This tells you a lot about how IDC built its survey panel. I have done surveys in the past and I know for a fact how inaccurate they can be, esepcially when they are run by a 3rd party that knows very little about the subject that’s being surveyed.

Yes, the tracker is not a sponsored research, but the cost of running a survey of 2,500 people is so exorbitant ( we are talking about several hundred thousands dollars and doing it in 35 countries means at least 25 languages makes it even more expensive) that it is hard for me to believe that IDC did not have “early committed” subscribers.