Information AboutLaura Didio |
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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 the assessment of Microsoft Windows . OPEN SOURCE DiDio is often viewed as being very critical of the Open Source movement and community due to her early 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 , because if you can do it like that, at that point I'm like, 'Pass the Hookah please!'" On another occasion, she made a similar comment: "I'm all for open source, and competition serves everyone's interest. But if Linux is really to take its place alongside Windows... then the vendors in this space cannot act like a bunch of hippies in a '60s commune or ashram. There really is no such thing as a free lunch." Even recently, after admitting that an 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." Unsurprisingly Linux advocates have in response heavily criticised DiDio. Typical criticism are a lack of formal ) where she had been nicknamed "Didiot" and "Dildo", 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. SCO AFFAIR In June, 2003 , she was one of several analysts who agreed, under nondisclosure, to view snippets of 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 (that is, SCO's 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." 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." In 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!" THE AMITYVILLE HORROR In a bizarre twist, it appears that 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. During this time, pictures were taken in which some 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 . SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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