28th January 1999 Archive
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Does MS internal email confirm Explorer can be removed?
It certainly seems to contain a useful list of which files do what - can we all have it now please?
The US Department of Justice yesterday filed an emergency motion demanding that Microsoft turn over an internal email which it says confirms that Windows 98's Internet and shell functions can be split. According to the DoJ, the email agrees with claims by prosecution witness Edward Felten that it would be possible to pull apart …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 09:51
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Judge quizzes Maritz over browser separation
Maritz decided not to separate them, but that suggests it was feasible
Some of the antritrust trial documentation shows folks at MS apparently treating the browser and the shell separately, and suggesting they might charge for it, to boot. Paul Maritz was confronted by this little difficulty yesterday. Hewas quizzed about an email exchange where Yusuf Mehdi raises the matter of internal plans to …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 10:24
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A year ago: Microsoft moves to square European Commission
Peace in our time, EU commissioners allege
While the US Department of Justice (DoJ) has been noisily mounting what increasingly looks like a crusade against Microsoft, the European Commission has been quietly padding around in the background, running various low-key antitrust investigations that may or may not come to something. One of these, into Microsoft's …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 10:46
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Softbank makes $12 billion from Web – on paper
Nice get if you can work it...
Transnational cyber-mover and shaker Softbank boasted yesterday that it had made $12.5 billion on paper via its investments in nine companies. This is (apparently) quite a turnaround for the Japanese company that even the Japanese were starting to have severe doubts about a while back. It should also provide further grist to the …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 11:00
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Korean strikes destroying country's IT business
Strikes at LG and Daewoo causing US customers to run
Labour unrest in Korea is damaging the country's IT business. LG Semicon staff are out on strike in the peninsula because of a proposed merger with Hyundai. Yesterday, Hitachi Japan said it had suspended a long standing agreement with LG because Hyundai competes with its own business. And now, Daewoo monitor staff have walked …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 11:11
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Sony to sue Connectix over PlayStation emulator
Emulator violates copyrights, intellectual property, claims Japanese giant
Sony Computer Entertainment and its US division, Sony Computer Entertainment America, are suing Connectix over its Mac-based PlayStation emulator, Virtual GameStation (VGS), according to Japanese news agency Kyodo. When the software was released at MacWorld Expo in San Francisco earlier this month, many observers anticipated …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 11:21
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Dell using Linux as educational spearhead
It's committed to NT, except not completely
Further details of Dell's foray into the Linux market were revealed to the The Register today. Last year we exclusively revealed that Dell was dabbling with the Unix clone. A senior executive at the company said that while it was still "absolutely committed" to the Wintel platform, it was responding to customer requests by …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 11:27
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Net addicts to get online treatment
What next, AA meetings to be held in the pub?
The founder of the Centre for On-Line Addiction, launched earlier this month, has denied that treating Internet addicts on-line is at all inappropriate. Dr Kimberly Young argues that this is, in fact, the ideal method of treatment as it is convenient and encourages clients to be more honest and less self-conscious. This may come …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 11:41
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Intel applies fork technique toThe Register
Ouch, ouch and ouch again
You regular readers will remember our many stories about senior Intel VP Pat "Kicking" Gelsinger. He took great pleasure at a Comdex some years ago in kicking a staffer here when he was asked some tricky questions about Merced. Unfortunately, there's someone tougher than Gelsinger at Intel and he doesn't mind using lethal …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 11:45
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Euro strikers hit out at call charges
If you don’t play fair we’ll take our ball back
A pressure group in the UK has helped co-ordinate a pan European Internet strike scheduled to take place this Sunday which it hopes will force telecomms companies across the Continent to cut the cost of accessing the Internet. The Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications (CUT) brought together different factions throughout …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 12:07
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And talking of Kicking Pat Gelsinger…as we were..
..someone should write his biog
His life story is very interesting. He actually started work at Intel's HQ as a cleaner. He worked very, very hard and eventually came to the notice of one Andrew Grove. After a little while, Gelsinger did even better and actually invented the 386 -- one of Intel's better -- some might say best moves. Grove encouraged him to do …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 12:12
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Apple ordered to face patent trial
Quit stalling, demands judge
A US Federal judge has sided with New York-based software developer Imatec and ordered Apple to stop trying to delay the pending legal battle between the two companies. Nearly a year ago, on 13 February 1998, Imatec filed a suit against Apple alleging the company had infringed three patents it holds for device-independent colour …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 12:12
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Intel's Merced undercut by Compaq's Alpha
Volume will arrive when the daffodils are blooming
Alpha partner Samsung is now selling fast processors for as little as $250, it has emerged. According to confidential documents seen by The Register, .25 micron 533MHz Alphas will ramp to high volume in spring. They currently cost $250/1000. And when the 800MHz Alpha is released later on this year, it will also be priced at the …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 12:33
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Mother Shipton discredited by Intel
It's all a scam, claims Chip Goliath
At the infamous Waxy O'Connors, near Shaftesbury Avenue and only a stagger away from the tube station, we bumped into a charming Intel chap who gave us the full SP on Mother Shipton. Readers will remember that Ms Shipton was a seeress who predicted three hundred or so years ago that the world would come to an end in 1999. She …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 12:51
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ICL issues call to arms
Everyone likes a man in uniform
Bizarre approaches to solving the IT skills shortage are fast becoming a stock-in-trade for hardware and services giant ICL. The one-time colossus of the UK IT industry -- now owned by Fujitsu -- plans to recruit 25 ex-army officers to take charge of its consultancy business. ICL's wacky personnel policies first came to light …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 13:03
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Geofox went bust but where's the IP?
