If there was a group of supposed IT experts that offered you their opinions, based on what very well could be unverifiable information, on the IT industry and where it was going, would you pay for those opinions? Probably not.

If that group of supposed IT experts tells you they are not aligned with any vendor of software or hardware, but were then accepting money and support from software/hardware vendors, could you then trust the advice coming from these supposed experts? and would you still pay for that advice? Probably not.

That, my friends, is what Gartner offers.

Gartner accepts money from some of the most powerful vendors in the IT industry. It is no wonder then, that their reports favour those companies. It is no wonder then that those same reports are, more often than not, vague and without real substance. They are just opinions. Opinions based on how much money a vendor is willing to pay for the opinion to swing their way.

Gartner is the perfect accomplice for every weak-willed manager looking for somewhere to point the finger, when a decision based on their [Gartner] advice causes excrement to hit the fan.
Gartner is the perfect partner for every IT manager without the balls to make their own decisions on where the future of their company lies. And they [Gartner] are happy to take your subscription fees.

It is unfortunate, but I have seen managers make decisions based solely on Gartner reports, and it shows their inexperience and naivety as managers of either IT or IT finances. I guess they figure the old adage "Nobody ever got fired for buying ..." applies. It is easier to show a lack of backbone than to prove the information presented. It's time for managers like this to find another occupation because they're holding back the IT industry as a whole.

Go ahead and use Gartner's reports to gain information on what companies are out there with the technology you need, but Gartner should only be used as one of many sources of information. Certainly NEVER the only source, NEVER the primary source, and always with a grain of salt. Gartner has already shown it gets things wrong. Take a look at their reports on the Open Source community and open source software. Or even OS X and its enterprise readiness. How much money has such mistakes cost companies around the world?

If, at the end of the day, the product you choose does NOT sit in the "Magic Quadrant", don't loose sleep over it. There's a good chance it's because the vendor of your choice refused to pay money to get it in there. And, if at the end of the day, the product you have chosen does the job you need it to do, then you've chosen the right product.