The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

23rd October 1998 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

  • Microsoft attorney ‘exposes’ Netscape sales policy

    The memos show Netscape expected not to be paid for some of its browsers, but we knew that already...

    Microsoft attorney John Warden seems adept at the art of flogging a dead horse, if today's court proceedings are anything to go by. The latest 'dynamite' Netscape email revealed -- shock horror -- that Netscape co-founder Marc Andreessen was in 1994 committed to giving Navigator away for free. This would of course seriously take …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 06:52

  • Micron files anti-dumping charges against Taiwan

    More capacity, more money, and now it's going after the competition

    US memory giant Micron technology has filed anti-dumping charges against Taiwan's DRAM manufacturers. The petition, filed with the US Department of commerce and the International Trade commission, claims Taiwanese companies are exporting DRAM to the US at lower than manufacturing cost, and that this is causing injury to US DRAM …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 08:20

  • Philips-Lucent JV goes horribly pear-shaped

    Outfit that was supposed to be profitable from the off drops $403 million, Philips says it was "interesting"

    Philips is pulling the plugs on its year-old mobile phone joint venture with Lucent, with company president Cor Boostra describing it as "an interesting and costly venture". More properly, it appears to have been a disaster, but at least he's kept his sense of humour. Philips Consumer Communications, which was 60 per cent …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 09:01

  • Trial day four: is Microsoft playing the boredom card?

    As Jim Barksdale heads for a fourth day on the stand, we could be heading for the Big Z

    It is a fairly common practice for defendants against the DoJ to subject the principal witnesses against them to a long cross-examination. This has the effect of making the case appear to be Netscape versus Microsoft, rather than the US government against Microsoft. Microsoft also wishes to slow down the case, to make it as …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 10:38

  • Barksdale bites back over ‘lie’ accusations

    It's boiling down to who's lying, Netscape or Microsoft

    "That's absurd... I was in the meeting. I know what happened. I was a witness. You weren't." That was how Netscape CEO Jim Barksdale reacted to an accusation of lying by John Warden, Microsoft's trial attorney, as he continued his questioning of Barksdale for the third day yesterday. The meeting referred to took place at …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 10:40

  • Netscape Navigator bug exposed

    Unix Plug-in code provides doorway for malicious software

    Programmer Dan Brumleve has uncovered his latest Netscape Navigator bug. Mere weeks after discovering two glitches that expose users' cache contents and the list of sites they have visited to unauthorised scrutiny, Brumleve revealed that it's possible to swamp the area of memory the browser sets aside for storing MIME type …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 11:12

  • DSL standard set

    Could become official by next June

    The International Telecommunications Union has, as anticipated, set a preliminary standard for DSL modem technology, according to Lucent, one the many companies involved in the specification negotiations. The standard, now dubbed G.992.2, applies to G.lite Digital Subscriber Line modems, which can make connections of up to 1. …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 11:15

  • HP lines up Linux for embedded role

    Linux-running standalone 'Web appliance' boxes could signal PA-Risc's survival

    Hewlett-Packard admitted yesterday that it is exploring ways of offering Linux. But unlike other hardware vendors who have rushed to back the popular OS as a possible alternative to Windows NT, HP's take on it is rather more interesting. According to Lee Wilson, the director of marketing for HP's brand of Unix, HP-UX, the …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 11:16

  • Mylex claims return to profitability despite Q3 loss

    Growth strong in Europe and the Pacific Rim

    Mylex turned in a loss for its third quarter after taking a recurring charge into account. Sales for the quarter amounted to $36.2 million, up by 23 per cent compared to the equivalent quarter last year. The charge, of $4.3 million, meant Mylex made a net loss of $2.1 million. In July of this year, the company restructured and …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 11:26

  • Intel antitrust trial rescheduled

    We'll have to wait a further six weeks now

    The US Federal Trade Commission's hearing into Intel's alleged antitrust business practices has been delayed again. An administrative judge yesterday pushed the date of the trial back to 23 February 1999, citing the "unusually great" accumulation of evidence being prepared for the case. His decision was made after both Intel and …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 11:51

  • Gateway claims record PC sales in Q3

    Sales flat in Europe, however

    PC company Gateway said it had shipped 887,000 PCs in its third quarter, a 43 per cent increase over the same period last year. It posted revenues of $1.2 billion, a 21 per cent increase on last year's figure, and showed net profits of $80.6 billion. In the equivalent quarter last year, it made a net loss of $107.1 million. Ted …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:03

