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Story URL: http://comment.silicon.com/weeklyroundup/0,39024756,11026952,00.htm

Microsoft anti-trust lawyers met with stiff opposition

By Graham Hayday

Published: Friday 31 August 2001

Microsoft has pulled off a neat trick: it's managed to enlist the support of two dead people in its endless anti-trust battles in America.

The company has been funding a letter-writing campaign organised by a group called the Americans for Technology, which is urging the US states currently taking legal action against Microsoft to drop their suits.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that Microsoft drafted standard letters which were then sent out to individuals in the various states, who then signed them and forwarded them to their local attorney general.

But the names printed on two of these letters belonged to a couple of stiffs (no offence intended). Their caring relatives did have the courtesy to cross them out and sign them themselves though.

That's what we call dedication to the cause of unfettered capitalism.

Microsoft declined to give us a comment about this story, but a spokesman told the LA Times: "It's not surprising that companies and organisations that support Microsoft are mobilising to counter [the lobbying efforts of competitors]."

Although it is a tad surprising that Microsoft is trying to mobilise the dead.

Meanwhile, Larry Ellison has stirred up an almighty brouhaha by slamming some Gartner research which just happened to be a bit nasty about his company.

Gartner released a report claiming that Oracle's relationship with some of its channel partners left a lot to be desired, as did its earnings and conference strategy. It was particularly critical of Oracle's lack of support for its user group.

So Lazzer hit back, saying that this is all nonsense - and that Gartner has, and always has had, an anti-Oracle bias.

An article on its website reads: "Market research companies are supposed to provide unbiased thought leadership. This report is another example of how Gartner has a documented bias against Oracle in its coverage... [It is] a piece of marketing disguised as research... The fact that the report is being given away free on Gartner's website, but has references throughout, to other Gartner reports that are available through subscription only, could indicate ulterior motives."

Ouch. Storm in a tea cup - or something a bit more sinister? The relationship between vendors and analysts has always been a bit controversial. A lot of the research houses are funded (at least in part) by vendors, which opens up the process to abuse. Our own research earlier this year (see below for the links) discovered some evidence of dodgy dealing - but Gartner, whose revenues come in the main from end user organisations, was whiter than white.

So in this case, it looks like Larry's thrown his toys out of the pram for no apparent reason. Still, it's entertaining stuff, so all power to his well-tanned elbow.

Those links, in case you're interested:
ANALYSING THE ANALYSTS...
Should we trust them?
http://www.silicon.com/a42798
Can independence be bought?
http://www.silicon.com/a43699
Making up the numbers
http://www.silicon.com/a45157

UK advertisers aren't interested in sex. Actually, I've been to the odd meeja do, and I know that's not true. Rather, they're not interested in UK citizens who are interested in sex.

While that might surprise anyone who's sat through hours of mildly salacious TV ads ad nauseam, when it comes to serving banners on search engine sites based on the keywords being typed in, sex just isn't on.

Online ad monitoring outfit LemonAd found that the most popular word that UK advertisers like to be associated with is, in fact, Formula One. The second most popular was health, followed by travel, MP3 and cars. Sex came in 37th. Below weather. And the Euro.

Fortunately, this was a pan-European survey. The most popular word among advertisers in France was sex. In Germany, it was sex. The Italians are also most fond of sex, while in Spain the keyword of choice was, err, sex.

This could prove all sorts of things about the profile of the average UK surfer and our clever media buyers' view of them. The Round-Up likes to think it reveals that we know the net is about a lot more than sex, and that we've stopped sniggering at all the smut in cyberspace.

Either that, or we're all so repressed and uptight about anything vaguely squishy that no 'normal' adult (i.e. the sort of person who advertisers like to target) would dare type in those three letters into a search engine - in case somehow, someone's watching and assumes we must have a penchant for dirty raincoats.

No sex please. We're British.

The Pig Brother website officially goes live tomorrow (that's 'went live last Saturday' if you're reading this on Monday). If you can't remember what that is, see http://www.silicon.com/a46053 .

But all you animal lovers with a memory might like to visit http://www.pigbrother.co.uk now to check out the contestants who will be monitored night and day for the next few weeks, their numbers dwindling one by one as viewers vote out their least favourite pigs.

There are five of them, and they're called Blair Pig, Brown Pig, Widdecombe Pig, Portillo Pig and Beckett Pig.

Mandelson Pig would have joined them but his friend Geoffrey Pig found him a much nicer sty somewhere in Notting Hill.

You can already buy the t-shirt for less than a tenner, with £1 of that going to farmers' charities. Indeed, the organisers have got the support of Emma Bunton (Piggy Spice), Carol Smilie (Ubiquitous Pig), Handy Andy (the pig that does it himself), Sara Cox (Piggy Pig) and Margaret Beckett (UK Agriculture Minister).

Believe it or not, you too can get involved: Somerset Organics (the outfit behind the whole shebang) will give you £1 for every t-shirt order you generate. Call 0800 085 7669 or email richard@somersetorganics.co.uk.

The Round-Up will be back with more ham-fisted escapades next week.