Randall C. Kennedy used to be a columnist for InfoWorld. The key word is used to. IDG fired him recently due to controversy over his claims about Windows 7 memory issues. He is a devil. More specifically Randall Kennedy is actually Craig Barth, CTO of Devil Mountain Software.Craig, or Randall as he was known to InfoWorld readers, claimed that 86% of Windows 7 computers have memory problem. He based this on data collected from Devil Mountain’s XPNet. This is a collection of computers using Devil Mountain software and reporting the results back to the company. The memory problem claim has been hotly contested in the blogosphere.
The real story seems to have been Barth”s column under the pseudonym. The guy was hyping products from his own company. He was able to keep this a secret from the public for a while. When the Windows 7 memory issues became front lines, Kennedy’s identity cover was blown.
Hey. I am all about writing under a pseudonym. But you got to make sure you don’t have conflicting interests when you write. Otherwise it is going to look bad. I am talking real bad here. Everyone seems to be distancing themselves from Barth. His company is probably going to suffer. And I doubt anybody will be letting him write columns for their magazine. Ownage.