  • Software publisher slams British game censorship

    UK censor takes its time issuing certificate to "sick" game

    Games developer Sales Curve Interactive (SCi) is taking legal action the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), Britain's official movie and software censor, for refusing to issue a four-minute trailer for its forthcoming game, Carmageddon II: Carpocalypse Now. The company claims the BBFC's delay is holding back the full …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:18

  • UK high street retailers make more profit from warranties than PCs

    Survey lifts lid on scam

    High-street retailers selling expensive warranties on home computers to the general public are generating more profit from the warranty than the PC sale. The most recent expose, a survey published in Computeractive magazine, reinforces earlier findings by Which? magazine and others, and the magazine's editor Jim Lennox warned …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:25

  • Fibre Channel Group Europe offers third party training

    JV with US equivalent

    The Fibre Channel Group Europe Ltd, the first European company to offer third-party training in Fibre Channel Technology, is a joint venture with the prominent US Fibre Channel Group. Based in Reading Berkshire, the new company is headed by managing director Sam Samuel and the US connection is cemented by the participation of …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:27

  • UK DEC dealers merge

    Will float within three to five years

    Keltec and Progress, two leading UK Digital dealers, are merging operations and moving towards a flotation within three to five years. They said that no redundancies are planned. Bracknell-based Keltec reported £23 million turnover last year to Progress’ £11 million, and despite talk of merging, Keltec is taking the upper hand …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:28

  • Tipster touts RM

    Enviable Position

    RM, trading at around £2.95, is being tipped as stock worth buying. The company supplies computer kit to around 50 per cent of the UK’s primary schools and 33 per cent of secondary schools, and the Investors Chronicle said: “It is in an enviable position given the government’s pledge of £400 million over four years for capital …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:54

  • Jobs: Apple wanted to buy Palm

    Or is he talking out of his bus?

    Did Apple attempt to buy Palm Computing from 3Com? Apparently, according to interim CEO Steve Jobs, quoted in an interview with Fortune. It may even be looking for other possible acquisitions. While discussing the possibility of Apple moving into businesses beyond personal computing, Jobs said: "If Apple can find things that are …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 12:55

  • Breakeven best scenario for Kalamazoo

    Investors Chronicle judgement call

    Kalamazoo Computer won’t make it back into the black this year, despite selling off its security print division for £12 million and attracting a £17.8 million equity investment from US investors, Reynolds & Reynolds. Kalamazoo is investing heavily on its next generation software, developing specialised systems for franchised …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 13:00

  • 286 chip alive and kicking

    Some assemblers are still building PC systems - not embedded

    Supplies of the now obsolecent 286 part are being snapped up by large companies eager to use it in PCs, it has emerged. Earlier this week, a source working for French memory company Dane-Elec told The Register that high street company Marks & Spencer was looking to upgrade 1,000 286 PCs. Intel does not manufacture 286s, any more …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 14:54

  • NEC chairman to spend more time with his family

    Resignation follows defence-procurement scandal. H1 1999 loss hasn't helped either

    NEC chairman Tadahiro Sekimoto has resigned following revelations of the company's involvement in a contract-padding scandal, Reuters reported today. Fortunately for Mr Sekimoto, Seppuku is no longer the only answer to public disgrace -- Sekimoto has not been implicated in the scandal, and said: "I am not taking responsibility [ …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 15:51

  • IBM invests $250 million in Dublin

    Demand for platters the reason, says Big Blue

    IBM said this afternoon it will create 700 jobs in the Republic of Ireland because of an unprecedented demand for hard drives. The company has a number of such plants in Europe, including a facility in Mainz and in a Hungarian plant at Szkesfehervar. Said Walter Meizer, who heads up IBM Emea's storage division: "This is a state …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 15:55

  • Today's DRAM prices

    Courtesy of Dane-Elec

    Click for more stories

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 16:23

  • Gagging orders given to plaintiff in Computacenter case

    Former technical director gains some respite

    Gagging orders from giant corporate reseller Computacenter have been passed to a former senior executive who is suing the company for millions of pounds. Dr Mark Sawicki’s case of discrimination was allowed to proceed after a UK Employment Tribunal tossed out Computacenter’s objection that the former engineer had signed a £52, …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 16:50

  • Elitegroup fished by PC Chips

    Acquisition in all but name

    Hong Kong’s giant PC Chips Group has merged with Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), as predicted yesterday in The Register. The financial details remain shadowy, but it looks like an acquisition in all but name. An Elitegroup company statement said that a merger took place on October 19, and Paul Chou, managing director of …

    Business 23 Oct 1998, 17:54