Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer may have stolen a little thunder from Apple's rumored announcement of a slate PC during his keynote at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, but three leading analysts say that the real thunder theft at this year's show is coming from Microsoft's mobile competitors.

New 'insider' possibilities emerge as former Microsoft executives find a new home in potential Microsoft competitors.

THERE is some outrageous coverage in the press which not only misses the point that Microsoft was kept inside the "Open Cloud Manifesto" loop; it also falls for Microsoft's PR stunt, which almost characterises the company as a proponent of openness.

Governments may be tied by Microsoft due to pressure from Microsoft-funded analysts

“Analysts sell out - that’s their business model… But they are very concerned that they never look like they are selling out, so that makes them very prickly to work with.” - Microsoft, internal document [PDF]. A look at the proximity between GNU/Linux-hostile analysts and the company which feeds them

Microsoft's former employee (evangelist) is quoted in the press as "analysts" who dislikes Google Chrome

"The time will come when the folks at Microsoft who have a clear vision for the company as a participant in this community, rather than as a hostile antagonist, will win. At that point I’d love to work with Microsoft. It’s not an evil empire. It’s just a company that is efficiently grounded in the 1980s. New leadership and new thinking might make it a more effective partner for us."

Microsoft may be using its newly-acquired influence inside the FCC against competitors (Apple in this case, not Google)

Microsoft uses its analysts, lobbyists, freebies, and covert "think tanks" to put "Open Source" under its own fold