Randall C. Kennedy

Randall C. Kennedy is director of research and co-founder of Competitive Systems Analysis, an Information Technology consulting company. He was also a former Senior Analyst for Giga Information Group and writes for "InfoWorld".

He is notable for determining an undocumented change to Microsoft SQL Server's default handling of which network library is used in its Net-Lib (it changed from named pipes to TCP/IP in Microsoft Data Access Components 2.6, but was only noticed and rectified in version 2.7). He also discovered some strange benchmark results when comparing performance of SQL Server on Windows NT 4 versus Windows 2000 however caused a stir when he was prevented from publishing them in the magazine "Network World" after Microsoft threatened legal action on him because of a term in SQL Server's clickwrap agreement.

Randall has a bias opinion when it comes to non commercial Free software. The thought of free software scares Randall, as shown in his latest articles [http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id%3b367627625%3bfp%3b2%3bfpid%3b3 "Why FOSS is still so unusable"] and [http://www.computerworld.com.au/index.php/id;316670135 "A FOSS manifesto: We don't need no stinkin' users!"] . The problem is Randall doesn't want to lose any more business to Linux Enterprise. It has significantly impacted his business. His hopes that his past credibility will stop the madness as [http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=9570 "IBM, Ubuntu, Novell and Red Hat gang up on Vista"] .

Citing shifting market forces and the growing demand for economical alternatives to costly Windows and Office-based computers, the four leaders sense an ideal set of circumstances allowing Linux-based desktops to proliferate in the coming year. Linux is far more profitable for a PC vendor and the operating system is better equipped to work with lower cost hardware than new Microsoft technology.

This hurts Randall financially, as more and more hardware vendors draw to Linux as there alternative.

References

* Foster, Ed (2001). [http://www.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/01/04/16/010416opfoster.html "Is it OK for Microsoft and others to forbid disclosure of benchmark results?"]
* Fontana, Joe (March 5, 2001). [http://www.networkworld.com/archive/2001/118166_03-12-2001.html "Microsoft gets tough with independent testers"] . "Network World".
* Kennedy, Randall C. (November 21, 2001). [http://www.infoworld.com/articles/tc/xml/01/11/26/011126tcmdac.html "It's not a bug, it's a feature"] . "InfoWorld".