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Microsoft and 'An Open and Honest Discussion'?
Simon Brooke asks: "I have today received from Microsoft a flyer about an event entitled 'Microsoft and Open Source 20/20 Seminar: An open and honest technology discussion'. Microsoft are touting one of their speakers as an 'independent analyst'. All the other speakers are either Microsoft employees or represent businesses related to Microsoft. The 'independent' speaker is Philip Dawson of Meta Group, and his job title is given as 'Senior Program Director, International Infrastructure Strategies'. He's described as 'a leading authority on Linux, high end UNIX, Windows server platforms and storage'. Among the 'seminar benefits' is listed 'question the platform and Linux technical experts' so clearly their pitch will be to present this guy is a 'Linux technical expert'. Anyone prepared to help me out here? Have Microsoft held similar events in your part of the world, and if so how did you respond? Do you have any scoop on Mr Dawson?" Sounds like more par for the course from Microsoft. Nevertheless, it doesn't hurt to go into these things armed with more information...that is if you are in to events like these.
"The event (which is free) is being held on:
Consequently it would help enormously if people going to the event had some low-down on this guy. He's apparently written a recent report entitled 'Linux Adoption: An OS for the Masses?' but unfortunately it seems you have to pay chunky amounts of money to get access to it. It would be extremely interesting if someone had read it, particularly if it contained factual errors or obvious misinformation. It would also be interesting to know in what ways he has worked with or for Microsoft in the past."
- 10th June - London
- 17th June - Edinburgh
- 29th June - Manchester
- 7th July - Newport
Consequently it would help enormously if people going to the event had some low-down on this guy. He's apparently written a recent report entitled 'Linux Adoption: An OS for the Masses?' but unfortunately it seems you have to pay chunky amounts of money to get access to it. It would be extremely interesting if someone had read it, particularly if it contained factual errors or obvious misinformation. It would also be interesting to know in what ways he has worked with or for Microsoft in the past."
Mr. Dawson has a biog page on which it notes that he's ex-SCO.
boakes.org
I'm not surprised at the presence of such an obviously prejudicial statement on slashdot. But it's concerning when the prejudice starts in the introductory write-up... but then, maybe I'm reading into things.
It could've been written like so:
It would be extremely interesting if someone had read it, particularly if it contained balanced arguments or accurate comparisons between linux and windows. It would also be interesting to know in what ways he has has contributed to the (FL)OSS effort.
click-clack, front and back. I'm not moving this car otherwise.
this is an advocacy site. you're not seriously expecting 'fair and balanced' are you?
How many ways does it have to be said: open source is winning so let's just relax. It should go without saying but most people at MS are just, erm, people with the same interests, ideals and values as everyone else. I know it's amusing (not least to me) to demonise them but I think that is a tad unfair.
I once had a MS guy wheeled in to tell me that J2EE was fundamentally broken and that he'd spent 2 years at Barclays bank (it's a UK high-street bank) trying to get it to work and it just wouldn't. This went on for 30 mins or so. Then I invited him to come around the corner (literally) and see the J2EE-based demo my team had put together in the previous 2 days...
I suppose the point is that all companies are basically all about winning contracts and never mind the truth. It sounds stupid to be pointing that out as I'm sure 99% of you deal with that in your daily working life. Yes, MS as a corporation is particularly ruthless but let's not get carried away. They are just the ultimate embodiment of what most corporations would like to be. Don't kid yourself that Apple, Oracle or whoever wouldn't be as evil if they could only figure out how. Well, IMO. If I'm wrong then great. Seriously.
People that don't know what you claim to.
stuff
People who hire people like you?
Marxist evolution is just N generations away!
in Australia a BA is a bachelor of Art. Its a bullshit degree. Whats a BA mean in the US ?
if
If you pay for it it must be true. Mega Corporations paid to create^H^H^H^H^H^H find this truth for you.
If your opponents generally can't afford to view your FUD before you present it with a paid shill arguing your opponents view point then your truth shall reign uncontestible...
Well that's just my take on the matter. But then again I thought the Maginot Line was a good idea (tactically speaking).
134340: I am not a number. I am a free planet!
i know its not the most reliable source in the world but you can see his stances on a number of issues by simply googling him, http://www.google.ca/search?q=Philip+Dawson+of+Met a+Group&ie=UTF-8&hl=en&btnG=Google+Search&meta =
-=Hinkey=-
He's a witch, can we burn him!
...
/. is rapidly devolving into a Fascists paradise.
How do you know he's a witch?
He looks like one
Sheesh.
; -- the corruption of government starts with its secrets. a truly free people keep no secrets. --
Open and honest?
I believe I speak for all of us here when I say: "When pigs fly."
TANSTAAFI: There Ain't No Such Thing As A Free iPod.
Several of their consultants (Kevin McIsaac comes to mind) have been damning Linux with faint praise for a very long time. I don't know if that converts the leadin from "prejudicial" to "going in with your eyes open" or not, but it certainly raises its point average in my eyes. (-:
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
Agree. As long as Bill has an unfair advantage, he'll be out there pumping it for all it's worth. You'll probably have to drive a stake through his heart to stop him from being greedy and obsessively competitive. He's one bloke I would like to see the JW's get through to.
