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29th October 1998 Archive

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  • Barksdale suggests splitting Microsoft operations

    But if you split OS and apps, do you let Microsoft decide which is which?

    After finally concluding his marathon questioning, Netscape's Jim Barksdale came up with the hoary old suggestion that Microsoft separate its OS and applications developers. But if the case went against Microsoft, this remedy would be unlikely to work, because Microsoft could merely redefine everything to be operating systems …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 08:07

  • Microsoft paid Apple $150m to settle QuickTime suit

    DoJ lawyer uncovers price of settling embarrassing copyright infringement dispute

    David Boies, attorney for the DoJ, noted that John Warden, for Microsoft, had omitted to quote part of a handwritten note by Fred Anderson, Apple's CFO, in which Anderson wrote that "the [QuickTime] patent dispute was resolved with cross-licence and significant payment to Apple." The payment was $150 million. This is very …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 08:09

  • Qualcomm snuggles up to Beijing

    Wants CDMA to be standard in China, wants open standards globally. Shurely shome mishtake?

    Reports that Qualcomm is lobbying Chinese telecoms regulators to adopt its CDMA standard must surely be false, considering the fact that the company opposes Europe adopting a single third generation phone standard. But then again, the US' 'let the market decide' policy doesn't play well in Beijing. Recent sabre-rattling between …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 09:12

  • Intel and IBM save SCO, says Michels

    Which makes you wonder about how close SCO came, doesn't it?

    SCO CEO Doug Michels says the company is heading back into profitability, and now has an opportunity to move upscale into the enterprise market. But as he explains how he sees this happening, it becomes fairly obvious how close to the abyss SCO came. In an interview with CNBC yesterday, Michels said that SCO could become the …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 09:14

  • Forrester predicts terminal slump for PCs

    One more year of plenty, and then Larry Ellison starts winning...

    Forrester Research has predicted the onset of a three-year decline in PC sales from 2000, as the Y2K effect vanishes and buyers migrate to appliances. The outfit says PC industry revenues will peak at $55 billion next year, boosted by companies accelerating their purchasing programmes to replace non Y2K-compliant hardware. So it …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 09:17

  • AOL exec disputes ‘IE was better’ claim

    It was cheaper, he says, and the contract with Microsoft said it had to be 85 per cent of our shipments

    Microsoft attorney John Warden had been having some trouble with witnesses: AOL exec David Colburn didn't quite go all the way in helping him establish his case. Warden's objective in his cross-examination of Colburn was to show that Microsoft did not stifle competition in the online market. The 9 January 1996 and 12 March 1996 …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 09:24

  • Quantum/MKE deck wafer facility

    Not cost-economic

    Quantum and MKE have dissolved their recording heads JV in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts. The companies said that losses in the MKQC business were unsustainable, because of current over capacity in the recording heads industry and the lack of volume. Ron Torton, director of programmes for workstations storage at Quantum, said that …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 10:20

  • Quantum changes mind on fibre

    And Atlas ready to roll

    Quantum has announced that its Atlas 10K and Atlas IV hard drive families be ready to roll in the first half of next year. At the same time, Quantum has said that it will now enter the fibre channel arena and will show devices at Comdex/Fall in Las Vegas in November. Ron Torton, director of programme marketing for Quantum's …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 10:22

  • Feds bust 44 Internet stock tipsters

    The SEC has drawn up a very long list of very small offending companies

    The US Securities and Exchange Commission has produced a list of 44 tipsters who it claims have fraudulently recommended 235 small companies' stocks on the Internet. The outfits accused all seem small, but the range of offences the SEC alleges suggest that it's a jungle out there -- as if we didn't know already. The tipsters are …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 10:23

  • Ziff Davis says Bog Off Santa Claus

    intro

    Dearie dearie me. A source at mighty ZD tells us that a corporate directive has been sent to all subsidiaries ordering them not to have Christmas parties. Journalists at Ziff Davis can come to ours. It's on the 17th of December.

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 10:55

  • Ingram manages healthy Q3 rise

    Great Satan of distribution storms on

    Ingram Micro managed to increase its profitability by a factor of 40 per cent in its third quarter. Sales rose by 35 per cent, meaning better margins for the giant distributor. Turnover amounted to $5.7 billion for the quarter, compared to a figure of $4.1 billion in the same quarter last year. Profits amounted to $59.8 million …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 12:13

  • Sony prepares for first loss in six years

    Japanese giant blames economic downturn, pricing pressure

    Sony has admitted it will post its first loss in six years when it eventually releases its results for the second half of the fiscal year, ending March 1999. The Japanese giant predicted it will issue a loss of $313 million for the six-month period. It blamed the global economic downturn, price wars in many of the markets in …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 12:26

  • Red blood stains Acer's balance sheet

    And it's DRAM, DRAM again

    Acer Inc showed a slump in profits of 60 per cent in its third quarter, with DRAM the main reason for the haemorrhage. Its profits fell to $NT225 million, compared to the $NT558 million result Acer reported in the same period last year. Acer made a $NT1.6 billion loss at Acer Semicon during the period and also turned in less …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 12:39

  • Of Reps and Men

    It's not that easy...

