Gartner Group

Introduction
This is a quick introduction to the Gartner Group and ways in which it really operates. Appended below is an almost-complete list of our posts about the Gartner Group. The mass of evidence available requires that a concise introduction is provided to newcomers.

The Gartner Group is in the business of providing recommendations of vendors to companies or other vendors. Gartner Group is a large and very profitable business. It is large enough to have attracted large investors such as Bill Gates and Larry Ellison, both of whom are business leaders of firms that Gartner assesses. This already makes a conflict of interests. Gartner's recommendations are provided in all sorts of forms, including what it calls "Magic Quadrant". Gartner operates by providing reports to firms that request them, usually handling data and methods that are selected or designed to produce the required outcome. The firm which pays Gartner to produce a report expects it to be positive. In turn, in order to invite future business, a mutual relationship needs to be formed; the companies which Gartner praises have to respect Gartner in public and hopefully pay Gartner too (in internal documents, Microsoft alleges that "Analysts sell out - that’s their business model [...] But they are very concerned that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes them very prickly to work with. [...] "Independent" consultants should write columns and articles, give conference presentations and moderate stacked panels, all on our behalf (and setting them up as experts in the new technology, available for just $200/hour").

The Gartner Group has been caught deceiving many times in the past. It makes incorrect predictions, yet almost nobody dares to call them on it. Backlash from Gartner is unhealthy to one's business as Gartner is able to 'punish' its critics by giving them negative ratings. In 2009, Gartner was sued (see the "Lawsuits" section below) for "libel" or its conflict of interests, after it had allegedly penalised a company for not being among those that hire Gartner. Also in 2009 we found that Gartner censors reporters in the sense that it forbade mentioning of the word "Gartner" by a reporter. This type of iron-fisted control of one's brand and reputation led us to comically calling Gartner the "Gangster Group". As indicated above, a lot of its business model is based on a form of gentle bribes, where this term simply refers to a case where one's judgment and assessment are based on sources of income, which are handled neither transparently nor honourably.

Gartner was openly criticised by IT professionals for interfering with the market and instructing it rather than observing it. Gartner was also caught negotiating with its clients how their products would be publicly covered and it sometimes invites guests from some of those very same companies, with which its analysts literally have meals and work with. Gartner tends to measure whatever is necessary in order to support a position that brings profit (there are "lies, damned lies, and statistics," as the famous saying goes).

In 2008, government CIO John Suffolk said to Gartner: “I think we have fundamentally failed on a worldwide basis as an IT industry to understand the cost of what we do. And I roundly blame Gartner for this, because you guys are the ones who come up with TCO [total cost of ownership] benchmarking. It has become a self-fulfilling prophecy." Court material that we got hold of shows Microsoft writing to say that it "Successfully lobbied and changed the Gartner Group TCO model to show Windows as providing the lowest overall TCO". There were other questionable deals being struck between Gartner and Microsoft. This is typical. In October of 2006, Microsoft wrote that: "[Gartner's] David Smith commented that Gartner will not bash MS if MS chooses to slip Vista." In February of 2007, Gartner wrote: “Sooner or later, most organizations will deploy Windows Vista. Learn how Gartner can help you understand what the effects will be, what the benefits are and how much it will cost, so you can decide how fast to move.”

Gartner was of course very wrong and Vista was voted one of the worst technology products by several technology Web sites. Gartner also deceived about the security of Vista and it made a lot of errors regarding patents and ODF, along with the Burton Group which it acquired (major conflicts of interests there). In May 2009, Europe's decision regarding Free software was questioned by a politician after Gartner had intervened; specifically, it was an analyst who is very close to Microsoft and as usual, lies were used (1, 2). It becomes problematic when Gartner interjects itself into the press where it is perceived as a knowledgeable authority.

In summary, Gartner has found a way to profit from relationships with clients which are paying it a lot of money while also being assessed. Gartner was caught breaking its own promises/policies and it was even sued by a company that understands how Gartner really operates and how this harms the industry.

Lawsuits

 * Pay-to-Say Firm Gartner Group Gets Sued
 * Gartner Group and the “Analyst Tax”
 * IDC, Gartner, NPD, and Other Corruptible ‘Analysts’
 * Gartner Group Sued for Libel

