IDC

IDC is an analyst firm owned by IDG. We wrote about the company's misconduct in the following posts.

2007

 * Analyst Firms, Including IDC and Gartner, Named and Shamed for Serving as Microsoft Mouthpieces
 * Microsoft Fuels OpenDocument Disinformation with Funded Analyst Propaganda
 * Disinformation on the Rise, Shameless Linux FUD Makes a Comeback

2008

 * IDC, Gartner and Yankee Group’s Latest Press Attack on Customer’s Competitors
 * IDG, IDC, and Microsoft Money on Their Table (Updated)
 * IDG/IDC Does Microsoft’s Revisionism to Deny Crimes
 * More on the Microsoft-IDG/IDC Connection
 * Al Gillen (IDC) Once Again Throws FUD at Free Software and GNU/Linux
 * Linux Foundation, Please Stop Feeding the Shills
 * IDC and Microsoft Negotiate the Results of Studies
 * Patently Absurd: Microsoft, BSA, IDC, Alsup, and Trend Micro
 * IDC Analyst Attacks ODF and Praises OOXML Ahead of Crucial Vote (Corrected)

2009

 * It’s This Time of the Year Again: Time for BSA and IDC to Compare Us to Murderers
 * Quick Mention: More on IDC as “Gun for Hire”
 * Microsoft’s Jim Allchin: “I am Scared of GNU/Linux” (Analysts Cartel Part II)
 * Microsoft Should be Reported to the ASA/Equivalent for “TCO”, Benchmark Frauds, Fake OEM “Recommendations”
 * GNU/Linux Market Share: Why Gartner and IDC Must be Ignored
 * Microsoft Pays IDC (Again) to Assist Government Lobbying
 * Resistance to Propaganda from Seattle and IDC; Microsoft Staff Makes a Move
 * Microsoft Already Uses IDC Study it Paid for to Further Digitally Colonise India and Portugal
 * IDC, Gartner, NPD, and Other Corruptible ‘Analysts’
 * Net Applications: the Big Lie, Boosted by IDC|IDG et al
 * IDG on IDC+BSA Deception, OpenOffice.org Growth, and Thoughts on ODF
 * Novell is Feeding the Shills-for-Hire from IDC
 * Microsoft Pays IDC for Disinformation, IDG (IDC) Covers the Results
 * Does Microsoft Use Its Sponsored IDC/BSA Study for Extortion Across the World?
 * Novell and the Linux Foundation Legitimise a Microsoft Shill (IDC|IDG)
 * Jim Allchin: “We Feel a Huge Threat from Linux” (Analysts Cartel Part IV)

2010

 * Why IDG is The Fox News of IT
 * Scepticism Versus “Analysts”
 * Microsoft-funded IDC (IDG) Attacks GNU/Linux in Russian Schools, Accused of Using “Corrupt” Data
 * New IDC/BSA Propaganda for Microsoft and Other Proprietary Software Companies
 * IDG’s (IDC) Research So Bad Even Its Own People Complain About Its Output

2011

 * When Analysts Are Bribed by Microsoft They Will Say Anything
 * What Can One Do When IDC Lies for Microsoft Money?

2012

 * BSA and IDC Systematically Lie to the Public, Distort Press Coverage

2013
http://techrights.org/2013/05/30/idc-data-vista-8-spin/ Fake ‘Studies’ for Vista 8 Grooming and Yet More IDC/IDG Pay-to-Say/Publication Collusion (Yes, Again)
 * Microsoft Partners IDC and Trustwave Spread GNU/Linux FUD
 * IDC Still Turns Data Into Microsoft Propaganda in Servers

Concise Analysis
To give a short summary, IDC has been caught discussing the removal of a disclosure regarding funding (discussed with the funding source, which was unhappy with the outcome). IDC was also caught choosing specific and biased populations for its surveys, which is akin to rigging. IDG, the media company, promotes studies from IDC sometimes (this is self promotion) and its advertising budget/policies can easily effect the preferences/convictions of IDC, and vice versa. Lastly, IDC sometimes issues statements that are mutually contradictory, especially if two competing companies pay IDC in order to receive positive coverage. Ultimately, this means that IDC is making large sums of money fueling both sides of an issue, making money from both in exchange for endorsements that CIOs take seriously.

We have provided specific examples, included one where Microsoft hired IDC in order to belittle GNU/Linux. This was not an independent study and its goal was very clear from the start. IDC also routinely delivers (jointly with the BSA) indefensible propaganda for the software and media industry, fabricating numbers by quantifying perceived lost from items that are infinitely duplicable. This puts in doubt claims of noble honesty.