because anybody wants to. No, it must be Mr. Gates feels a sudden yearning to meet with Lula to discuss ... his poetry. I'm sure that must be it. Mr. DeGroot is an analyst, after all. He says nobody wants to use GNU/Linux, and he's the expert. Or maybe Bill wants to learn how to Samba. You think? Or maybe they'll talk about "Operation Open Gates" and rewriting the Linux kernel? Joke, joke. We already found out that was, OSDL says, well, not to put too fine a point on it, some O'Gara "horse puckey," as quoted in LinuxInsider.

They won't talk like that after she is bumped up to being an analyst, if I've discerned her true purpose in writing that article. Daniel Ravicher, senior counsel of the Free Software Foundation called the article "virtual fiction", which is the polite phrase for horse puckey, and said O'Gara had "substantial credibility issues. My opinion is that her story about Linux being rewritten to avoid patents was virtual fiction."

But if nobody wants to use Linux, what would Gates and Lula talk about? "Modern-day communists" destroying Microsoft's IP rights, maybe? That might not be politic, all things considered. Perhaps Mr. Gates wishes to apologize for that lawsuit against Mr. Amadeu when he said Microsoft was like a drug pusher. If you were wondering how that all worked out, Microsoft dropped the suit after Amadeu said he was just repeating what he learned in economics textbooks. But what is the purpose of the meeting Mr. Gates has in mind, if no one is interested in Linux? Let's let a representative from Brazil tell us:

“Brazil wouldn’t gain anything from this, but Microsoft would gain a lot,” Sergio Amadeu, head of the president’s national technology institute, told Reuters. “They want to try to lobby Lula in the other direction.”

Tired of paying costly licensing fees to companies like Microsoft, Brazil, the world’s eighth-most wired nation, has told agencies in its sprawling federal bureaucracy to move to Linux and free software programs that run on it.

This year, the government will try to get private citizens to make the switch. It will partially subsidize the purchase for lower middle-class people of 1 million computers running Linux along with 25 other open source programs.

An effort by Microsoft to arrange a meeting between Gates and Lula could mark a shift in strategy for dealing with Latin America’s largest country.

Ah. It seems there are some folks interested in Linux after all. Meanwhile, there is, the article says, no meeting scheduled with Mr. Gates on Mr. Lula's appointment book.

Maybe the Venezuelan President will meet with him. I believe that country is working on a decree to adopt Open Source software in the government too (Update: Rafiel, a reader in Venezuela, informs us that the decree, Presidential Decree No. 3390 [PDF, Spanish], is now a fait accompli), and it's not alone, as Robin Bloor, an analyst who breaks with the pack and gets it, points out in his story about Venezuela:

This is yet another straw in the wind as regards global government commitments to and enthusiasm for Open Source. There is currently a remarkable amount of proposed legislation world wide that mandates the use of Open Source in government.

The countries where this is the case are: Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Chile, Colombia, France, Italy and Peru. . . . More telling, in terms of a clear enthusiasm for Open Source are countries where a stated policy of a “preference” for Open Source has been declared. Countries where this is the case, in some areas of government IT use, include: Bahrain, Belgium, China and Hong Kong, Costa Rica, France, Germany, Iceland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Poland, Portugal, Philippines and South Africa.

Beyond this, almost all governments have R&D projects which are investigating the practicality of Open Source for government use which will, in all probability lead to local policy guidelines at some point which favour open source.

He says it's "an established world wide trend and it is unlikely to be reversed." Sheesh. If only I'd known that you get to meet with Bill Gates personally by threatening to switch to GNU/Linux, I'd have alerted the media when I made my decision years ago. Send in the clowns, eh?

Here's a sentence from the Linux Insider article to preserve for a Ballmer or Gates deposition someday:

What is true is that Microsoft has used the threat of intellectual property infringement to discourage customers from adopting Linux.

Ah. The sweet smell of truth. Speaking of truth, Linux Insider says "it appears the only grain of truth to the latest round of Linux rumors is that the city of Beaverton, where OSDL is based, is in fact putting $1.2 million behind open-source software development." But it has nothing to do with rewriting the kernel.

Maybe Mr. Gates should stay home and talk to Beaverton. Piece by piece, government by government, company by company, individual after individual, his world is turning upside down.


  


No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst. | 314 comments | Create New Account
Comments belong to whoever posts them. Please notify us of inappropriate comments.
Corrections here, if you please.
Authored by: darksepulcher on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 07:44 AM EST
You know, to make PJ's life easier.

---
Had I but time--As this fell Sergeant, Death
Is strict in his arrest--O, I could tell you--
But let it be.
(Hamlet, Act V Scene 2)

[ Reply to This | # ]

Off-Topic Threads Here, please
Authored by: darksepulcher on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 07:46 AM EST
Don't want to clutter up any useful threads, now do we?

---
Had I but time--As this fell Sergeant, Death
Is strict in his arrest--O, I could tell you--
But let it be.
(Hamlet, Act V Scene 2)

[ Reply to This | # ]

I have news for Mr. DeGroot...
Authored by: eggplant37 on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 07:50 AM EST

Paul DeGroot, who is an analyst with the research firm Directions on Microsoft was interviewed late in December by the Wall Street Journal about Microsoft putting up the EU court-ordered code on its website. You don't want to miss it, if you have a sub. Here's a taste, and you'll instantly see why I've set my sights on such a position myself.

Mr. DeGroot knows quite a lot about Linux, or maybe nothing at all, I can't be sure. He says:

"Realistically, the Linux desktop has a long ways to go before anyone would want to use it . . ."

