Today, we have another problem. Larger firms are playing the hype game, attempting to make up as many buzzwords as they can. “SOA 2.0” was the latest instance of this, and I can name plenty others. As I’ve said before, this stuff only serves to confuse the marketplace, and really does not identify new or valuable notions. Indeed, there is push back on this type of behavior now.

So, where do you get your information if the large analysts are no longer the best place? There are a few places where I’m having luck, including the smaller “boutique” firms, many of which are made up of ex large firm analysts. These guys seem to focus more on your issues, and are not as concerned about publishing general information you can already find on the Internet, nor making up new terms.

However, bloggers seem to be the most disruptive. Bloggers seem to be the best place to find information, if you know where to look. I would say I’m getting better market data from bloggers then from the analysts these days.

Right now I’m drinking from the fire hose a bit, but it’s all worth it considering that many of the data points are pretty good, in many cases more valuable than the subscription research I’m giving from the larger firms. Also, it’s free.

Thus, we may see bloggers push out many of the larger analyst firms, very much like Craig’s List is killing newspaper classified ads today. At this point, I’m not sure that’s a bad thing.