    'Value Add' has become such an over used phrase that the mere mention of it brings a groan from most weary managers. Unfortunately the western world's (France excepted) obsession with the bottom line means that we are not likely to see the phrase disappear any time soon. An examination of any business therefore leads to the …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 12:51

  • Maxtor gets over hard time

    Profit! Red blood disappears!

    Maxtor Corp delivered surprisingly upbeat financials for the third quarter, reporting net income of $6.1 million as opposed to a $31.4 million loss last time. Revenues were up 53 per cent to $599.7 million and shipments grew by 15 per cent to 4.3 million from the second quarter. The disk drive manufacturer is majority-owned by …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 13:02

  • Shuttle cocky after SCM buy

    Brit entrepreneur collects $33 million in SCM paper

    SCM Microsystems has snapped up Shuttle Technology Group for a cool $33 million. The seven-year-old Shuttle, founded by British entrepreneur Alan Jones, specialises in ASIC connectivity for e-commerce and digital video broadcasting. Jones said that SCM’s worldwide presence will strengthen Shuttle’s existing customer networks. …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 13:09

  • Amazon loss widens in Q3

    But revenue continues to grow too

    Amazon.com revealed massively widening losses when it posted its third-quarter results, yesterday. The company was in the red to the tune of $24.7 million, well up on the $9.6 million it posted last year. The Q3 loss also excludes merger and acquisition-related charges, which took the loss to $45.2 million. Still, the loss was …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 13:09

  • Mitsubishi to end US chip operations

    Holding companies go too, but staff will be retained

    Mitsubishi Electric is to shut down its US chip manufacturing operation and close its wing at a cost of Y80 billion, it emerged today. The compamy also posted a list of other US-based operations that it intends to close. Mitsubishi Electric America, which operates out of California, and North Carolina-based Mitsubishi …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 14:58

  • Lion Azlan roars – softly

    Does it have a sore throat?

    A few years ago, a staffer here at La Registra found himself on a tube to Turnpike Lane -- by mistake. On said underground line he picked up a Turkish newspaper and was a little surprised to find that it ran an astrology column and that the sign for Leo in that language is Aslan. Aslan, as the more literate readers of this sign …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 15:09

  • AMD prices finally arrive

    But why have they taken so long -- without any spin involved?

    Sources close to AMD told The Register today new prices for the K6 parts. All week, we had been questioning the chip company which appeared strangely reluctant to deliver them. However, details are as follows, with prices in units of 1,000 (OEM prices). The K6-2 300 now costs $78, the K6-2 333 $100, the K6-2 350 $135, the K6-2 …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 15:21

  • AOL, Netscape colluded to beat ‘Beast of Redmond’, claims MS attorney

    And who can blame them? replies DoJ

    Microsoft attorney Mark Murray has taken to doing the courthouse steps speech for the company when it is felt that Microsoft's trial lawyer, John Warden, has failed to make the point well enough in court. Yesterday, Murray's theme was that there was "startling new evidence" that both Netscape and AOL had worked together against …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 15:23

  • Big Blue, StorageTek cuddle up – greatly

    Obviously, a merger is on the cards

    StorageTek Corp reported record third quarter revenues and earnings per share only days after chairman and CEO David Weiss announced a new open storage management architecture, the Virtual Intelligent Storage Architecture (VISTA). The ambitious aim is to move data between any storage device, irrespective of platform or …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 15:58

  • Kewill homes in on Tracer

    Makes warehouses deeper

    Kewill Systems Plc is buying the e-commerce logistics systems supplier, Tracer Software Inc, in a deal worth $19.6 million, $14.4 million in cash and the remainder in new shares. In August the Marlborough, Massachusetts-based company signed a major technology transfer agreement with FedEx Technology Inc, licensing FDX Corp …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 16:29

  • Web advertising spend leaps ahead

    But researchers continue to fight over the figures

    Businesses spent $423 million on Web-hosted advertising in the second quarter of 1998, a year-on-year increase of 97 per cent, the Internet Advertising Bureau (IAB) has reported. The IAB also said it expects 1998's overall Web advertising revenue to reach $2 billion. However, Forrester Research analyst Chris Charron reckons the …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 16:33

  • Gateway touts leasing at couch potatoes

    Old PCs for new and Aladdin and the Lamps...

    Gateway Plc is running a TV campaign promoting it's inelegantly-named Your:)Ware programme, a PC leasing package aimed at the consumer marketplace. Aileen McCracken, Gateway's consumer segment manager, said: "Your:)Ware takes the build-to-order model one step further… and consumers can choose a PC that suits their needs and on …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 16:36

  • Updated: Intel to junk current Celeron strategy in two week's time

    Senior exec spills the beans and bacon as well...

    A senior executive from the Intel Corporation said it will re-vamp its entire Celeron roadmap in two week’s time. OEMs will be the first to know full details of the changes, he said. Mike Aymar, VP and director of Intel's Platform Launch Operation, on a fleeting visit to the UK, said that Intel had realised that competitors, …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 22:50

  • Intel seems to be developing cunning MMX3 channel plan

    The prices on the tablecloth say it all...

    A senior Intel executive would tonight neither confirm nor deny that his company was changing its channel strategy and selling 370-pin Celerons complete with motherboard and other integrated features. But Intel has to do something to recover the situation, given that AMD has wooed its distributor channel tactically and …

    Business 29 Oct 1998, 23:02