It will be at least two years, he says, before Linux solves all its problems with fonts and the interface and so on. Before *anyone* wants to use it? Two years?

I've been using Mandrakelinux exclusively on my PCs at home since 1999. Sure, there have been times when an application I've tried hasn't been a complete replacement for some Windows application, but over the last six years, I've watched Linux grow from extremely kludgey-seeming code to a rival of Gatesware.

I currently keep my laptop installed with the latest version of Mandrakelinux, and it travels from home to work and back home again every night. I do a variety of tasks: word processing, web page creation, spreadsheets, email, pdf generation, printing. If my employer needed it, my little laptop could also substitute as a webserver, mail server, ldap server, you name it server.

Funny, I picked up a fresh paycheck last night, and one would think that if there were a problem with my use of a Linux desktop, that paycheck wouldn't have been quite as large as it was.

Daddy's going shopping tonight...

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 07:54 AM EST
Cracking article PJ - you're definately getting into the journalistic groove, so
the 'step up' to analyst should be no problem :)

You know it makes sense - just abandon all that research and integrity and just
have fun!

[ Reply to This | # ]

Is linux really ready?
Authored by: LarryVance on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:06 AM EST
I have been using linux for several years now. I am a big advocate of linux.
My background in computers and the fact that computers are a hobby for me make
it possible for me to do linux.

I do not think linux is ready to replace MSwindows in it's entirety. The server
applications are phenomenal. Document processing, web browsing, chatting,
spreadsheets, graphics, etc. are great on linux. Unfortunately linux suffers
from a divergent set of vendors that have chosen different configurations for
their distribution with different utilities and they all have made it difficult
to do some simple things.

Some hardware configuration is not possible or when possible the results are
less than desirable. Hardware vendors do not in general appear to want to
support linux. Plug and play is good on some things, but on others not
available.

I love linux, but I still do not think it is 100% ready for the desktop (at
least not for me).

---
NEVER UNDERESTIMATE YOUR INFLUENCE!
Larry Vance

[ Reply to This | # ]

Word Games
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:08 AM EST

Look what I did:

If you look at the success of Linux you have to ask how it got so good so fast," Didio said. "Well there's a reason. A lot of people will maintain that Linux grew through donations of Unix code -- and certainly there there is a lot of Unix in Linux."

Now she has a point worth discussing!

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • Word Games - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:53 AM EST
  • Word Games - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 12:48 PM EST
  • Word Games - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 01:30 PM EST
Hmm ...
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:13 AM EST
I knew Billy boy was a head of something but not a Head of State. Why is he
interfering with the internal affairs of
other countries? I thought that was reserved to official government
representives. I guess SB's strong arm tactics
weren't working quite as expected.

Such hubris.

Anon

[ Reply to This | # ]

  • You're right... - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:20 AM EST
  • Force of Habit - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:12 AM EST
  • Hmm ... - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:16 AM EST
  • Charity in Brazil - Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:58 AM EST
No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:18 AM EST
Sweet Gods of Profanity, that was hilarious!!!!111onetwoeleven

PJ, I'd like to discuss a new keyboard with you ;) Damn sticky Coke.


--Nordbo

------------------------
l33t sp33k follows the old Unix truth: less is like more, only better

[ Reply to This | # ]

Why not a stock analyst?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:24 AM EST
I think they get paid a lot more than tech analysts. Stock analysts certainly
don't do any more research or any other kind of real work.

What do you suppose Skiba was getting paid when he targeted $45/share for scox?


Remember when that 16 year old got in trouble with the SEC for pumping
penny-stocks on yahoo message boards? Some commentator on CNBC quipped "he
should have known better, only registered analysts get to do that!" But, as
shakespeare put it: "more truth is told in jest, than in truth."

[ Reply to This | # ]

Weasel words... and a problem.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:24 AM EST
"Certainly there is a lot of Unix in Linux"?? Certainly? Ripped-off code? A lot? Says who?

PJ, the snippet you quote is basically accurate, but uses weasel words.

There is definitely some Unix in Linux, because there are common ancestors of both which are in the public domain. To link that fact to the supposition that there is a lot of ripped off code, using the well-worn "some people say" phrase, is a form of weasel words that works very well in modern "journalism".

[ Reply to This | # ]

Linux Fudster
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:39 AM EST
Linux Insider????

This name has long seemed to be misplaced.

And how many folk at "insider" are insiders?

Probably, like, (fur shure), ummm, zero?

Linux Fudster seems like a more accurate name.

Uhhhh, yeahhh, thats were I want to get my Linux news...


[ Reply to This | # ]

Analysts aren;'t the only ones...
Authored by: akempo on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:51 AM EST
Analysts aren't the only ones who lie and get paid for it. I've always said I
wanted to be a weatherman. I couldn't figure out any other profession besides
politician that got paid to be wrong or blatantly lie without consequence. But
since my politicking skills aren't that great, and I don't feel like going back
for a meteorology degree, I could handle being an analyst.

---
Great minds talk about ideas, average minds talk about events, small minds talk
about each other. Eleanor Roosevelt

2b | !2b = question

[ Reply to This | # ]

Sounds more and more like the early 90s
Authored by: haegarth on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:53 AM EST
I remember it quite well. IBM struggling to compete in the desktop market with
their own (and I might say, superior) PC OS code named Warp 3 (for those of you
who never heard about that: I'm referring to OS/2). They didn't make it (though
I must confess that I still use OS/2), and there are quite some theories about
why they let it go down the drain.

