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10th December 1998 Archive

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  • A year ago: Intel re-orgs Euro bureau, catches worldwide VP flu

    Old sparring partner Geyer sent to Folsom gulag

    The Great Satan of Human Resources has made changes to its European lineup which mean that old Register pal Hans Geyer has been sent to the US. He leaves his Munich redoubt to be replaced as co-general manager of Intel Europe by unknown exec Rob Eckelman, formerly manager of lentil's channel organisation. Geyer tipped The …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 08:15

  • Netscape is like Saddam Hussein – Sun exec

    The tortured screams of starving, oppressed programmers echo from the cellars of the HQ, apparently...

    The status of Sun's relationship with its Java-loving ally Netscape came into some question yesterday when Microsoft attorney Thomas Burt produced one of the trial's most colourful emails so far. Java inventor James Gosling had been explaining how thoroughly Netscape was committed to Java, but in 1996 another Sun exec had …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 09:42

  • Tivoli and Novell in ‘standards-based’ alliance

    Novell's 'NDS everywhere' campaign proceeds apace...

    Novell has stolen another march on Windows 2000 with the announcement of a series of joint initiatives in network management and administration with Tivoli Systems. When Windows 2000 ships it is intended to be Tivoli-ready, among other things, but the Novell-Tivoli deal seems to amount more to what you might call a firm alliance …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 10:09

  • Christmas Caption Competition: Who is this woman?

    Win an invite to our party next week

    Pictured here on the left is our managing editor Tony Smith, in riotous form at a Lotus Development party in Soho Spice earlier this week. But who is the mysterious woman jiving with Tony? First correct or the wittiest reply gets invited to the prestigious Register Christmas Party in central London next week. Respond to caption …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 10:13

  • 3Com and Siemens team on voice data convergence

    But what's this about 3Com Digital Phones, dear readers?

    Siemens and 3Com have demonstrated that there is potential synergy between the two companies with the announcement of a joint venture focused on the development on a portfolio of voice and data telecoms/networks convergence products. The two have been allied for 18 months, and the new venture represents an extension of this. But …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 10:33

  • Expert and MS argue over definition of OS

    Ah, the old ones are the best ones...

    Some interesting subtleties have come to light in the transcript of the testimony by Professor David Farber of the University of Pennsylvania, who was allowed to interrupt testimony from James Gosling because he was about to go on a lecture tour. It was claimed by Microsoft that his examination would take one day, but Judge …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 10:47

  • Eight MPUs cloned from one set of x.86 instructions

    (With apologies to Wired)

    Intel researchers said they cloned eight microprocessors from a single x.86 instruction set, demonstrating one of the most efficient techniques for cloning yet developed. Researchers and their colleagues at Kinky University in Japan said that their experiment showed prime x.86 instructions can easily be cloned to create elite …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 10:58

  • Cyrix claims Intel dumping Slot One Celerons

    Joins in clamour as 370-pin date draws near

    Clone manufacturer Cyrix claimed today that Intel was engaged in a cynical exercise to dump Slot One Celerons in the run-up to the introduction of its 370 pin platform next month. Alain Tiquet, European strategic sales manager at NatSemi-Cyrix, said: "The [Slot One] Celeron has not been successful and Intel is having to dump …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 11:23

  • Aureal sues Creative Technology

    3D audio patents at heart of latest in a looooong line of legal battles. Will it ever end?

    Aureal Semiconductor and Creative Labs are biting at each other's heels again. This time, Aureal has demanded a US federal court order Creative cease selling its SoundBlaster Live! and Live! Value cards. The reason is that old add-in card chestnut: patent infringement. The patents in question cover Aureal's 3D audio technology. …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 11:30

  • First fisticuffs fly in Intel-Intergraph action

    Intel not a monopoly, pleaders claim

    The first real sign of action in an anti-trust suit against Intel took place in the US yesterday when Intergraph lawyers crossed swords with their counterparts at the chip giant. According to US reports, Intel lawyers asked a circuit court judge in Washington to overturn a decision by a district court judge Edwin Nelson that it …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 11:48

  • Apple's Jobs pooh-poohs NCs, thin clients, Java

    'Hey you, Sun, get offa my cloud,' says Great Satan of GUIs' interim CEO

    Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs' comments at the educational IT-oriented Cause 98 show in Seattle suggested he's not quite as keen on chum Larry Ellison's vision of the network computer (NC) as we might have thought. Jobs' keynote was given over to questions from the audience. Asked about thin client technology, he said they are …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 12:00

  • Apple set to cut iMac prices year on year, claims Jobs

    Apple targetting the $500-$800 market

    Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs explained the company's pricing strategy when he gave the keynote at the US Cause 98 education-in-IT conference. "Our goal is to drive [prices] lower and lower every year," said Jobs. His goal is to bring prices down to around $100 above what he called "white box" companies -- no name cloners …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 12:13

  • IGN buy-out gives BT deal a boost

    AT&T's Xmas acquisition is all about presence

    AT&T's decision to buy IBM Global Network will save the telecomms company time and money in its proposed international tie-up with BT. The $5 billion acquisition of IBM's global networking business automatically gives AT&T a presence in 93 out of the 100 cities where it and BT had planned to build new networks, according to a …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 12:19

  • AMD, Dell promise not to make old wood products

    Old Wood?