Got time? Spend some of it coding or testing
...to learn about the respective merits of Windows and Open Source has already made up their mind. There's no point in trying to counter such a seminar.
The only thing worth doing is to try to understand the internal politics that must be going on in your organization if they intend to send anyone to such a seminar.
"How to Do Nothing," kids activities, back in print!
So Open Source gets one speaker and MS gets how many?
The only bright spot for UNIX is the fact that Oracle scales better on UNIX than on Windows.
In another article he talks about how with the introduction of intels ia64 chip UNIX will be regulated to the back room running a Database and will basically die out.
In article "Wintel Vendors: Data Center Addition?" Sorry no public link.
He opens saying that the impact of Linux on the data center is negligable compared to Windows which growth is expanding faster than anything else.
Looking through this information it also strikes me that he has always help product marketing positions, but has no listed experience actually having implemented and designed any of this.
He is also one of metagroups leading open source knowledgeable people without ever having worked with Linux. link
In this article
he states "anything but Linux on Intel is niche." and seems to poo-poo any thought of running linux on non-intel equipment... Which doesn't speak well for his Linux experience... He claims that they only look at what his clients are doing, so it seems that he won't know about it unless they are doing it and his job is to advise them on what to do... Make your own conclusions...
In this article dated April 20th, 2004 so it should reflect his current position, he seems to be promoting Linux. Definately worth a read through.
And this article back in dec 09th 2002 he states he see's in 5 years windows at the low end and linux at the high end of computing.
Meta Group's position
2001 Linux not on their roadmap
2002 Linux is immature and should not be used in mission critical applications
2003 - current not sure
Overall it looks like he isn't a techie, just a manager that overlooks what consultants in the field are do and provides a "face" for the UNIX department. Doesn't look like he's a Microsoft shrill especially considering the last two articles I left on him.
Hopefully this helps, going to sleep.
/* TODO: Spawn child process, interest child in technology, have child write a new sig */
For anyone who isn't familiar with Meta Group, let
me sum up. Meta group is a radically pro-Microsoft
consulting firm that over the years has run a
"research report" scam for gaining free
advertising and promoting their own pro-Microsoft
agenda. They have had great success suckering
naive editors and journalists into running
bogus opinion pieces as "news" or genuine
"research." Their typical targets have been
Linux, Java, and Sun, but anything
threatening to Microsoft is fair game -- even mainframes.
Meta Group "research" reports vary quite a bit in
quality. Some of them are well crafted FUD that
could almost pass for the objective research they
pretend to be. Some, on the other hand, is
pretty blatant.
Don't be fooled if you see an occasional
article by Meta Group that seems to boost open
source, or Linux, or Java. A typical strategy
Meta group uses to create a bogus impression of
objectivity is to prominently concede points that
most reasonable readers would already take
as given. In effect, they lose nothing by
such concessions. But read carefully and don't
be distracted by the smoke and mirrors. You'll
find they immediately undermine the point they've
conceded and infuse it with FUD and bullshit.
While it's frustrating how many people seem to
actually fall for Meta group's scam, I always
look forward to new Meta Group "research reports"
for their comic value. Don't pass up the
ones to which Will Zachman has contributed.
Zachman seems to be slightly unbalanced mentally
and his influence always shows through here and
there in hilariously offbeat reasoning.
I don't know Phillip Dawson. However, the good
money says he's more of a Will Zachman than any
kind of "independent" or "leading authority
on Linux."
Obviously MS isn't going to hire someone sincerely hostile to their wares for this "open discussion". But that doesn't mean everyone there is necessarily an MS partisan. So, kind of like one of those political-pundit shows where they take a few conservatives then add a moderate or two for "balance", this program will probably have a handful of MS lieutenants giving their sincerely-held variations on the party line, and one or two folks to chime in with "yes, that's true about Windows, but open-source software can do that too" or "but closed-source software isn't always better".
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
The value of a degree depends far more on the student than the degree (BA/BS) or program (CS/CIS...)
And it depends as much on the school as any of those things.
But for the most part, in the US in the past few years, BA's are being handed out to students whose main qualification is just paying tuition. Be that at the mail-order University of Phoenix (where the instructors are fired if they do not hand out B's to essentially all students), or at the State University of Podunk. The pressures on most universities these days have more to do with retention than education.
BA students are increasingly required not take any courses that require learning anything icky like math or science, and given good grades merely for arranging words on paper with little regard for spelling, grammar, intelligibility or sense.
At least most (not all, sadly) BS degrees require that students pass courses with requirements that they actually prove that they've learned something.
The BA is increasingly the equivalent of a high school diploma - given mostly for just turning up in class. For the most part it is mostly useful to get through the HR screening people. Having one proves that you're willing and able to take whatever senseless bureaucratic crap people are willing to toss at you uncomplainingly.
...and then there is the reverse- Caltech awards no BA degree. It is possible (albeit rare) to earn a BS in Literature. To do so, of course, you'd have to take the core curriculum requirement of six course-years worth of math and physical science.