I've had my own experiences in those years, so here's my theory why, and before
you start thinking this is off topic, hear me out, please.

In 1994 my employer started a huge project to provide almost every employee with
a PC workstation carrying a standard OS, standard set of applications, all
centrally managed and supported. We are talking about some 50000 (no typo)
desktop PCs, so you get the idea about the project's size and importance.

One might think that back then there would have been better solutions, but they
chose Windows 95 for the desktop and Windows NT (3.5.1, if I recall correctly)
for the server machines.

It was early in 1994 when we met some people from that project, and I can say
that I still remember almost every single word from the following
conversation... (which was in German, so, of course, my translation is a
reworded version).
After they had told us how they were going to do it, I simply asked them
"How can you rely on an OS that isn't even on the market yet? We still have
OS/2 in the company, how about that?" The answer was: "Because
everybody with a grip on the IT market states that once Windows 95 will be out,
OS/2 will be dead."
"What kind of people do you refer to?" I asked. The answer: "IT
Analysts."

Of course, historically, those people have been right. But one might wonder what
was the cause for the fall of OS/2?
Technical issues? Hardly. Only in 2000 MS managed to GA some OS that might be
considered (almost) as good as OS/2 (except for some minor security issues ;-).

I've been wondering and hearing theories for some years now, and there are some
of them out there, but the most stunning of them was offered in Judge Jacksons
'Findings of Fact' from the DOJ vs. MS case.

It seems that a certain mixture of FUD and pressure on MS's side had turned the
table to their advantage, so literally everyone (with a grip on... you get it)
started to tell the same story, until it *became* the truth.

Well, seems to me that MS still tries to get rid of Linux the same way they
finally got rid of OS/2 (and, some years later, BeOS in almost the same way):
- bully OEMs / ISVs to abandon anything but Windows (by offering them license
cuts for Windows if they agree, or effectively kicking them out of business if
they don't - nice choice, isn't it? Well, they even bullied IBM themselves,
according to the 'Findings')
- making analysts tell the public as often and as loud as they can, that Windows
is the only OS with a future.

Which leads me to our favorite analyst, Ms. Laura Didio.

Let's not assume that she has been literally bribed by MS. This in fact would be
a serious accusation, which I do not intend to make here. Still, what else can
it be that makes that woman utter her (IMHO) nonsense every now and then, in
spite of contradicting evidence (at least so far, the SCO case isn't over yet,
but what do you expect to pop up, now that they already had every opportunity to
show their alleged facts, which they didn't)?

My conclusion makes her look almost as bad as if she had accepted bribery (which
would indicate that she at least had one clue about life: how to get wealthy
without much effort, ethics aside): she seems to at least listen to the wrong
people without using her brain to think. Not so good as a reputation for an
analyst, is it?

So, Ms. Didio, what will it be? Be aware that PJ and Groklaw seem to be tracking
what you are producing in respect to Linux and the SCO case, so if you expect to
turn around some day to come and utter something completely different, going
unnoticed, be sure that there will be someone around who remembers.


---
MS holds the patent on FUD, and SCO is its licensee....

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Groo on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:53 AM EST
PJ, you forgot to mention the most important point, if you are an analyst, you
can pull anything you want out of a hat and people throw money at your words.

If you are a journalist, you can be dead on and no one will believe you, but
lots of people will deride you. You are almost never 'right' regardless of the
truth, and if you do hit the nail on the head it is a lucky guess. That or
everyone knew, duh.

If you want, I could make some room for you on my cross here. It gets comfy
after a while. :)

-Charlie

[ Reply to This | # ]

Bill's Mistake
Authored by: xvjau on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:58 AM EST
I don't want to bad mouth anybody, but I think as a brasilian I should point put
that Bill is making a big mistake if he thinks talking to *Lula* will amount to
anything. Lula has a clear and historical political agenda of anti-corporate,
pro-socialist standpoint. For years he organized strikes against big companies
such as General Motors, Ford and Volkswagen (amoung others). Microsoft, and
Bill Gates, represent exactly the enemy in Lula's point of view. To side with
M$ would be a pilitical disaster for Lula and his PT (Worker's Party).

NO WAY BILL!

Linux, and especially Conectiva (www.conectiva.com.br), represent exactly the
kind of "national intrests" that Lula stands for.

[ Reply to This | # ]

PJ, I understand that...
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 09:01 AM EST
there is an opening at CBS. You might have to fight Laura Didio for the
position, however.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The "only" job???
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 09:12 AM EST
President/Prime Minister? Lawyer? Journalist?

- to name just a few.

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: fgoldstein on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 09:38 AM EST
About a decade ago, a cow-orker and I were both bailing out of the falling ship
of DEC, and he went to a well-known Analyst firm. No names, but it wasn't the
Red Sox Group or Mets Group or anything reminiscent of them, no siree, though it
might have rhymed with "bankees".

He explained what he found attractive about the job. He could speculate about
what he thought would happen in three years, knowing that when that time came,
he'd be doing something else, and couldn't be held accountable.

He didn't even stay there that long, but we both understood the game.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Remember the Iraqi (mis)Information Minster?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 10:09 AM EST
So, who of the group wins the Linux (mis)Information Minister award? ;)

Linux Lisa, or Leslie, or...

[ Reply to This | # ]

I'd Rather Be A Think-Tanker
Authored by: joef on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 10:24 AM EST
I'd have even more freedom from reality, and 503(b) status, to boot!

