17th December 1998 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

We taught the Linux boys everything they know – SCO exec

Ray Anderson, SCO's senior VP of marketing, puts the UnixWare perspective

Ray Anderson, senior VP of marketing at SCO, wrote to us claiming to have choked on his Ribena after reading our Sun/Linux news items Sun set to bring Linux to UltraSparc and Sun plan to run Linux apps on Solaris. Poor fellow, we thought. We'd hate to have caused him such distress, so we invited Ray to put his case. His opinions …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 10:52
Court watches videos as MS exits disrupts schedule

Felten's early furlough meant everybody got to watch the TV instead

The DoJ scheduled its remaining two witnesses for after the Christmas break, so when Professor Felten's cross-examination turned out to be less than a day (he was assessed as being a day-and-a-half man) the court was left in the embarrassing position of not being prepared. The witnesses were not on standby, and their written …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 11:15
MS attorney retreated in face of impenetrable defence

The problem seems to have been that the more he asked, the more mired he got

Edward Felten's evidence has proved to be technically the most important, so far as a core issue of the case is concerned, providing technical detail that was lacking in previous testimony. The DoJ has not been wise in its failure to provide at least a brief overview of the subject areas to be covered by its witnesses, with the …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 11:19
IE uninstaller – was it broken deliberately?

DoJ expert Felten comes close to saying it was...

The transcript of Professor Felten's testimony as to what Microsoft did to the prototype removal program makes interesting reading, so we are including the full text of that part of the transcript so that readers may draw their own conclusions. David Heiner, a Microsoft lawyer, is asking the questions. Heiner: Dr. Felten, isn't …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 11:23
Netscape unveils $30m Netcenter ad campaign

AOL tactics employed to push Netcenter as number one portal

Netscape is to spend a whopping $30 million next year to promote its Netcenter Web portal. The company said it will advertise on US TV, Radio, the Web, billboards and in print. Netscape's plan marks a new phase in the portal wars. Netcenter, Yahoo! Infoseek, Excite and co. have so far been keen to increase their user bases by …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 11:34
Survey: PC market bouncing back

Deloitte survey shows gross margins at close to five-year high

A report from consulting company Deloitte has predicted an upturn in the PC market. According to Deloitte, its PC-Cite report, which covers Q3 of 1998, shows that optimism is at a five-year high. That optimism is fuelled by a shift to different channel strategies, particularly in the e-commerce arena, Apple's success with the …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 11:50
Linux marketshare up 212 per cent

Open Source OS now outselling all other brands of Unix, research suggests

Linux's share of the server market expanded by 212 per cent this year, well ahead of Windows NT, NetWare and all other varieties of Unix, IDC reported yesterday. Still, that growth left Linux with just 17.2 per cent of the market, up from 6.8 per cent in 1997. Windows NT leads the market with a 36 per cent share, the same figure …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 11:53
Katmai NI a dead pigeon

There's a catchy, sexy new name but no acronyms are allowed

In a burst of pre-launch publicity, chip giant Intel has renamed its Katmai New Instructions set to the far sexier "Streaming SIMD Extensions". But the company is at pains to point out that the new name is not a trademark, will not be abbreviated to SSE and will not be used in advertising material. According to Intel, Katmai was …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 12:01
Adobe Q4 profits up on Illustrator 8.0

But future fortunes dependent on increasing Mac sales

Graphics software specialist Adobe yesterday reported Q4 profits up seven per cent to $50.3 million from $46.8 million a year ago. Revenue for the period rose 8.6 per cent to $246.7 million from $227.1 million in Q4 1997. The company's figures were well ahead of Wall Street expectations, but like so many of Adobe's profit boost …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 12:13
Cellular outfits plan 3G compromise statement

Asian and European companies? Sounds like the world against Qualcomm again...

Asian and European cellular companies are to issue a joint statement regarding third generation (3G) wireless technology, according to Japanese reports. The content of the statement is not as yet known, but the companies involved suggest that it will be a further attempt to isolate/tame Qualcomm. Qualcomm, Ericsson and the ITU …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 12:49
Netscape planned to sever ties with Mozilla

Or is Mozilla cunningly trying to get its freedom onto the agenda?

Netscape was last month on the verge of cutting all its ties with Mozilla.org, the body charged with overseeing the Open Source development of Communicator 5.0, it has emerged. Netscape apparently became concerned that it was open to legal action if the work on Communicator 5.0 took in patented software -- Netscape would be left …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 12:50
AMD, Intel squabble over Katmai

Operating systems a bone of contention

A table released by AMD claimed that 3DNow beats KNI (Katmai New Instructions) by supporting functions in existing operating systems, DirectX 6.0 and current titles. But those claims are disputed by Intel. A representative said: "KNI will run with Windows 98 straight out of the box." He said, however, that Windows 95 will never …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 12:53
Infobank shareholders lack confidence

Loan stock offer gets lukewarm reception

Infobank's shareholders yesterday rejected the majority of a loan stock offer worth £8,942,317. Only £3,117,014 of the open offer was applied for -- around 35 per cent of the nominal value offered. The board said the 65 per cent (£5,825,303) of unwanted stock was then conditionally placed with institutional and other investors. …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 13:04
Apple takes cut of Amazon.com profits

Sherlock search engine sends buyers to Amazon... and a share of the sale to Apple

Apple is so desperate for any source of revenue, it seems, it is even taking Amazon.com's shilling. So too is Adobe and a number of other vendors. According to a report on MacWeek.com, the version of Sherlock, Apple's unified file, disk and Web search tool, in MacOS 8.5.1 triggers a payment to the Mac maker every time a user …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 13:16
Women warm to Web

intro

The pizza-faced bespectacled geek is dead Long live the middle class prosperous geekettes Middle-aged women are joining the Net far faster than any other social group and are more likely to admit that they are hooked, according to a study carried out by the University of Hertfordshire. The rise of the blue rinsers echoes another …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 13:23
Insight into German market

US reseller buys its way into Europe

Insight Enterprises, the giant of the US direct sales market, took another step into Europe today with the acquisition of German-based Computerprofis Computersysteme. Insight agreed to snap up the German reseller for about $6 million in cash and $2.4 million in Insight stock, with additional consideration contingent on …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 13:39
S3, Intel cuddle up

Could patents be the issue?

Chip giant Intel is to buy a stake in graphics chip company S3, according to American reports. But the move, if the reports are true, are likely to enrage the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), a division of the US government. Wire Techweb today reported that Intel and S3 have entered into a 10-year cross licensing agreement. It …

Business 17 Dec 1998, 17:24