

The $25,000 PDF at Amazon - alpb
http://www.amazon.com/IDC-MarketScape-Systems-Virtual-Analysis/dp/B002RKK4J8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1328800726&sr=1-1
Edit: Forgot to say, very same PDF is for free on IDC website http://www.idc.com/MarketScape/download/IDC_MarketScape_Virtual_Tape_Library.pdf
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tptacek
Subtext, for those of you who don't know how analyst firms work:

Vendors subscribe to these things, or buy reports for their field, in order to
get access to analysts. Access to analysts ensures that they themselves will
appear in these reports.

~~~
makmanalp
What is an analyst? Just any kind of analyst, in the traditional sense of the
word? How do you get access to people when you subscribe to a publication? Why
would they want to be in those reports? I'm confused!

~~~
tptacek
Analysts are the people who write about subsets of the technology market for
market research firms. They travel to vendors and to large companies who buy
from vendors and attempt to assess the whole market; then they write these
reports, which are ostensibly intended to help enterprise purchasers pick the
right products (and thus easily justify 5-figure price tags).

~~~
iuguy
I think you're failing to distinguish between companies like Gartner, who are
more along the lines of what you describe (i.e. mass-market research) and
other companies (like mpclark's) that have a small audience and need a lot of
work to produce these reports.

~~~
tptacek
I have no idea who 'mpclark is or what his research firm does; we're
commenting about a very large enterprise analyst firm here.

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motoford
Here is what I get in my "Customers who viewed this also viewed" list:

120293-0001REVK: $10mil (various electronic components?)

Zenith Men's Extreme Tourbillion watch: 90k

6-in-1 keychain multitool: $9.95

Dating for Dummies: $14.95

Giant inflatable human hamster ball: $1,699.99

Tactical Bleeding Zombie Target: $94.59

 __I assume you guys are responsible for these? __

~~~
motoford
I just noticed those jerks at American Semiconductor are charging ten dollars
shipping for the $10,000,000.00 part. What a rip!

~~~
madmax108
Haha... that's a dealbreaker right? Give me free shipping and I'll buy it
before you can say 'semiconductor'! :P

EDIT: Review of the microsemiconductor: "Sure, the price looks okay for a
microsemiconductor. However, for only 6.3 million dollars more, I was able to
purchase a macro whole conductor, Sir Simon Rattle of the Berlin
Philharmonic." ROFL

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powerslave12r
So what can I sell this copy for?

[http://www.idc.com/MarketScape/download/IDC_MarketScape_Virt...](http://www.idc.com/MarketScape/download/IDC_MarketScape_Virtual_Tape_Library.pdf)

~~~
tawm
I accidentally downloaded the PDF. What do owe you?

~~~
powerslave12r
Since I already read it once, I'll give you a 50% discount.

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notatoad
I've never been so terrified of a "buy with one-click" button in my life.

~~~
joell
Be scared.

[http://www.amazon.com/American-
Microsemiconductor-120293-000...](http://www.amazon.com/American-
Microsemiconductor-120293-0001REVK/dp/B005DBD5D0/ref=pd_sim_sbs_bt_2)

~~~
pavel_lishin
Googling around has led me to
<http://120293-0001revkmicrosemiconductor.blogspot.com/>, which greatly
puzzles me.

~~~
aqme28
Guessing it's an affiliate marketing scheme. Some guy made a bot that
generates blogspot blogs that refer to various Amazon products. When you click
on any of those Amazon links they'll use his affiliate id.

~~~
gee_totes
Actually it's not an affiliate bot. Whatever a microsemiconductor is, it costs
10 million dollars:

[http://store.americanmicrosemiconductor.com/120293-0001revk....](http://store.americanmicrosemiconductor.com/120293-0001revk.html)

I also enjoy the negative 9 million dollar discount you get.

Does anyone know what a microsemiconductor does?

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chmod775
You will get a $5 Amazon MP3 Credit if you buy a textbook >$25. So I guess
it's worth it.

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stephengillie
This is how smart criminals launder money?

~~~
blacksmith_tb
I've wondered if that isn't the case, actually, on some non-digital products.
You'll see a bunch of sellers offering an item around Amazon's own price, and
then someone else selling it for $999.00. Those could just be tests, I
suppose...

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mikecane
And it's just 20 pages long! Damn. Never saw us charging like that when I
worked for one of their subsidiaries.

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timjahn
The reviews at the bottom are priceless.

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alpb
Forgot to say, I believe the very same PDF is available at
[http://www.idc.com/MarketScape/download/IDC_MarketScape_Virt...](http://www.idc.com/MarketScape/download/IDC_MarketScape_Virtual_Tape_Library.pdf)

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salem
What's the big deal, I remember a CD of Janes books used to cost $10,000, and
that was in the 90's without widely available broadband.

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majorapps
So you can review a product thats available on Amazon without actually having
purchased it? Surely thats a flaw?

~~~
mcpherrinm
This was a design decision made long ago at Amazon. The reasoning is quite
simple: If you buy a product somewhere else, or want to write a review based
on the description, you should be able to share the information you want.

Not to mention you get some pretty funny fake reviews on products like the
three wolf moon shirt.

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Xcelerate
That "Buy now with 1 click" button makes me nervous.