[ Reply to This | # ]

BSD, Solaris, Linux
Authored by: gvc on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 10:24 AM EST
Except for my laptop (which now runs MEPIS Linux) I've never had a Windows
Desktop. I ran BSD on a Vaxstation starting in the 80s, then SUNOS on SPARC
through the 90s. Starting in 95 I used RedHat interchangeably with
SUNOS/Solaris and since 2000 all the desktop machines I use run Linux. (I still
use some Solaris servers).

For a while I convinced myself that it was too difficult to run Linux on my
laptop, but I no longer hold that opinion. I believe people sweep under the
carpet hours of Windows configution hassles (and re-installations to repair sick
systems), hundreds of unavailable or extremely expensive software solutions for
Windows, and so on.

Of course Linux does not totally emulate Windows. If you use Windows emulation
as a gold standard, the Linux desktop will never be ready. Linux has some
deficiencies and many strengths. I do not list "not like Windows" in
the deficiencies column.

[ Reply to This | # ]

That's why LinuxInsider...
Authored by: aug24 on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 10:40 AM EST
...is called LIer for short ;-)

J.

---
--
You're only jealous cos the little penguins are talking to me.

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 10:52 AM EST
Hahaha, thanks for that write. I always enjoy your work, but your sarcasm in
this one is great!

echo "Mjovy Jotjefs svo cz Njdsptpgu?" | tr "[b-zB-Z]"
"[a-yA-Y]"

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:07 AM EST
"No, don't bother to try to talk me out of it. My mind is made up. It's the
only job I have ever heard of where you can have huge gaps in your knowledge,
get random but truly vital facts utterly wrong, say the opposite of what is
observably true, and nobody sues you. They don't even fire you. They don't even
notice. No one says a word. In fact, they actually pay you good money, and the
next time they want to know something, they forget you got it all wrong the last
time and ask you for your opinion all over again."

Actually, the President of the United States would also be a good possibility -
or one of the cabinet positions.

jeff


[ Reply to This | # ]

Announcement Stuns Computer Industry
Authored by: cjames on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:14 AM EST
"If you look at the success of Linux you have to ask how it got so good so fast," Didio said. "Well there's a reason. A lot of people will maintain that Linux is ripped-off Unix code -- and certainly there there is a lot of Unix in Linux."

Ah, that explains it ...

***************************************************
Announcemen t Stuns Computer Industry
***************************************************

CRE ATORS ADMIT UNIX, C HOAX

In an announcement that has stunned the computer industry, Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie and Brian Kernighan admitted that the UNIX operating system and the C programming language created by them is an elaborate April Fools prank kept alive for over 20 years. Speaking at the recent UNIXWorld Software Development Forum, Thompson revealed the following:

"In 1969 AT&T had just terminated their work with the GE/Honeywell/AT&T Multics project. Brian and I had started working with an early release of Pascal from Professor Nichlaus Wirth's ETH labs in Switzerland and we were impressed with its elegant simplicity and power. Dennis had just finished reading 'Bored of the Rings', a hilarious Harvard Lampoon parody of the great Tolkein 'Lord of the Rings' trilogy. As a lark, we decided to do parodies of the Multics environment and Pascal. Dennis and I were responsible for the operating environment. We looked at Multics and designed the new system to be as complex and cryptic as possible to maximize casual users' frustration levels, calling it UNIX as a parody of Multics as well as other more risque allusions. Then Dennis and Brian worked on a truly warped version of Pascal, called 'A'. When we found others were actually trying to create real programs with A, we quickly added cryptic features and evolved into B, BCPL and finally C. We stopped when we got a clean compile of the following syntax:

for(;P("n"),R-;P("|"))for(e=C;e-;P("_"+(*u++/8)%2))P("| "+(*u/4)%2);

"To think that modern programmers would try to use a language that allowed such a statement was beyond our comprehension! We actually thought of selling this to the Soviets to set their computer science progress back 20 years. Imagine our surprise when AT&T and other U.S. corporations actually began trying to use UNIX and C! It has taken them 20 years to develop enough expertise to generate even marginally useful applications using this 1960's technology parody, but we are impressed with the tenacity (if not common sense) of the general UNIX and C programmer.

"In any event Brian, Dennis and I have been working exclusively in Pascal on the Apple Macintosh for the past few years and feel really guilty about the chaos, confusion and truly bad programming that have resulted from our silly prank so long ago."

Major UNIX and C vendors and customers, including AT&T, Microsoft, Sun, Hewlett-Packard, GTE, NCR and DEC have refused comment at this time. Borland International, a leading vendor of Pascal and C tools, including the popular Turbo Pascal, Turbo C and Turbo C++, stated they had suspected this for a number of years and would continue to enhance their Pascal products and halt further efforts to develop C. An IBM spokesman broke into uncontrolled laughter and had to postpone a hastily convened news conference concerning the fate of the RS-6000, stating 'VM will be available Real Soon Now'. In a cryptic statement, Professor Wirth of the ETH institute and father of the Pascal, Modula 2 and Oberon structured languages, merely stated the P.T. Barnum was correct.

In a related late-breaking story, usually reliable sources are stating that a similar confession may be forthcoming from William Gates concerning the MS-DOS, OS/2 and Windows operating environments. And IBM spokesmen have begun denying once again that the Virtual Machine (VM) product is an internal prank gone awry.

-----------------------------

This great story was first circulated back around 1985 or so, when computers called each other up on the phone with UUCP. I'm sorry I don't know the original author, but would love to find out who wrote this masterpiece. -- CJ

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Groklaw Lurker on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:20 AM EST
"...Maybe Mr. Gates should stay home and talk to Beaverton. Piece by piece,
government by government, company by company, individual after individual, his
world is turning upside down..."

