Microsoft's practice of paying analysts to conduct studies showing Windows' superiority over Linux have never sat right with me. It looks like my hunch was right that Microsoft's "Get the Facts" campaign wasn't and isn't all it's cracked up to be.
According to an e-mail message, dated November 1, 2002, that has been entered as evidence in the Iowa consumer antitrust case against Microsoft, some Microsoft executives favored hiding the fact that Microsoft paid International Data Corp. (IDC) for one of the total-cost-of-ownership studies comparing Windows and Linux that the firm conducted at Microsoft's request. (It looks like fear of being outed triumphed, and Microsoft ultimately decided to admit its role in commissioning the IDC TCO and subsequent anti-Linux studies.)