    Did you know AMD and Dell made products out of old mahogany? We didn't, so were surprised to read a story on Associated Press that both companies have promised to phase out using and selling products made with old-growth wood.

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 12:38

  • Disney does Dallas

    Infoseek told to clean up act by major shareholder

    Infoseek has come under pressure from its major shareholder, Disney, to keep its portal clean and drop sex adverts in an attempt to boost its credentials as a family-oriented site. The move was announced within weeks of the anticipated beta launch of the Go Network, a joint venture between the two companies. The company has also …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 12:54

  • FTC slaps record fine on Iomega

    Storage supremo pays $900,000 for failing to honor customer rebates quickly enough

    The US Federal Trade Commission has slapped a record-breaking $900,000 fine on Iomega, the Great Satan of Zips, for failing to pay cash rebates to customers quickly enough. The case goes back to a 1996 offer made by Iomega to entice users to buy Zip drives with a 'buy now, register your drive and get some cash back later' deal. …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 13:06

  • UK PC school scheme could founder on Y2K problem

    Refurbing 486 and Pentium kit is OK, but will they fall over?

    A scheme intended to re-cycle PCs and distribute them to schools throughout the UK has taken no account of the fact that many of the machines will be non Year 2000 compliant. Tools for Schools (TfS), a charity supported by UK daily the Guardian, the Financial Times and Independent Television, is supported by both the UK …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 13:08

  • Santa runs out of mobile phones

    Christmas rush sees One-2-One muscle in on Cellnet's Asda patch

    Hoist by its own petard, Cellnet has run out of pre-paid handsets, leaving supermarket giant Asda to turn to mobile phone rival One-2-One for its supply of boxed phones this Christmas. Asda claims the number of phones it gets from Cellnet satisfies only a third of the demand it has for such products. The supermarket currently …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 16:50

  • Ericsson plots Qualcomm's demise

    Passion, poison and petrefaction in the wonderful world of W-CDMA...

    The US CDMA digital phone standard is in danger of being shut out of consideration in the international discussion for third generation (3G) cellular systems; or so it would appear from a series of coded press releases issued over the week. In the wonderful world of mobile phone company strategic direction, press releases …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:02

  • UK IT firms slip in/out of FTSE 100

    Good news in retail sector, not so in consultancy

    While Dixons was yesterday celebrating its return to the FTSE 100, it was a bleak and frustrating day for Misys and Sema, who were both squeezed out of the top shares’ index. While the two prominent stocks prepared themselves for a period of bouncing in and out of the FTSE 100, Sage, the accounting software group, had its shares …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:03

  • New home digital standard launched

    HAVi to make life 'more exciting', maybe...

    Eight consumer electronics companies have banded together to establish a licensing programme for the development of domestic digital audio-visual entertainment networks. HAVi (Home Audio-Video interoperability) has been designed to address home networking needs and in particular, provide consumers with the convenience of hot …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:14

  • Motorola products are history

    intro

    Iridium has been live for barely a month, and it's not yet properly commercial, so Motorola's decision to donate one of the satellites to the Smithsonian Museum seems a little, ah, premature. Today's irony-free press release tells us that "Motorola is no stranger to making history." Well no - take its Mac clone operations. Or …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:21

  • Rise, Taylor and Byrne team up x.86 wise

    Blue Micro founder votes for Taiwanese

    Roy Taylor and John Byrne, joint managing directors of VML UK, have signed up x.86 clone manufacturer Rise as their client. The x.86 cloner, emanating from Taiwan, makes cheap chips which work perfectly with Windows 95 and other operating systems belonging to Microsoft. Taylor refused to comment on details of the deal, but …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:23

  • AOL in $31 million Yellow Pages deal

    Promoting online consumer confidence at heart of agreement

    AOL has signed a $31 million deal with Bell Atlantic and GTE Directories in an attempt at increasing consumer confidence in online transactions. The new online Yellow Pages database is to be made available to all of AOL's 12 million members -- plus the millions of other visitors attracted to its portal -- to provide the "most …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:47

  • Toshiba goes direct in Japan. Next step, Europe?

    Tracks down familiar route led by IBM, then Compaq

    Toshiba has started selling its PCs direct in Japan. Those machines include both desktops and notebooks But sources close to The Register said it would be some time before the model migrated West. The sources did not say how long. Toshiba, hit by different forces because of the weakness of Japanese currency, and which made big …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:48

  • Condoms with everything

    Lycos sets up online store, highlights biggest seller

    Lycos today put condoms over everything and opened the Web’s first virtual department store, but it says UK shoppers will have to wait until Valentine’s Day to get the full monty. The US Lycos Store claims to sell everything from contraceptives to cars. This Internet extravaganza is piloted in the UK from today, with readers …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 17:59

  • Departure of Trade and Industry still not Mandelson's name

    DTI, Mandelson, PCs, trade...what next

    Far be it from us to suggest to Her Majesty's government that it is not good. We are, after all, mere journalists. But we are, nevertheless, slightly concerned that after the loss of 1,000 jobs at Royal Doulton that no-one has picked up on our suggestion that the Department of Trade and Industry be re-named. After all, these are …

    Business 10 Dec 1998, 18:03