It went upside down for me nearly a decade ago. I haven't allowed a copy of
Windows to cross the threshold of my house since 1995. I began using Linux
almost exclusively around 1993 and it was quite usable then. In the intervening
years, it has come a long, long way.



---
(GL) Groklaw Lurker
End the tyranny, abolish software patents.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Realistically...
Authored by: Observer on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:25 AM EST
"Realistically, the Linux desktop has a long ways to go before anyone would want to use it . . ."

Now that's a scream!! Isn't it wonderful how analysts can know a particular answer about something for everyone on the planet? Now, I have no argument about the fact that there is a significant number of people who aren't ready to run GNU/Linux on the desktop, but to claim that it isn't ready for anyone to use it is, well, just plain ignorant. Honestly, not even Bill Gates is that stupid. Even Ballmer says that it's Geeks and Hobbyists who are running Linux, but that's still somebody.

I've probably been running Linux as my primary desktop for longer than this joker has been an analyst. Sheesh...

---
The Observer

[ Reply to This | # ]

Its all in my head
Authored by: stats_for_all on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:26 AM EST
The investment banking firm "Brean Murray" underwrites, researches, manages and trades stocks. Their tech research analyst is Michael Perica.

As of Dec. 1, 2004 Perica reported on 7 Telecommunication stocks: ADTN, ARRS, CHNL, HLIT, NTPA.pk, SFA, WSTL

Jonathan Cohen, advisor to the Royce RYTVX fund has heavily invested in 6 of these. ADTN, ARRS, CHNL, NTPA.pk, SFA, WSTL

Cohen is of interest to SCOX watchers because of his early and persistent promotion of SCOX. Royce and JHC Capital have maintained an aggregate holding of >1.6MM shares in SCOX for months. Brean Murray gave Cohen's personal holding company, TICC, a BUY on 10/ 18/04. It acts a MM trading this stock under the symbol BMUR.

Brean Murray researches the software firm CDSS, also in the top 10 RYTVX portfolio (2.4% on 11/30/04).

On 12/17/04 CDSS gapped down 43% ($1.80) on lowered guidance and a Brean downgrade released before market opening. Stock Volume picked up 12/16, just before the close.

NTPA.pk was touted by Cohen around 10/30/03, It peaked at 20 in January, before dropping to 3 and delisting this year.

CHNL was initiated by Perica as a buy 10/12/04 Cohen got his shares (held privately) in August '04, buying at a discount from another Royce fund . It is very thinly traded (avg 14K shares/day).

ARRS was initiated on 4/16/04, Cohen was buying ARRS prior to this in 1Q and 2Q.

ADTN was upgraded on 1/6/04, SFA was initiated 7/31/03, SFA was one of Cohen's top 2003 picks. WSTL was initiated 2/19/04, Royce (all funds) added 480K shares in the Q1 (about doubling the 2003 position).

It appears there is very unususal conicidence between the stock analyst Michael Perica and Jonathan Cohen's selection of stocks. This overlap includes Brean Murray coverage and trading in TICC.

On Dec 17, 2004, a very unusual thing happened: Royce's Technology Value Fund lost 4 cents.

The thing thats unusual here is that my cloned portfolio predicted a 16 cent loss.

The stock issue driving my big predicted loss was the huge gap down (-1.80) for CDSS. My ersatz RYTVX held an estimated 215K shares worth $922K at the start of the day, and $535K at the close.

Performance data indicates that the real RYTVX may of been lucky enough to sell CDSS before the gap down at the opening 12/17, the volume spike at end of day on 12/16 could represent liquidation of the RYTVX position.

Since the portfolio model was tracking performance nicely until 12/15, I have no reason to predict sales until 12/16. The last fix on this holding is the 11/ 30/04 top ten list posted on the RYTVX web site. Since that time, the fund has paid a 0.72 capital gain, this substantial change disrupted the model, but not seriously.

The Brean analyst downgrade was issued prior to the opening on 12/17.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Just remember...
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 11:49 AM EST
To really do it right you need to become associated with a FUD spreading outlet,
preferably one incorporating "Linux" into their name so that hopefully
readers will think it is factual reporting of Linux issues. After all, AdTI
doesn't appear to be believabe to anyone on the planet anymore.....

[ Reply to This | # ]

How did UNIX get good so fast?
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 12:03 PM EST
...A lot of people might think it might contain ripped off BSD code...


Seriously, the reason Linux got good fast, is because a lot of people and
companies are pouring tremendous amounts of time and money into it?

Does Laura DiDio really think that all those billions of dollars invested by
IBM, HP, Sun, Red Hat, even Caldera, etc., would produce no ROI?

Does Laura DiDio really think that the massive amounts of volunteer
contributions (which if they were converted into some kind of financial
equivalent would also amount to billions) would produce no ROI?

In short, the amount of money invested in Linux, far exceeds the amount
AT&T, USL and Novell invested into System V (and remember System V doesn't
appear to have been updated since those days - so was built with older tech,
slower computers, and less available experience of programming techniques - but
even if you added Santa-Cruz and Caldera/SCO it wouldn't make a difference)



[ Reply to This | # ]

Fortune telling is tough work.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 12:05 PM EST
Whether you believe in your own work or not, you have to have a good grasp of
what the other side wants or needs to hear and believe in the long run: you live
from recommendations.

