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10th November 1998 Archive

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  • A year ago today: Psion harvest moon

    Lack of cable cripples Organiser 5

    We bumped into a spin doctor from Psion at the formal press launch of Windows CE 2.0 a couple of weeks back but he was at pains to assure us that did not mean his company would eventually produce such a beast. However, The Register took the opportunity to ask him when we would, at long last, have the ability to plug the very …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 10:54

  • Acorn dealer dumps Acorn deal

    Tower Electronics says company's actions "despicable"

    A loyal Acorn dealer has turned his back on the platform despite the fact he claims that it completely outperforms Wintel. Tom Waller, proprietor of Tower Electronics in Aberdeenshire, said he would no longer sell Acorn spares or upgrades. He will pass on any enquiries he has to remaining UK Acorn dealers. Waller, who in the …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 11:54

  • Sony, Fujitsu make MO breakthrough

    Gives 1.3GB capacities

    Japanese giants Sony and Fujitsu said they had succeeded in making a magneto-optical (MO) drive capable of storing 1.3GB of data. That is twice the capacity of existing devices. Both companies will release the spec for the drives and the media under the name of Gigamo, and said that they will manufacture products for PCs in Q1 …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 12:03

  • Gates memos show how Microsoft puts screws on Intel

    And they suggest that the OEMs will only jump when Microsoft tells them to

    Threats? What threats? Bill Gates' claims that Microsoft was just trying to discourage Intel from wasting its money on NSP (see Intel writes lousy software, says Gates) took on an increasingly hollow ring as emails from the Great Man himself clearly indicated something entirely different -- if this was not pressure, then it …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 12:05

  • Apple and Compaq were threatened, insists Tevanian

    Threat to Office was "strongest bargaining point"

    Yet more evidence came to light yesterday that Microsoft had blackmailed Apple into a deal against its will. Ben Waldman, a head of Microsoft's Mac development, emailed Bill Gates on 27 June 1997, because he was unhappy at the speed of negotiations, saying that "the threat to cancel Mac Office 97 is certainly the strongest …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 12:44

  • Web sites are rubbish at customer care, says report

    So push off then, OK?

    Web operations are lousy at customer service, according to a new report by Jupiter Communications. Of the top-ranked Web sites, 42 per cent took longer than five days to reply to customers' emails, or they never replied at all, or weren't accessible via email. Jupiter says this means they're missing opportunities, discouraging …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 13:36

  • Share sales shore up Softbank numbers

    But ZD drags them down - sack 'em, says The Register

    Comdex-to-cyberspace combine Softbank has shown a 39 per cent rise in consolidated net profit but has been hit hard by difficulties at subsidiaries Kingston and Ziff Davis. Kingston was in trouble shortly after Softbank bought it, well before the Asian crisis, and Softbank also cites losses stemming from its investment in …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:03

  • HP staff to spend four more days in Chrimbo limbo

    Asian crisis? Bah, humbug...

    Hewlett-Packard is inflicting four days' leave on 9000 workers at its Singapore operation as part of its ongoing cost-cutting programme. We assume HP will be treating the time as an extended Christmas holiday -- according to an HP spokesman, quoted in the Singapore Straits Times, that's the timeframe for the enforced break -- …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:07

  • Germans find rule for making money on the Net

    IF {population_with_Net_access >= 20%} THEN {web_sites = $++}

    Don't expect to make money from the Internet before 2000 at the earliest. That's the grim warning from German ISP, CVSI. It reckons that success for the majority of Internet-based operations is directly pegged to the percentage of the population that has access to the Net. An obvious equation, you'd have thought, but CVSI has …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:29

  • Schadt ist kaput

    Vobis, PC Specialist take on warranties

    High street vendors Vobis and PC Specialist have stepped in to honour customer warranties of failed German PC dealer Schadt ComputerTechnik GmbH. The move - a little more than a week after the leading German PC dealer was served with a bankruptcy notice - should at least provide some crumb of comfort for Schadt's former …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:45

  • Stordata publishes profits warnings

    But it's not all bad news

    Stordata Solutions plc has said operating profits have fallen behind budget at its subsidiary Primary Storage and that this is likely to affect its contribution to the division in the six months to 30 November. The storage distie is blaming the profits warning on a slowdown in trading during the summer. A new pricing policy, …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:49

  • HP touts reseller-friendly ecommerce

    New roles will not spell "death of the middleman"

    Hewlett-Packard is entering the e-business arena with a hybrid programme that uses its brand strength to court customers while still relying on the channel to fulfil orders. The reseller referral system, that enables users to order products and services by price and location, is part of HP's new European e-business strategy and …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:52

  • CTI firm experiences Lynx effect

    Exepos says "phwooah" to £3.3m deal

    Lynx Group plc -- the Oxford-based mini computer conglomerate -- has bought Exepos Ltd in a deal worth £3.3 million. Exepos' primary focus is the development of its CTI(computer and telephony integration) business where it already markets a number of products including Easydialer, Easyspeak and Telephony Toolbox from its High …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 14:58

  • Intel Inside ad agency loses Intel consumer business

    Could this be the end of the bunny ads? We sure as hell hope so...

