21st January 1999 Archive

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Corel spins off Linux hardware business

Does this threaten NetWinder's prospects as a Windows challenger?

Corel is to spin off its Linux hardware business to Hardware Canada Computing in exchange for a 25 per cent stake in HCC. The latter company, which specialises in Unix, NT and Sparc and has revenues in the region of C$60 million, will acquire all the assets of Corel Computer. The Corel Computer division has been developing the …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 10:54
China jails software developer for selling email addresses

Two years in chokey for passing 30,000 addresses to US civil rights group

The owner of a Chinese software company has been jailed for two years after a Shanghai court found him guilty of sending 30,000 e-mail addresses to US-based pro-democracy organisation VIP Reference. Arrested in March last year and convicted last month behind closed doors, Lin Hai was sentenced yesterday. As well as being jailed …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 10:58
S3 retires Virge

Once-popular line dropped to allow company to focus on Savage3D

Graphics specialist S3 has formally discontinued its Virge graphics acceleration chip thanks to lack of demand. That leaves the company pushing its Savage3D accelerator against the likes of 3Dfx's Voodoo2 and nVidia's Riva TNT. Given both those companies' market and mind shares, S3 will have it's work cut out, though it should …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 11:16
Witness claims MS keeps sales data on handwritten bits of paper

So it hasn't the foggiest notion how much money it makes from Windows. Hint: check the share price

Last year the Department of Justice experienced considerable difficulty in gaining access to Microsoft sales data, and yesterday company witness Richard Schmalensee blurted out a possible reason why - it keeps its sales data on handwritten sheets of paper. At least that’s what he claimed. "Microsoft’s internal accounting systems …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 11:18
Lycos seeks investment partner, preferably non-smoker

Portal offers 20 per cent stake in return for cross-media promotional deal

Internet portal Lycos has confirmed it is seeking a partner to bring more than a little development funding to the company. According to Eric Gerritsen, Lycos' VP for international business development, quoted in the Financial Times, the company is in "informal discussions" with a number of media and telecoms operations. On the …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 11:44
IT chiefs make loadsamoney – official

We are considerably richer than you, says CEOs. Tell us something we don't know...

Corporate fat cats at Yahoo! and IBM have topped a list of CEOs whose share options gained the most in 1998. Timothy Koogle of Yahoo! saw his option rocket to $488 million -- not surprising since his company's stock went through the stratosphere last year as it registered an increase of 584 per cent. And Big Blue's Lou Gerstner …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 11:44
HP exec to MS: we'd dump Windows if we could

An everyday tale of love among the OEM contracts...

Microsoft's efforts to control the desktop via the "Windows Experience" prompted Hewlett-Packard's R&D manager to tell the company: "If we had the choice of another supplier, based on your actions in this area, I assure you would not be our supplier of choice." John Romano was writing to Microsoft business manager Dave Wright in …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 11:53
Intel to pour $100 million into Samsung

Great Stan dangles investment carrot to tempt vendors into Rambus DRAM production

Intel is to invest $100 million in Korean chip manufacturer Samsung, it emerged yesterday. The deal hasn't yet been formally signed, but it will see the Great Satan of Chips buying $100 million worth of Samsung stock. The catch: Samsung has to use to the money to ramp up production of Rambus Direct DRAM. That's a pattern set …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 12:00
Intel antitrust action delayed till March

Rumours that it's because of a Microsoft-inspired lawyer shortage unfounded

Intel’s date with antitrust destiny has shifted back two weeks, to March 9, either because Intel didn’t turn over requested documentation to the FTC on time, or because both sides asked for the delay. According to Intel, the delay was by mutual agreement, but James Timony, an administrative judge for the Federal Trade Commission …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 12:26
Intel adds serial numbers, random numbers to PIII

And let's hope the floating-point numbers work too, ahem...

Intel is today due to announce that it will embed individual serial numbers first on every Pentium III it produces and later other chips, including future Celeron products. The move is geared to identify stolen PCs, either physically or via the Internet. It may also help Intel identify companies overclocking processors then …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 12:31
MS cunning plan makes people register

Use it 50 times without and you're dead

Microsoft is building anti-piracy software into Windows 2000, so forcing people to register their software it they want it to work, it has emerged. Beta testers of Win2000 are vociferously crying foul at Microsoft for the feature. According to reports in an online newsletter, the Registration Wizard feature in NT 5.0 could be …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 15:39
Datrontech's Mr Intel jumps ship to join former boss

Evans welcomes Davison on board and snaps up e-commerce firm to boot

Mark Davison has quit Datrontech, where he was Intel business manager, to join his old boss, George Evans, at Making Markets. After six years at Datrontech, Davison left on Tuesday of this week and became marketing manager at Evans' Internet-based company. He took up his new post the following day. Davison's move comes in the …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 15:41
Microsoft at Work reappears like Phoenix in Birmingham

Product in a briefcase... what next?

Microsoft has developed a product in a steel briefcase which it claims will respond to voice technology and is proof that Microsoft at Work (MAW) is not as dead as people thought. Mark Thompson, a product manager at Microsoft UK, gave members of the British Personal Computer Association (PCA), a sneak preview of the product. It …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 15:54
Compaq results due today – maybe

There's no brain draining out of Eck's hair

Sources told The Register late today that Compaq's annual results -- due out today -- are likely to be delayed. But that doesn't mean they're bad. Far from it. The delay is due to some procedural scheme in place at Stalag Houston, we are given to understand. ®

Business 21 Jan 1999, 16:33
Schmalensee trips on DoJ banana skins

Government lawyer lays his traps, and MS' witness walks right in

MIT economist Richard Schmalensee continued his Microsoft consultancy, answering questions from David Boies for the DoJ. His desire to please Microsoft showed all the fervour of a convert to a cause, so that he appeared to be more of a Microsoft salesman than an expert witness, abandoning any scientific rigour from his …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 16:38
ITG to boost wins DTI licences

Expands telecoms networks

Internet Technology Group -- whose subsidiary Global Internet was recently named best Internet Service Provider by Internet Magazine -- is to expand its telecoms networks after being awarded two licences by the Department of Trade and Industry. As well as developing its UK network, the company has already secured similar …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 17:20
US papal visit site defends dodgy advertising

The right to promote pornography is a constitutional matter, it seems

The company behind an irreverent Web site covering the Pope's visit to the US at the end of the month has vowed to fight a court decision to close it down. Seth Warshavsky, president of the adult content company Internet Entertainment Group, alleges that the federal judge in the case "trampled on [his] Constitutional rights" and …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 17:23
Break-up fee agreed if Excite deal falls through

@Home set to pick up a cool $200 million

@Home stands to make $200 million from Web portal Excite if the agreed take over deal falls flat on its face or if it isn't completed by 30 September 1999. The payment of the break-up fee, reported by Broadcasting & Cable online, appeared in a US Securities and Exchange Commission filing and seems to signal @Home's eagerness to …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 17:36
Intel's Grove attacks UK journalism

Instructions deal with the whole of Europe

A document with a foreword written by Andrew Grove, president of Intel, has specifically targeted UK journalists for criticism. Today, Register journalists were shown a document called Working with the European Press which outlined Intel's ideas about the whole of Europe, including Israel and South Africa. But the document …

Business 21 Jan 1999, 21:32