Laura DiDio

Laura DiDio is a senior analyst, formerly with Giga Information Group (now Forrester Research) and currently (2004) with The Yankee Group consulting firm in Boston. She received a B.A. in communications from Fordham University and worked for many years as a reporter and editor covering computer networking. Her recent work has included an assessment of Microsoft Windows.

Open Source

DiDio is often viewed as being very critical of the free software movement and community due to her early and continuing support of SCO and frequent referencing of those studies comparing the TCO of Microsoft and Linux where Microsoft appears to have performed well.

An example of her opinion on how Open Source Software is handled shows in this remark (quoted from a phone interview from her home in Massachusetts): "The thing about Linux is, you can talk about a free, open operating system all you want, but you can't take that idea of free and open and put it into a capitalist system and maintain it as though it is some kind of hippie commune or ashram, because if you can do it like that, at that point I'm like, 'Pass the hookah please!'"cite news
last = Manjoo
first = Farhad
title = Fear, uncertainty and Linux
publisher = Salon.com
date = 2003-08-18
url = http://dir.salon.com/story/tech/feature/2003/08/18/sco_ibm/index0.html
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] and "Welcome to the wonderful world of Linux. These people are living in an alternative reality." [cite news
last = Lyons
first = Daniel
title = Revenge of the Nerds
publisher = Forbes
date = 2003-12-16
url = http://www.forbes.com/2003/12/16/cx_dl_1216linux.html
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

Even recently, after admitting that a SCO victory in their case against IBM seemed like an extreme longshot, Didio said, "There is a larger issue, though: Even if the SCO case gets dismissed entirely, it does not remove the copyright cloud hanging over Linux and open source."cite news
last = Vaughan-Nichols
first = Steven J.
title = Is SCO Down for the Count This Time?
publisher = eWeek
date = 2005-02-10
url = http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1763785,00.asp
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

Didio further commented "If you look at the success of Linux you have to ask how it got so good so fast, well there's a reason. A lot of people will maintain that Linux is ripped-off Unix code -- and certainly there is a lot of Unix in Linux." [cite news
last = LeClaire
first = Jennifer
title = OSDL Debunks Linux Rewrite Rumors
publisher = LinuxInsider
date = 2005-01-18
url = http://www.linuxinsider.com/story/news/39772.html
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

Unsurprisingly, Linux advocates have in response heavily criticised DiDio. Typical criticisms are a lack of formal computer science qualifications and promoting studies funded by Microsoft; frequently this has resulted in questioning of her integrity and her being characterised as "a Microsoft shill". In April 2005 she struck back at this criticism cite news
last = Marson
first = Ingrid
title = Yankee Group slams 'Linux extremists'
publisher = ZDNet News
date = 2005-04-07
url = http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9590_22-5658519.html
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] , denying having received any money from Microsoft or that the surveys had been funded by them. In the same interview she objected to the way she had been attacked in certain forums (particularly Groklaw), as well as having elsewhere been nicknamed "Didiot" and "Dildo" (particularly on Yahoo's SCOX board), claiming "There's an extremist fringe of Linux loonies who hang out on forums and are disrespectful and threatening because you disagree with them" and "I've had these nut jobs calling me at 11 o'clock at night" - comments which have only served to increase the antagonism.

CO affair

In June, 2003, she was invited to view snippets of the code that SCO Group claimed had been inserted into the mainline Linux Kernel. She stated that "It appeared as though the Unix System V code complete with the developer notes had been copied and pasted right into Linux. OK now, that said, that is not empirical proof of anything. It's just what it looked like to me, and they showed us snippets of things, so I can't state with absolute certainty what it meant. But what I came away thinking was that if this is what it appeared to be, then SCO has a credible case." although later she was able to be more definitive "Some lines of code in Linux are the same as those in Unix, which SCO controls." On another occasion she commented "One could argue that developers could write exact or very similar code, but the developers' comments in the code are basically your DNA, or fingerprints, for a particular piece of source code" and "It appears to be the same ["code"] ".

Didio also said "Securing copyrights adds a measure of credence to SCO's claims. They are striking the right note of righteousness and responsibility." However, it was not all bad news for Linux: "SCO won't be stupid about the pricing. They won't gouge customers."

After SCO sent out letters demanding licensing payments from many companies Didio said "The customers who received these 1,500 letters from SCO have been told this isn't going anywhere, I don't think anyone should listen to such empty assurances."

