7th January 1999 Archive

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Thanks for the memory, Apple…

intro

Everyone has heard of the phrase 'hoist on their own petard', but few folk know really good examples in real life. Apple, however, does. So there's dear old Steve Jobs, wowing the crowd with the new Power Mac G3's oh-so-wonderful ease of access, courtesy of the new Fisher-Price PC design's handy inards-exposing hatch, and saying …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 08:19
Updated: LG Semicon falls to Hyundai

Impasse over but row over money begins

The long standing refusal of LG to cooperate with the South Korean government came to an abrupt end today, when the company said it will sell its chip division to Hyundai. LG Semicon will become part of Hyundai Electronics, and according to reports all the workers will transfer from the former to the latter. (Story: LG Semicon …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 08:42
Windows runs faster using Netscape shell

Caution! Do so at your own risk and don't trash your main machine

A reader of The Register has come up with a way of installing Communicator instead of IE 4, resulting in a significant speed boost on the platform. Just before Christmas, we wrote a story about the substitution. (Story: Windows speeds up if Netscape shell used instead) But a word of caution to our readers. We haven't been able …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 11:49
Judge queries Netscape-AOL deal again

But seems to have changed his mind about it affecting the case

In a rare intervention, Judge Jackson yesterday introduced his own exhibit - Court Exhibit 1 - which was a copy of a Washington Post article on Wednesday entitled "Knowing when not to compete". In it, AOL CEO Steve Case is quoted as saying in a recent interview that "AOL's merger with Netscape has no bearing on the Microsoft …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 11:59
Gates tapes: latest transcript

In the latest edition, Bill is queried about exclusionary deals with Intuit

In the interest of completeness, we can now give the full text of the final extract of Gates' subpoenaed deposition. David Boies, the DoJ special trial counsel, is asking the questions. The extract speaks, ineloquently, for itself. Boies: This first selection is the selection designated by Microsoft. (Videotape excerpts played …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 12:01
MS Attorney and Harris stage scrappy fight

A messy business, but probably Harris on points

William Harris, the CEO of Intuit was cross-examined rather incompetently for a little over a day by John Warden, for Microsoft. Warden tried to establish, without success, that an Intuit lawyer had played a prominent role in writing Harris' testimony. Warden's line of questioning had no evident structure, and it was clear that …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 12:04
Microsoft intimidatory tactics attract attention

Witness Harris has a word or six with an old MS contact

Microsoft has been trying to intimidate DoJ witnesses by putting in the from row of the court the Microsoft staffer with whom the witness had had most dealings. In the case of Intuit CEO William Harris, it was Will Poole. There was some suspicion that Poole's story that Gates had personally required that the length of the …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 12:05
Battle of Unix servers ratches up

Big Blue claims lead as Alpha SPEC results emerge

IBM claimed today that an independent survey showed that its RS/6000 systems are top performers in the Unix market. But that claim is likely to be hotly disputed by other players including Compaq, SGI, NCR and Sun. Compaq, for example, is releasing Alpha servers soon and benchmarks show they rattle along at a fair old pace. …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 12:27
Updated: Jobs slashed at Info'Products

New owner, Compel, clears the decks in wake of takeover

Compel yesterday slashed around 30 per cent of jobs at Info’Products UK, prompting the London sales team to walk out in protest. Sources close to Info’Products told The Register that top flight personnel were among those laid off, including Simon Steele, regional sales director for the City office and Brian Wathan, services …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 12:27
HP appoints German distie for cheap printers

Medion gets sole franchise

Hewlett-Packard has appointed German company Medion as sole distributor for its new subsidiary selling cheap and cheerful printers. The manufacturer's Apollo Consumer Products division will sell low end ink-jet printers, aiming to do away with H-P's traditional image and be more modern. The wholly owned subsidiary will have ten …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 13:11
Datrontech shares shoot up over Yule