That needs good intuition and psychology, and exposing yourself to the
customers' ways of thinking. And still you need to stay reasonably
non-committive to make sure that you don't suffer from failing predictions.

[ Reply to This | # ]

The Analyst Business
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 12:16 PM EST
This story, and many of the responses, betray a refreshing naivete about the
business that analysts are in. Somebody above actually declined to
"accuse" an analyst of taking bribes. In fact, that's the business
analysts are in, so it's no accusation. Analysts answer to PR executives, and
no one else.

In particular, as an analyst, you don't just write whatever comes into your
head. You write what your customers (as expressed via their PR staff) tell you
they want written. You don't get to sit with your feet up on the desk. You
have to go stumping to find somebody to pay you to write something. You charge
more, though, if they get to write it themselves. Many do pay more after prior
experience with your own notion of writing. A colleague of mine tells me that
he got a price quote (from Forrester, as it happened) for that last: $50,000.

Who buys monstrously-priced "reports" from these companies? The
subjects themselves buy them, to send around to potential customers. Purchasing
agents and MBAs buy them, too, because they haven't a clue what's what, and at
least they will learn to recognize the buzzwords. More importantly, a report
tells them what the big money in the industry has decided will happen, and
that's usually a pretty good way to bet.

Do journalists really spend hours fact-checking? Most just crib their text from
press releases sent out by (guess who?) analysts. So, the way to get your spin
into the magazines is to send it to analysts to put in their reports, which will
then be quoted by journalists as objective fact. There generally just isn't
time before deadline for fact-checking. Few would appreciate it (or even notice)
anyway; who can tell that you decided _not_ to repeat something?

Could it all be as brazen as this? Sadly, it is. Some journalists refuse to
board, or haven't perceived, the gravy train, and as a rule must work harder for
less money. A few analysts (Dan Kuznetsky comes to mind) do the hard work, and
then must try to find people to pay for the truth. As a rule, people aren't
willing to pay as much to propagate truth as they are to pass along lies. Few
analysts or reporters can tell the difference in any case.

It doesn't make any more sense to get angry at an analyst than at your friendly
neighborhood presidential press secretary. Sure they're shills and toadies, but
as a rule they can't tell truth from lies in any case. As far as they're
concerned, they're just providing a valuable service. It's the marks'
responsibility to separate fact fro fiction.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Speaking of which....
Authored by: inode_buddha on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 12:40 PM EST
I heard that Rob Enderle is choking on the Mac Mini. Evidently he doen't think much of it. [macdailynews.com -- links within]
Briliant analysis, r0bBIe!

---
inode_buddha
peter.vantassell@gmail.com

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT: Bill Gates and the Art of Negotiation
Authored by: belzecue on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 01:05 PM EST
"Always make eye contact," said Mr Gates, explaining his prowess in business negotiation. "Tilt your head a bit -- that looks kinda mysterious. Oh, and lick your lips a lot to keep them wet. The boardroom overhead lights will give them a sultry, glossy look that just knocks 'em dead in their seats."

----

Ahem. Back to our regularly scheduled program.

SCO may want to depose Mr Willam Gates. Seems Bill has a long history of dumpster-diving for "methods and concepts":

"...the best way to prepare [to be a programmer] is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and fished out listings of their operating system." — Bill Gates.

Bricklin sent waves of laughter through the auditorium by reading a passage from Lammers' interview with Bill Gates in which the young Microsoft founder explained that his work on different versions of Microsoft's BASIC compiler was shaped by looking at how other programmers had gone about the same task. Gates went on to say that young programmers don't need computer science degrees: "The best way to prepare is to write programs, and to study great programs that other people have written. In my case, I went to the garbage cans at the Computer Science Center and I fished out listings of their operating systems."

Source: Programmers at Work by Susan Lammers (1986), ISBN 0914845713

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: blacklight on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 01:14 PM EST
IBM easily has the sharpest group of corporate strategists in the computer
business: they bet the company year in and year out on Linux, and they reaped $3
bils in profits just in Q4 2004. Real analysis is analysis whose conclusions are
vetted by the results, and that is carried out by people who have a lot to lose
if that analysis was wrong.

So far, every company from Novell to RH to HP to the embedded chip manufacturers
that has bet its corporate existence on Linux is winning while the SCOGs of the
world ae getting flushed down the chute.

The Gartners, the Yankees are a joke. As outsiders to their client companies,
they should be able to see issues and opportunities that their clients don't.
And all we ever hear from them is hand wringing and whining about Linux while
Linux is taking off. The so-called seers into the future cannot even see what is
in front of them, and why it is happening. So what is their value-add, again?

[ Reply to This | # ]

Let me be free
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 01:16 PM EST
I was thinking last week of all the great innovations, Stac, 1dir, browsers,
disk utilities, word processors, spread sheets, presentation packages, money
managers, road map programs that Micorsoft subsumed into the WIN.... umbrella,
leaving the inovators and all their hard work unemployed as the new computers
were delivered to users with all this stuff as part of the package with the new
computer. Why would a user pay $60 for one of these packages when Microsoft
gave you a similar package free with your new computer.

And it struck me that anyone who has an innovative idea and wants to go from
freeware to a product (free or for sale) would be crazy to develop anything to
run on a windows environment where Mr. Gates may decide it must be part of the
windows operating system, and then goodbye to your idea, innovation, hard work
to develop it and get it out there. And I came to the conclusion - develop for
the Linux or OS/X environments where your software is not going to be snatched
and pulled in as a part of MS's operationg systems and you find yourself beached
with nothing.

