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This in an interesting piece of communication. The author has recently taken an interest in the BSA, including this recent article that promotes their Fear Uncertainty and Doubt message.

Quoted in the fine article are a director of enforcement for the BSA and as counterpoint noted analyst Laura DiDio. Ms. DiDio was originally famous for her role promoting the Amityville Horror hoax. These days she is perhaps better known for her astonishing (and curiously persistent) analysis of the SCO debacle in which she promoted SCO's position in front of the press and wound up a creditor in their bankruptcy(pdf) for her trouble. Her employer is alternately given as Yankee Group and G2 Computer Intelligence.

One can only wonder whether Erika Chikowski bothered to check her sources or if this is a case of envelope journalism.

I read all the way through the article. I want my five minutes back.

If you're going to trudge through it at least skip the ads and vote it down.

In 2002 scandal broke out when it was found that a European Commission proposal on software patents was actually written by a BSA official, as discovered by whistleblowers who found evidence in the Microsoft.

And this would be a worthwhile part of the article if she hadn't omitted the final "Word document".

http://www.g2news.com/editors.html

You won't be hiring Maureen O'Gara, right? Hope not.

Oh, she's still publishing, it's just going to be on http://www.g2news.com/ instead. She owns that site, and only answers to her subscribers.

Maureen O'Gara's company, still has the article online, without the pictures.

She won't stop yet, and being fired will only make her more eager to spew hatred and private details about PJ.

It's not a question of if she'll show up again, but when. There's too much at stake for the other side to allow such a willing tool to go unused.

That doesn't mean she's been silenced. She owns G2 News and, presumably, hasn't fired herself. So you can still get her viewpoint if you are inclined to pay the $595 a year for her LinuxGram or the amusingly named ePostalNews. I'm sure she'll find a few folk with the spare cash spend so they can read her version of the news.

from http://www.g2news.com/editors.html

G2 Computer Intelligence, Inc.
323 Glen Cove Ave., Sea Cliff, NY 11579, FAX 516-759-7028
Tel 516-759-7025 | Toll Free 1-877-G2NEWS1(426-3971)
Subscriptions: paperboy@g2news.com Press Releases:news@g2news.com
Who are the editors of G2News Publications?

Maureen O'Gara, (Long Island, NY) ogara@g2news.com
516-759-7025 Ext. 109; FAX 516-759-7028
Maureen's resume is impressive. Prior to founding Sea Cliff, Long Island based, G2 Computer Intelligence, she was the founding editor on CMP's Computer Systems New. She opened CMP's first Silicon Valley office where she was was bureau chief. She moved to Europe, where she was Computer Systems News's first European correspondent. She has been a contributing editor to UNIX Today, Datamation, Mini-Micro News, Unigram.X and Computergram as well as being the International editor of Computer Marketing.

Since launching Client Server NEWS, she has stalked the aisles of the trade shows with a vengeance, leaving a trail of shaking, sweating VPs of many a computer company.

She haunts the corridors of the Microsoft powerbase and gives Client Server NEWS some of its sharp edge. Famous for her confrontational style in press conferences she is single-handedly the reason why most companies in the sector have abandoned having press conferences.

We don't know why more journalists don't ask questions like her. But we're glad she's on our side.

Maureen doesn't just get stories but she gets to the heart of stories, primarily on Client Server News and LinuxGram but also on The Online Reporter.

From http://www.g2news.com/editors.html, aka Maureen's site:

She haunts the corridors of the Microsoft powerbase and gives Client Server NEWS some of its sharp edge. Famous for her confrontational style in press conferences she is single-handedly the reason why most companies in the sector have abandoned having press conferences.

Man! This woman is a bitch! :)

Linuxgram part of G2News and claims to "broken most of the key stories in Linux since it was started several years ago." Her version of "news" includes stuff like this tidbit where she breathlessly reports that some guy -- shown two pieces of code with no background or research (and under a non-disclosure agreement no reputable journalist would sign) -- declares them to be the same. That and numerous similar examples show that her "inside information" is obvious; she's sucking up to SCO by spinning the story their way. In return, they give her "inside information" -- which amounts to trivia like this; who they hired for a lawyer or how much they plan to charge for SCOSource -- so she can claim an exclusive story. This isn't journalism, it's pandering.

Kind of reminds me of the old Daily Show slogan, "When news breaks, we fix it."
Except for O'Gara it's more like, "When no news breaks, we invent some."

Her bio
Maureen O'Gara, Editor (Long Island, NY) ogara@g2news.com
[snip]Since launching Unigram.X in the US, she has stalked the aisles of Uniforum with a vengeance, leaving a trail of shaking, sweating VPs of many a UNIX supplier.

Now she haunts the corridors of the Microsoft powerbase and gives Client Server NEWS 2000 some of its sharp edge. Famous for her confrontational style in press conferences she is single-handedly the reason why most companies in the sector have abandoned having press conferences. Maureen doesn't just get stories but she gets to the heart of stories , primarily on Client Server NEWS 2000, but also on Online Reporter.

Who knows why more journalists don't ask questions like her? But we're glad she's on our side.

Sounds like the girl in Ferris Bueller's Day off....

"Linux? Linux? Linux?"

"Umm, Linux's sick. My best friend's sister's boyfriend's brother's girlfriend heard from this guy who knows this kid who's going with the girl who saw Linux Violate SCO patent issues out at Thirty-One Flavors last night. I guess it's pretty serious."

Check out the source of the article. I'm not quite convinced yet. :)

From the LinuxGram website ( http://www.linuxgram.com/ ):

"Copyright Notice: While we are flattered that some of our readers may want to pass along copies of our stories to customers, clients, associates, friends, family and co-workers, please know that this practice is illegal, violates our intellectual property rights and undermines our efforts to bring you the kind of reporting you've come to expect..

And, so the legalese: It is illegal to reproduce, copy, photocopy, forward, e-mail, publish, broadcast, post on an Internet/Intranet site, rewrite, store in a retrieval system or otherwise distribute this publication or any portion of this publication or any article in whole or in part by any means, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior written permission of G2 Computer Intelligence.

LinuxGram is changing from a free service to a subscription service, too. And on the same day -- June 1.

*sigh* I guess the free days of the Internet are coming to an end...

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