Before Christmas they were 18 pence -- today they're 29 pence

Troubled UK distributor Datrontech has shot up on the UK stock market on rumours that founder Steve King might return to rescue the firm. The share price stood at just less than 20 pence before Christmas but in a mere 15 days has shot up to nearly 30 pence. At its height, Datrontech's shares stood at £4.30 and it went on a …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 15:34
Intel goes chip crazy

It wasn't on the roadmap, Mother Shipton checked this morning

Intel introduced a cut down version of its 300MHz Pentium chip for portables. The processor is nothing to do with the announcements Intel will make on the 24th of this month, as widely reported here and elsewhere. According to the company, the 300MHz Pentium with MMX technology is aimed at the low end of the portable market, as …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 15:47
Avnet hot to acquire in Australia and Europe

Meanwhile Eckhard Pfeiffer's security gets dead tight

Giant company Avnet is embarking on an aggressive takeover campaign, The Register has learned. The company already has a presence in the Americas, Europe, Asia and South Africa but not Australia. We understand it is shortly to make an acquisition there. It also plans further takeovers in the European zone. This week, Compaq …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 16:26
Purple Hayes up in our brain

Company goes belly up everywhere but Europe

By a bizarre twist of fate at the height of an Internet boom among domestic PC users, the company whose founder revels in the title 'father of the PC modem' looks set to shut up shop and sell off the family jewellery. The Hayes Corporation - makers of the famous Hayes modem brand - effectively ceased trading in the United States …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 16:34
Bug trouble in the Big Apple

Streisand way too scared of Y2K problem

Barbara Streisand, that Diva of classics such as Hello Dolly and The Way We Were, has sacrificed up to $10 million in fear of Y2k anarcy. According to today’s National Enquirer, Babs is so terrified of the pesky millennium bug problem that she has backed out of a New Year’s Eve concert to barricade herself in her home. The …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 16:35
UK newspaper pushes virtual boat out

Guardian throws weight behind Web

The Guardian is to revamp its online offering in what it calls the "most imaginative network of Web sites from a newspaper publisher" ever. Far from simply dipping its toe in the water, The Guardian will dive in headlong, performing a triple pike with twist. The Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger is convinced it won't turn out to …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 16:57
Updated: Pentium III/450 to cost less than PII/450 today

Screaming Cindie instructions cheaper than thought

Sources close to Intel said today that the Pentium III when released will cost less that the 450MHz PII does now. The Pentium II 450MHz currently costs $459 when bought in units of 1000, suggesting that Intel will pitch the Katmai-III lower than at first expected. And this is the update. Intel said today (Friday) that the price …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 17:53
Software Stan collects more gaming souls

Adding to its games portfolio bit by bit

Microsoft is taking another chunk out of the games market via MechWarrior, buying computer games company FASA Interactive Technologies. The Great Satan of software today said it would acquire electronic rights to FASA Interactive’s BattleTech games, including the top-selling MechWarrior series. Microsoft said the reasons behind …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 18:06
SyQuest re-emerges from oblivion

Web site running again, news of buyer due real soon new

Troubled storage specialist SyQuest is set to announce details of a buyer next week, the company has announced. The news came as the company's Web site, dead since SyQuest went into Chapter 11 at the end of November, went back online to offer customer support information. For many users, it's about time. SyQuest's sudden …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 19:22
Apple acts to expel NT from Expo

Intergraph told to clear off and never darken MacWorld Expo's door again

Apple has begun to fight back against the threat of Windows NT -- by getting NT workstation specialist Intergraph's systems thrown out of MacWorld Expo. Intergraph, which regularly seeks to lure MacWorld attendees over to Wintel, had hoped to demo its 450MHz Intel Xeon-based multi-processor NT systems right next to Apple's stand …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 19:24
Apple set to announce $1.75 billion Q1 revenue

Earnings pegged at 70c a share

On Tuesday, Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs announced in his keynote at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco that the company will shortly announce its fifth consecutive quarter -- the first of the current fiscal year -- in the black. Now, signs of just how far into profitability the company is are emerging ahead of next week's official …

Business 7 Jan 1999, 19:26