Half a year later she said: "You cannot draw a definitive conclusion from seeing snippets, you need the whole picture, and that's what we haven't seen yet. With that said, you'd have to be really crazy to try and sue IBM if you didn't have something." [cite news
last = Wagner
first = Jim
title = SCO Forced To Show Evidence
publisher = Jupitermedia, Inc.
date = 2003-12-05
url = http://www.internetnews.com/dev-news/article.php/3285521
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

In 2005 she noted SCO's financial difficulties, stating that "SCO's delisting by NASDAQ is clearly a red light; If I were an investor, I would be very concerned." [cite news
last = Mims
first = Bob
title = Missing deadlines puts SCO on the spot
publisher = The Salt Lake Tribune
date = 2005-02-24
url = http://web.archive.org/web/20050308085306/www.sltrib.com/business/ci_2574207
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] In April, 2005 she also noted its legal difficulties: "As the party that launched the suit, the onus is squarely on The SCO Group to prove its claims. And yes, Judge Kimball's remarks in rendering his ruling were a scathing indictment against SCO—on the surface, the deck appears to be stacked higher than the Sears Tower against SCO." However, she compared the situation to the Red Sox near-elimination from the pennant race before coming back to win the World Series. "SCO could still pull out a long-shot victory if it has the evidence it claims it does, and if the evidence stands up to the scrutiny of jury and judge. Or this case could turn out to be the biggest nothing since Geraldo Rivera opened Al Capone's vault on national TV and didn't even find cockroaches!"

After the judge in the case commented on the "astonishing lack of evidence" to back up SCO's claims, Didio explained in an interview: "I can't reconcile it. I want to see what's presented in court" [cite news
last = Hamm
first = Steve
title = The Truth about Linux and Windows
publisher = BusinessWeek
date = 2005-04-22
url = http://www.businessweek.com/the_thread/techbeat/archives/2005/04/the_truth_about_1.html
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] , apparently still in the belief that SCO has evidence which has not yet been presented.

Microsoft IP in Linux

Ms. Didio was more cautious in relation to Steve Ballmer's 2006 comments about possible Microsoft IP in Linux "At this point I think it is more of an intimidation tactic. To tell you the truth, if I am Joe IT, I don’t know if this is much of a deterrent to me. Quite frankly, you have to prove [IP infringement] ."Fact|date=September 2007

=The Amityville Horror= Ms. DiDio made a splash on the national scene many years before she turned to reporting the computer industry. She was intimately involved in the alleged haunting referred to as The Amityville Horror. Two months after the Lutzes moved out, she held what she called a "psychic slumber party" involving herself and a number of paranormal investigators. [cite news
title = Amityville Horror: Horror or Hoax?
publisher = ABC News
date = 10-31
url = http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Story?id=132035
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ] During this time, pictures were taken in which some claim to see a small child in a window. There is also some evidence to suggest that DiDio encouraged the Lutzes in their initial reporting of the story. Also involved was Hans Holzer. [cite news
title = Amityville Horror: Horror or Hoax?
publisher = ABC News
date = 10-31
url = http://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/Story?id=132035
accessdate = 2007-09-21 ]

References

ee also

* SCO-Linux controversies

External links

* [http://cio-today.newsfactor.com/perl/story/19958.html NewsFactor] ("Is Windows Cheaper Than Linux?")
* [http://www.nwfusion.com/news/1999/0712directory.html Network World Fusion] ("Novell to push new NDS role")
* [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=235 GrokLaw Research] (Thread: "Where Was Ms. DiDio On This Day of Days?")
* [http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070619092336304 GrokLaw Research] (Thread: "Laura and Me")
* [http://www.osnews.com/story.php?news_id=3752 OSnews] ("The SCO Threat: A professional Linux User's Perspective")
* [http://www.informationweek.com/story/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=10300314 Information Week] ("First Analyst Impressed By SCO's 'Proof'" – June 5, 2003)
* [http://linuxtoday.com/news_story.php3?ltsn=2003-06-06-009-26-NW-KN-LL Linux Today] ("Analyst Finds SCO's 'Proof' Credible")
* [http://www.sltrib.com/2003/Aug/08062003/business/81616.asp The Salt Lake Tribune] ("SCO Group ready to put up fight over its Linux operating system")
* [http://cio-today.newsfactor.com/perl/story/21982.html NewsFactor] ("SCO Licensing Issue Riles Linux Users")
* [http://yro.slashdot.org/yro/03/08/20/0748221.shtml?tid=106&tid=123&tid=130&tid=185&tid=190&tid=99 Slashdot] (Thread: "SCO Prepares To Sue Linux End Users")
* [http://www.thechannelinsider.com/article2/0,1759,1765646,00.asp Is SCO down for the count this time?] DiDio's April, 2005 analysis of SCO's legal situation
* [http://news.yahoo.com/s/cmp/20060606/tc_cmp/188701822 "Yankee Group publishes survey, 'Finds' Linux servers to be less reliable than Windows and UNIX"] , Yahoo News 2006-06-07