Deception

 * Gartner Group Shows Its True Colours — Censors Reporters
 * Microsoft- and Bill Gates-funded Gartner Quickly Deletes Evidence of Vista 8 Disdain
 * GNU/Linux Market Share: Why Gartner and IDC Must be Ignored
 * Gartner Lied About Vista, So Why Should People Believe it Regarding Vista 7?
 * Gartner Group is Attacking Free Software, Again
 * Here Come the Anti-FSF Shills, Gartner
 * The Partner Group Smears Free Software Under Complimentary Disguise
 * Where Do Gartner’s and Fortify’s Attacks on Free Software Come From?
 * Microsoft Uses Inside Influence to Grab Control, Redefine “Open Source”
 * Microsoft Analysts Mock Free Software and Praise Vista 7
 * Gartner Group Pretends Only Microsoft Competes with VMware, Novell Helps Microsoft Too
 * How Jim Allchin, Gartner and Enderle Lied to the Whole World
 * Microsoft ‘Bribes’ Mac Bloggers to Slam Apple, Gartner Hosts Google FUD
 * IDC, Gartner and Yankee Group’s Latest Press Attack on Customer’s Competitors
 * Larry Dignan, His Loaner Laptop, and Microsoft Shills (Gartner Group)
 * With Obedient Dolls Like Gartner and the BSA, Who Needs Enemies?
 * Disinformation on the Rise, Shameless Linux FUD Makes a Comeback
 * Net Applications: the Big Lie, Boosted by IDC|IDG et al
 * The More They Say About Patents, the Less You Know
 * Microsoft-funded Analysts Firm Pretty Much Confirms Software Patent Pill is in ‘Openness’ Pledge
 * More Manipulation at Microsoft: Politics, ‘Charity’ for Automobiles, Media Coverage
 * Microsoft’s Partner Group Attacks ODF
 * The Microsoft Crowd Uses the Word Verdict to Throw FUD at ODF, More Spin Comes from Denmark
 * On Microsoft’s Software Patents and ODF Fragmentation
 * Lies, Damn Lies, Steve Ballmer and His Consultants/Analysts
 * Gartner Still Thinks People Only Ever Buy GNU/Linux
 * Gartner Hypnosis: Pretending Android and Linux Are Totally Separate
 * Gartner Group Urged Businesses to Move to Vista, Now It Does the Same With Vista 7
 * IBM Challenges Gartner Group’s Credibility
 * Fresh Allegations That Gartner is Corrupt and Magic Quadrant Positions Are ‘for Sale’
 * Andrea Di Maio Reveals What’s Broken in Gartner’s Operations
 * When Analysts Are Bribed by Microsoft They Will Say Anything
 * Gartner Attacks Free Software and Transparency in Government
 * Gartner Group Advocates Using Defective Software With Back Doors
 * Michael Silver Back to Acting as Gartner's Microsoft Agent, Promoting Vista 10 Based on False Promises
 * Gartner Staff That Worked for Microsoft and the Latest Nonsense from Gartner or 'Former' Staff
 * Gartner Group and NASSCOM: Will Lie for FUD, on Behalf of Microsoft and Proprietary Software

Misconduct

 * The Microsoft-Gartner Deal (Analysts Cartel Part I)
 * Gartner Group Corrupted by Microsoft (Analysts Cartel Part III)
 * Gartner et al Fixing the Price for the Entire Industry?
 * The Best Prize Bribes Can Buy (Gartner)
 * Microsoft Unleashes the Gartner Group to Sabotage Migration to GNU/Linux in Europe
 * The EU Council Answers Marco Cappato’s Question About Microsoft Dependence vs. Europe’s IT Independence
 * Gartner and Microsoft Negotiate Not Bashing Vista
 * Analyst Firms, Including IDC and Gartner, Named and Shamed for Serving as Microsoft Mouthpieces
 * Whatever Microsoft Touches, Microsoft Ruins
 * No Patches for Windows Vista and Server 2008 as Exploit Surfaces; Gartner Lies for Microsoft
 * How Microsoft and Its Analysts Entrap the Industry from the Top
 * Allies of Microsoft Instruct Reporters What to Write About Virtualisation

Failure

 * Gartner Group Wrong Again
 * Analysts Cartel: Gartner is Fan of Microsoft Software Patents, Anti-Linux Lenovo Analyst is a Vista Man
 * Another Hopeful ‘Prophecy’ From the Gartner Group(’s Paying Clients)
 * Confirmed: Gartner and Burton Groups Wrong, Boycott Novell Correct on ODF and Patents
 * Gartner Group is Banned by Boycott Novell
 * What Gartner Needs to Do to Earn Trust
 * Shocker: Gartner and Forrester Recommend Their Client Microsoft; Former Microsoft Executives (VMware) Defend Windows
 * Gartner is Wrong

Miscellaneous

 * Gartner’s George Weiss: A Lot of SUSE Developers Left Because of Microsoft/Novell Deal
 * Leaked 2002 Document: Microsoft Compares Windows XP and Office to GNU/Linux and StarOffice
 * What is Microsoft Doing Inside the ‘Press’?
 * Yankee Group Busted for Microsoft Shilling Again, Forced to Destroy Lies
 * Microsoft Puppet (Frost & Sullivan) Praises ‘Intellectual Property’, Novell’s Patent Deal
 * Richard ‘Microsoft’ Steels’ Self-Fulfilling Prophecies
 * Hard Times: Is It The New York Times or Microsoft Times? (Updated)
 * Windows Vista Leads to Another ‘Capable’ Lawsuit, Windows No Longer Gratis Either
 * Federal Trade Commission May Crack Down on Microsoft’s Bribery of Bloggers
 * Gartner Group Acquires More Microsoft Boosters
 * Giving Legitimacy to Microsoft at the Expense of “Open Source”
 * Scepticism Versus “Analysts”
 * Gartner Group Wants to Get Rid of Open Government
 * Gartner Group Partly Owned by Bill Gates and Other Business People That Gartner Covers
 * Gartner Group Boosts Vista 8 on Devices

Other similar groups whose Microsoft bias (paid-for) we showed in the past are: Forrester, IDC, and Yankee Group.