"They've all got vision and can execute"

It's been awhile since we last touched on a story about industry pundits (a group to which we apologetically belong) but have you noticed that there seem to be a lot more companies appearing in the top right hand box of Gartner's Magic Quadrants lately? With research subscription sales being battered by the economic problems of its customers (when it comes to discretionary disposable spending, research reports are considered both discretionary and disposable and are among the first budget items to be cut) a cynical person might point out that there could be a conscious effort to push more vendors into the upper right hand quadrant since vendors who are there tend to buy more Gartner services (buying "Strategy Days," paying a hefty price for MQ reprints on their Websites and participating in the conferences). Each vendor in the upper right quadrant could generate tens of thousands of dollars in additional fees. Sure, that's what a cynic might say. We're sure an impartial pundit would never be motivated by greed. Since there are so many different MQ's out there it might just be a blip. But just in case, if you've got a few minutes, have access to both a recent MQ report in your sector and one from 2005, and can count up the winners for each, then send in the results.