Re: InfoWorld Cooks Data so Microsoft will win

["Scott K. McGrath" <mcgrats@ix.netcom.com>]

  MJ; InfoWorld was the publisher that arbitrarily threw out the results of a
  reader's poll this past winter because OS/2 was voted the most popular OS among
  its users.  It "just knew" there were voting irregularities... No proof... No
  nuthin... Just, "it's being thrown out because OS/2 users must have voted
  multiple times.."
  
  So it's credibility is nil in my book, anyway...
  
  Look for more Microsoft sucking up from this pub in the future...
  
  Regards,
  
  Scott K. McGrath
  mcgrats@ix.netcom.com
  
  mj@creative.net wrote:
  
  > If you check out the following URL:
  >
  > http://www.infoworld.com/cgi-bin/displayTC.pl?/970915sb7-bench1.htm
  >
  > You will find that InfoWorld magazine recently ran benchmarks for an Applix
  > Java app on various platforms. The OS's tested were Windows NT, Windows 95,
  > Windows 3.1, OS/2, Sun Solaris, MacOS, and Caldera OpenLinux. If one just
  > looks at the bottom line, NT won, with a speed of :37, squeaking past
  > Linux, buried at the end of the list, with :39. But if you look at the
  > details, which the executives won't, you'll find that NT was tested on a
  > Pentium 180 with 64 Megs of RAM against Linux on a Pentium 166 with 48
  > Megs. Given how neck-and-neck the test came out, it is almost certain that
  > Linux would have won in a legitimate benchmark, i.e., one performed on the
  > same hardware.
  >
  > InfoWorld may point out that some of the OS's they tested, such as Mac, had
  > to be run on different hardware, and that others, such as Solaris, were
  > best tested elsewhere, even though they are available for Intel.  Neither
  > of these comments applies to Linux, which, like Windows, was developed and
  > is still most widely deployed on Intel. InfoWorld may also protest that it
  > was testing Java portability, not benchmarking OS's. This objection is
  > belied by the fact that the introduction to the article chiefly compares
  > the performance of the OS's. Personally, I think a public issue should be
  > made of this, as it can undermine InfoWorld's credibility as an objective
  > source of technical information, which they can ill afford.  More
  > importantly, if this article gets attention, it can serve to cause greater
  > questioning of trade press biases generally, and bring Linux forward in the
  > public mind as an alternative to Windows.