Thanks all the Linux and others providing a place where people can play,
develop, innovate and develog their ideas.

K King

[ Reply to This | # ]

AdTI - Analysts supply their own Analyst FUD fodder.
Authored by: Brian S. on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 01:30 PM EST

They pass it around just like "pass the parcel". This one should supply some fun in the next few weeks. A must read for PJ in her new career.

Ken Brown, director of the Alexis de Tocqueville Institution's technology program authored the study, tentatively titled "Intellectual Property Left." He told LinuxInsider that the report will argue that "the IT industry sector's reluctance to pursue rampant IP infringement against public domain software developers and users is going to precipitate billions of dollars in balance sheet downgrades by Wall Street. LinuxInsider.

Ken Brown apparently not only understands the IT world better than computer professionals, he's also intent on advising Wall Street why they have their sums wrong. And lest we forget the merry men of AdTI also understand health and smoking better than all the medics put together.

For a total rundown on AdTI, it's partners, employees and their histories in the Analyst FUD market place, try this site which has details of all their FUDing and Astroturfing since 1993. ecosyn.us

Alexis de Tocqueville Institution has been corrupt since at least 1993, when it engaged upon fraudulent science publications using paid tobacco 'whitecoats' to smear the EPA's attempts to regulate tobacco-caused serial murders.

The following data table of Alexis de Tocqueville Institution Staff and Directors was located in a Google.com cache on June 9th, 2004. It may, or may not, be still available. Evidently AdTI is attempting to hide their information, and has wholesale removed data pages from their website recently.

I don't know if the ecosyn site has been mentioned before but it has a mountain of AdTI information.

PJ you must read it to understand how to be an analyst. Just call it advice from the expert's.

Brian S.

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: rweiler on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 02:15 PM EST
I can remember demoing desktop Linux to a guy that lived in my apartment
building in 1999 that was a writer for some NT rag whose full time gig was
helping companies plan their technology strategies. (David something or other -
it will come to me eventually). We were chatting, and one thing lead to another
and I demoed desktop Linux (RH7 maybe?) demonstrating that pretty much anything
I needed to do, I could do on Linux. I didn't have OenOffice but as I recall, I
did have a copy of Applix. Anyway, he promptly went off a wrote a piece entitled
'What's all this nonense about Linux' or something similar describing how Linux
was a nice toy, but CTO's would be better sticking with good old NT for serious
computing. This isn't a new phenomena.

---
Sometimes the measured use of force is the only thing that keeps the world from
being ruled by force. -- G. W. Bush

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: rp$eeley on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 02:25 PM EST
Hahahahahahahahaha. I was going to write a long monologue here, but can't stop
laughing long enough to do it. Thanks, PJ. This is a classic.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Linux so good "so fast"? And of course there's Unix in it.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 04:28 PM EST
On Unix in GNU/Linux: Of course there is. A lot of the various shells and
utilities specifically say in their man pages that they're based on BSD code.
Which, of course, is perfectly legit.

Meanwhile, I'm not sure what Didio means about Linux getting so good "so
fast". Linus started programming the kernel, what, 14 years ago? (Thanks
to Grokline, it took me 15 seconds to confirm that.) It was about six or seven
years after he started that that GNU/Linux started becoming widely discussed as
something useful for more than a toy. And now, six or seven more years after
that, it's finally getting to the point where people like Didio are saying it's
"so good".

Fourteen years.

To get to a point roughly comparable with Windows 2000, but with better security
(which is a matter of basic design, not of more programming work). Windows 2000
got there in, at rough guess, ten years, if you count NT as the start of that
particular branch. I can't see how getting there in 14 years is exactly
"fast". Maybe we should consider Linux the baseline, and then we'd be
asking the question of how Win2k got there "so fast".


[ Reply to This | # ]

Linux turning up in legal circles and not on the paperwork.
Authored by: Franki on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 04:44 PM EST
A friend of mine who is a judge, said the IT guys for his munciple building
delivered a Linux machine into his office recently. It's basic job is to take
over browsing dutes and some perl scripts for accessing database stuff. This is
in the USA.. and the IT guys there are all nuts about Fedora. I imagine that the
Linux boxes will get more work as apps are ported for it or alternatives found.

This same judge has Mandrake Linux running at his house as well. (I convinced
him and his son to try it) and he has been learning to use it for over a year
now. I've also converted him to Firefox and Thunderbird on his Windows machine.
I wish he was handling one of the important cases facing OSS nowadays, he
actually knows personally about the software in question. How rare is that for a
judge? (Also, how many judges do you know that can program in PHP and Perl??)

It's really the IT guys that are driving the Linux push in enterprise I think.
If you get sick of the weekly virus/spyware duties, eventually you will get the
urge to find a more secure alternative.

rgds

Franki

---
Is M$ behind Linux attacks?
http://htmlfixit.com/index.php?p=86

[ Reply to This | # ]

So You Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: rsteinmetz70112 on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 05:29 PM EST
All you really need to do is change your notice on Groklaw.

IANAL. I am a journalist an analyst with a paralegal background, so if you have a legal problem and want advice, please hire an attorney.

---
Rsteinmetz

"I could be wrong now, but I don't think so."
Randy Newman - The Title Theme from Monk

[ Reply to This | # ]

One problem there
Authored by: AdamBaker on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 05:36 PM EST
Did anyone mention that you have to abandon your integrity? Somehow I don't
think you'll find that bit of the task too easy.

