1st October 1998 Archive

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Roundup: Yesterday's markets

Jitters pull Dow and Nasdaq down

The neurotic gnomes of New York had a field day yesterday after the Greenspan disappointment. Fretting over an uncertain future US economy pushed the Dow down 238 points (3 per cent), and Nasdaq by 2.3 per cent. The Nikkei reached a 12-year low, reflecting the inability of the Japanese government to sort out the Japanese economy …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 07:20
Sun execs said Microsoft could change Java, claims Microsoft

And Microsoft seems to be making afair stab at proving Sun intended to kill it

Previously sealed transcripts of the Sun-Microsoft court battle were released yesterday, revealing a ding-dong battle between the companies' lawyers over precisely which of the pair was hell-bent on ruling the world. This strikes The Register as a pity, as world domination is what the other case is about - this one's just about …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 08:41
Network Solutions wins seven-day reprieve from termination

Agreement not yet reached on replacement

The Network Solutions, Inc. contract for registering .com, .org and .net domains that was to have expired at midnight has been extended for seven days to allow more time for negotiation. No interruption in service is anticipated. A new, fifth draft of the proposal for a new body deals with some of the objections that have been …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 09:38
Broadcom wins Sci-Atlanta set-top deal

Integrating circuitry for next generation interactive units

Scientific-Atlanta is to buy a minimum of 500,000 digital communication ICs from Broadcom Corporation, for use in the company's next generation set-top boxes. Deliveries of the ICs, which will only account for an unspecified percentage of Sci-Atlanta's requirements, will take place during 1999 and will be used in production …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 09:49
Citrix wins Circuit City in major MetaFrame order

One of the biggest deployments so far, says company

US retail chain Circuit City has deployed Citrix MetaFrame servers to its 500 stores across the country, in what Citrix says is one of the largest MetaFrame deployments to date. Circuit City will be using the servers to run its build-to-order kiosks, and as a mechanism to migrate from various non-Dos and incompatible in-store …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 09:51
Netscape offers Netcenter support for Internet Explorer

Now they're integrating rival companies' products -- sheesh...

Integration is all the rage, apparently. Today Netscape is expected to announce greater integration between Microsoft's Internet Explorer and its own Netcenter Web portal. So you could think of it as kind of the reverse of certain alleged tactics by certain companies -- Netscape is trying to make it easier for users of a rival …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 09:53
SCO bids for early Merced Unix lead

Shipping pre-release system to strategic ISVs and OEMs

SCO has reinforced its bid for leadership in Merced Unix by shipping the second build of its UnixWare for IA-64 to "selected partners." These include "strategic SCO OEMs and ISVs," and will doubtless include Compaq, Data General, ICL, and Unisys, partners with SCO in an effort to make UnixWare the standard data centre Unix. "The …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 10:33
Motorola heralds voice-operated Web

But it's keeping mum on its backers

Motorola has introduced an extension to HTML to provide a framework for linking voice recognition technology to Web pages. The extension, called VoxML, is also designed to work with phone systems, which are increasingly utilising Internet-derived technologies. Motorola claims it has won the backing from a number of major …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 10:55
Trio propose Web timed data spec

HTML-TIME offers everything but the kitchen sync

Microsoft, Macromedia and Compaq have jointly submitted to the W3C an extension to HTML to provide links between the Web language and multimedia data. Dubbed HTML-TIME (Timed Interactive Multimedia Extensions), the system is designed to allow presentations to interact with HTML elements. The W3C has already recommended -- the …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 10:57
Hard disks chief cause of new PC failures

Windows Magazine survey reveals

More than one in 10 desktop PCs sold fail to work when they are taken out of the box, according to a survey by Windows Magazine in the US. “Don’t be a cheapskate when it comes to the hard disk, CD-ROM drive, modem, mouse, monitor and motherboard (in that order),” Windows Magazine advises. “These are the parts that fail most …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 11:09
Motorola, ST Microelectronics play down joint venture rumour

Extra jobs to go because of softness in semiconductors

Motorola is expected to announce a rash of extra job cuts next week when it posts its financial results. But the company is playing down rumours that it is looking to ST Microelectronics (formerly SGS Thomson) to help bale it out on the semiconductor side. The extra job cuts, according to reports, will be in addition to the 150, …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 11:43
Intel denies Pentium II supply problems