    Intel has withdrawn its consumer advertising business from Salt Lake City, Utah-based Euro RSCG DSW Partners, the company that devised the abyssmal 'dancing bunnies' ads and popularised the 'Intel Inside' slogan. Responsibility for promoting the Great Satan of chips to the great unwashed will now go to long-winded New York …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 15:02

  • NCD and Intel to leanly dally

    Old lamps for new, or just old lamps?

    Network Computing Devices (NCD) will show off a lean Windows terminal at Comdex next week using Intel's spec. But industry observers, ie. us, wonder if this is the last throw of the dice for the NC and its ilk. IBM, which promised so much this time last year, has gone all quiet on its NetStation, while even Oracle's Larry …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 15:36

  • 4Front buys London training company

    Seller to concentrate on high-end business

    4Front Technologies has secured a foothold in the technical training market through the acquisition of central London-based Penagen Training for $335,000 cash. Twelve staff, including Samantha Kinstrey, Penagen Training MD, will make the move over to 4Front. The new owner anticipates that Penagen will turnover at least $2 …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 16:17

  • Lousy Intel software 2: Windows 98's full of the stuff

    At the 98 launch, Intel listed all its techie contributions -- as a purely precautionary measure, of course...

    In video testimony yesterday Bill Gates claimed Microsoft didn't like Intel's NSP technology because of the poor quality of Intel's software (see earlier story). "We thought the quality of their work was very low as well as not working with any of our new Windows work," he said. "We may have suggested at some point that the net …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 16:22

  • Hardware Satan talks to Software Satan

    And Compaq put in shadow by Win2000 plan

    Dell has pipped bitter rival Compaq to the post by announcing a migration programme which will allow its corporate customers to move to Windows 2000. And part of its strategy is to move corporate users first to Windows NT 4.0, making the upgrade path easier. Jumping from NT 3.51 to NT 5.0 is non-trivial. Jumping from Win98 to …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 16:24

  • The Lotus Compaq buck stops there

    No more finger-pointing promises Lotus

    Around two million users in the UK in need of technical support can now subscribe to a joint technical support programme from Compaq and Lotus. Called ONE+, it has been designed to provide a single point of technical contact for Lotus Notes/Domino, cc:Mail, SmartSuite and MS Office and Windows NT, on Compaq hardware, including …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 16:33

  • Ingram opens UK call centre

    Virtual warehouse

    Ingram Micro UK has created 100 jobs following the opening its new 400-seat telebusiness centre at its headquarters in Milton Keynes. The 25,000 square feet centre now houses the company's sales, customer services and technical support departments and represents the first in a series of future developments planned at the Ingram …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 16:40

  • The PC killed the Music Publisher

    I want my MP3

    Do you know what MP3 is? Are you sure? No I didn't think so. Nor did I. But you will - oh boy you really will. Because it's upsetting the music industry big time and just about everyone likes music of one kind or another. This is a big story but it will take time for everyone to realise it. Andy Grove would call it a 10x change …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 16:50

  • Gates under the grill – the full transcript

    The Register publishes the full (well nearly) Monty, for all you trial junkies out there

    Below we publish the first full transcript of Bill Gates' video testimony. All Gates' words are uttered under oath, so they must be true, so the Bill Gates memos produced by DoJ attorney David Boies afterwards which appear to contradict him can't be. Presumably. Gates shows little sign of having been well-briefed for the …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 17:04

  • Gates to Intel: stop competing with Microsoft

    "Microsoft was concerned that things would get out of its control," says exec

    Microsoft had been a little reluctant to disclose what is arguably the third part of its embrace and extend strategy -- eliminate -- but this came out in court yesterday when Steven McGeady, VP of Intel's content group, testified as a result of a subpoena from the DoJ. It was possible that the DoJ would have asked Judge Jackson …

    Business 10 Nov 1998, 18:19