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT: SCO's Renewed Motion to Compel
Authored by: beast on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 05:39 PM EST
Granted in part, denied in part.

http://www.utd.uscourts.gov/reports/media/img0119.pdf

page 102

also

http://sco.tuxrocks.com/Docs/IBM/IBM-377.pdf

---
Delay is the deadliest form of denial. - C. Northcote Parkinson

[ Reply to This | # ]

OT - Merkey at it again
Authored by: Stumbles on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 06:58 PM EST
Gambling on a new Linux license

Let's see, the gist is rewrite all of Linux to remove the GPLed code. Hmmmmm, great chief walk into heap big job. That's a hugh amount of effort when it would no doubt (at least in my mind) be tons easier just to write a kernel from scratch.

---
You can tune a piano but you can't tuna fish.

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 07:02 PM EST
Might I suggest a new term for tech. analysts of this caliber? One that , I
think, accurately describes both their comfort generating properties to those
that employ them, and how the rest of us see them:

'fuddy duddies'

Weasel words have their uses...

- Tony Fisk

[ Reply to This | # ]

Then just declare yourself one.
Authored by: Anonymous on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 08:16 PM EST
"I have decided what I want to be when I grow up. I want to be a tech
analyst. "

If you want to be an analyst, just call yourself an analyst. I know I'll get
flamed for this, and risk having my comment removed, but you did exactly that to
go from "paralegal" to "journalist with a paralegal
background."

Before I get the asbestos underwear, consider this. While PJ undoubtedly does
good and valuable work, and while many professional journalists do shoddy (or
worse) work, is this usage devaluing the language? To my mind, a journalist is
someone who has either training (i.e. a journalism degree) or experience (i.e.
working from reasonably entry-level for a media outlet of some sort). The term
is in a gray area between licensed or certified professions (I can't call myself
a lawyer if I haven't met very specific conditions) and the purely wishful (I
can call myself a sculptor even if I never sell or exhibit a sculpture), but to
my mind it was far closer to one side than the other. PJ's usage dilutes the
term, in my opinion. Some of you may think it doesn't matter, or that it's a
good thing. I don't.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Windows is just NOT good enough
Authored by: golding on Wednesday, January 19 2005 @ 09:22 PM EST
I tried Windows recently. My problem is that is just does not have the richness
of finish that Linux does.

I also noted that many apps on Windows didn't do as good a job as the Linux apps
did.

Not to mention the desktop itself. Oh how I missed multiple desktop space, fast
app switching, and being able to see at a glance what the cpu/ram load is.

One other point .... is it just me, or is Windows SLOWER on the net?

---
Regards, Robert

..... Some people can tell what time it is by looking at the sun, but I have
never been able to make out the numbers.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Unix and Linux.
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2005 @ 04:27 AM EST
'Unix' is just a standard So yes there is Unix in LInux, but that is just the
fact that Linux has some Posix and defacto standard. But that is a good thing.

The point what Laura Didio make "If you look at the success of Linux you
have to ask how it got so good so fast" is a kind of silly. The kernel is
only a (maybe small)part of the success. The most exciting and inport developing
hapends in the user space like 'apache','kde','gnome' ... etc Those thinks has
nothing to do with Unix or didn't exists, or those programs are also developed
for other operation systems.

[ Reply to This | # ]

It's not all "the new development process"
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2005 @ 05:20 PM EST
It's not true that Linux has progressed as fast as it has by having a new
development process. Perhaps -- even probably -- that has accelerated its
debugging, but if you look at how long it took to get certain features into
Linux compared to how long it took commercial vendors to do it, Linux is usually
competitive and sometimes fairly slow about it.

How long has Linux SMP been in development, for example? Initial SMP support
was introduced in 1996, yet it wasn't until the release of the 2.6 kernel in
late 2003 that it was especially effective. Call that seven years in
development. Solaris got to about the same point (I'd call Solaris 2.6 roughly
equivalent) in five.

Where Linux has made large strides fast is in re-use of pre-existing code,
particularly donated code. That is what the whole SCO suit is supposedly about,
isn't it? IBM donated something like a million lines of code to improve various
aspects of Linux's scalability and manageability. So did other vendors like
SGI. That isn't new code, that's code they had laying around -- built using
traditional techniques -- that was repurposed.

I think the multi-line evolutionary and cross-feeding aspects of open source
development will lead to much stronger releases in the long term versus
traditional approaches, but like evolution it takes longer (and uses more
resources) than would a more specific approach. But let's not get crazy and go
about telling people that it was all built from scratch. That hasn't been the
case in many years.

[ Reply to This | # ]

Charles Wang's quote on analysts.
Authored by: Anonymous on Thursday, January 20 2005 @ 06:55 PM EST
I think the best quote about IT analysts was from Charles Wang, fmr CEO of Computer Associates who was quoted by Business 2.0 and The rememberd by the google cache as follows:
...IT analysts are basically corporate technology therapists. But there are other ways of looking at it, one of which was put succinctly some years ago by Charles Wang, the billionaire chairman of software giant Computer Associates. He was asked to assess the quality of Gartner's researchers. "I want to choose my words carefully here, so I'm not misunderstood," he said. "They're a bunch of [f- word removed to keep groklaw clean]ing idiots."

[ Reply to This | # ]

No Kidding. I Want To Be An Analyst.
Authored by: Anonymous on Tuesday, January 25 2005 @ 11:15 AM EST
I am an industry analyst. I share many of your concerns.

http://www.redmonk.com/jgovernor/archives/000404.html

[ Reply to This | # ]

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