But chips are on allocation and resemble green bananas

Chip giant Intel has denied that there is any shortage of its CPUs. That follows a claim from US company PC Connection yesterday that its results were affected by changes in Intel's manufacturing schedule. But a UK distributor has confirmed that Intel products are on allocation until the end of the year. An Intel representative …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 12:09
Intel's Moore donates $12.5 million to Cambridge University

Personal donation will fund science and high tech library

Gordon Moore, the co-founder of the Intel Corporation, has donated $12.5 million out of his personal wealth to fund a library at Cambridge University. Cambridge is building a £45 million site and Moore's money will be used to help finance a science library, according to UK newspaper The Financial Times. Last year, Microsoft CEO …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 12:11
Creative sues Aureal… again

This time the fight's about allegedly misleading adverts

Battle was begun again in the ongoing war of words between soundcard suppliers Creative Labs and Aureal when Creative accused its rival of making false advertising claims. A Creative Labs lawsuit filed yesterday alleges Aureal made a series of misstatements about Creative's SoundBlaster Live! Card. It is seeking injunctive …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 12:24
Update: Intel StrongARM SA-120 to run at 366MHz

Chip will replace the SA-110

Insiders said that the next iteration of the StrongARM chip from Intel will be a part called the SA-120 which will run at 366MHz. Currently, Intel is pushing the SA-110 chip, which is set to be replaced by the new processor which may be out at the end of the year. The device is likely to be powerful enough to run speech …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 12:40
Caldera poised to launch ultra-thin Java client

Company set to storm price-conscious set-top box market

Caldera is poised to launch an ultra-thin Java client for DR-Dos, the OS that was once an MS-Dos competitor but is now enjoying a new lease of life in the embedded market. Earlier this week Caldera won a deal to supply software for 170,000 set-top boxes to OnSat Network Communications (DR gets OnSatellite of love), beating …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 13:06
South Korean big deal no big deal until Santa comes

Chaebols put off decision until Klaus arrives

The much vaunted "big deal" that will help the large five family conglomerates sort out their affairs has now been deferred to December. According to our virtual twin, The Korean Herald, intensive all-night talks have failed to produce any kind of result whatever. But Hyundai and LG have chosen to introduce a third party to help …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 14:05
BT is Burton on the Button

Internet ready phoneboxes will waft email scent

BT, the company that has just struck a deal with Korea Telecom, had a huge launch yesterday to which, unfortunately, The Register was not invited. The deal goes like this. From early on real soon now, people located around the M25 will be able to both send and receive emails from the booths. But maybe BT forgot what the booths …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 14:27
Hitachi unveils 12,000rpm 'world's fastest' HD

Oh, and there's a quad speed DVD drive too.

Hitachi has launched what it claims is the world's fastest hard disk, and a quad speed DVD-ROM drive. Built to a 3.5in form factor, the DK3E1 SCSI drive holds 9.2GB and spins at 12,030rpm for a average seek time of 5ms. The drive is powered by a Hitachi SuperH Risc CPU, and achieves further data access speed gains through its …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 14:40
CA buys Siemens TransView, development team

IT management tool to be integrated into Unicenter TNG

Computer Associates and Siemens have brought their enterprise-oriented IT management efforts together as part of a wide-ranging strategic alliance. Central to the deal is the acquisition by CA of Siemens' TransView solution, which will be integrated into CA Unicenter TNG. Siemens' TransView development and marketing team, which …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 15:52
Microsoft killed the PowerPC 615

IBM engineer offers up 615 information

An insider at IBM has responded to the PowerPC 615 story we wrote yesterday with some hard facts -- and corrections --that cannot be ignored. The insider said that Motorola, although it knew of the programme, was never involved and Somerset and IBM Austin were not in the picture too. The IBM Micro team at Burlington performed …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 17:07
Washington Post and LA Times sue story stealer

Or 'Who cares about the words, what about the ad revenue?'

The Los Angeles Times and The Washington Post have begun legal action against Free Republic, a Republican-leaning Web site which re-posts their stories without permission. While the two papers cite their irritation with the site's infringement of their copyright, they also specify that it diverts readers and potential revenue …

Business 1 Oct 1998, 17:13