Nifty little EPOC handheld lost in cyberspace
Mystery surrounds the whereabouts of intellectual property owned by Geofox, which went bust on 2 November last year. The UK company, set up by George Grey, founder of Tadpole and MD of the company, was looking for a buyer or for venture capital funds before it went into voluntary liquidation. Geofox's liquidation went largely …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 13:19
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Motorola to debut 450MHz PowerPC G4 next month
Oh, and IBM will have a 580MHz part to show, too
Motorola looks set to debut its next-generation PowerPC processor, codenamed G4, processor at next month's 1999 IEEE International Solid-state Circuits Conference, to be held in San Francisco. At the same time, IBM will unveil a 580MHz PowerPC 750 (aka G3) based on Silicon-on-insulator technology, according to US newswires. The …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 16:01
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MS Word ate my deposition
Maybe the style checker just took a big dislike to the way it was written
In paragraph 68 of his deposition, Microsoft's Jim Allchin explains some of the theory which underlies Microsoft's browser integration strategy. "Customers value the ability to find and view information in a 'seamless,' consistent way," he says. "In other words, it is desirable to design software products so that customers can …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 16:17
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Distributors get fruity over sale of iMacs
Any colour you like, so long as you buy loads of 'em
Resellers wanting to cash in on the latest colourful Apple iMacs may end up having to buy more than they bargained for. Apple's two UK distributors -- Ingram Micro and C2000 -- can only get them in packs of five or ten of the assorted colours from the manufacturer. The latest additions to the iMac range come in blueberry, grape …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 16:48
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Racing software blag turns sour
Odds-on you'd have to be an idiot to fall for that sort of thing anyway
A scamster who sold software that "guaranteed" success when having a flutter on the horses has been banned from being a company director for 13 years. Kevin John Robinson's West End company, Comstrad, sold get-rich-quick horse-racing software at £3300 a pop to gamblers. He also flogged pools programmes for £9995. In total, £4.5 …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:02
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Motorola sells smartcard logic division
Atmel takes over technology, assets
Motorola has sold its smartcard production business, part of its Semiconductor Products division, to fellow semiconductor specialist Atmel. Terms of the deal, which so far exists solely as a non-binding memorandum of understanding, were not disclosed. However, it is reported to be "non-dilutive" to Atmel's 1999 earnings, …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:06
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AOL sees huge hike in profit
ISP in upbeat mood -- who wouldn't be?
AOL has reported that its second quarter after-tax profits romped ahead by 340 per cent to $88 million, confirming its position as one of the world's leading Net companies. Revenues from subscriptions climbed to $779 million, an increase of 61 per cent over the same period last year. And revenues from advertising and commerce …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:13
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Hyundai workers down tools in sympathy with LG Semicon
Is it a general strike?
Reliable reports said that Hyundai workers had joined those at Daewoo and LG Semicon and are on strike. Hyundai workers came out in strike in sympathy with LG workers, the source said. That is not likely to go down well in the United States. It seems that practically every worker in the peninsula has gone on strike. Even the …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:21
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Recycling company gets trashed
Contract goes bad - causes Decom to review operations
Cheshire-based computer hardware recycler Decom is set to close after confirming that it had suspended day-to-day trading. Simon Greer, one of the founders of the company, said Decom's problems were down to a "bad contract" but refused to disclose any more information because of what he called legal reasons. He said more …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:25
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BT's startup scheme for small businesses goes belly up
Down for half the week, claims entrepreneur
Mike Gleeson, head of public relations startup company Archangel Communications, said yesterday that its Connect to Business Service, aimed at small businesses, was down for two and a half days last week. The service is supposed to give SMEs and other small firms the ability to get up to speed on the Internet. Repeated calls to …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:40
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Procom pulls rug from under rivals
Claims to be first to market with plug 'n' play storage unit
Storage manufacturer, Procom, claims to be the first to develop a hot-swappable storage device which can be added to and configured with a network without the need to power down the server. Called NetFORCE 100, the device is simply plugged in, taking about five minutes to configure. It was launched in the US in October and costs …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 17:53
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Microsoft leapfrogs to top of FT500
Basks in reflected glory of IT sector
The Great Satan of Software may now be the world’s biggest company, according to the Financial Times’ annual ranking of the global top 500, but this has as much to do with fortune as it has with business acumen. The latest FT500 listing clearly shows Microsoft’s move to first position, from fourth last year. This is as much a …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 18:11
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Yahoo! swoops on GeoCities
The eyes have it in deal for virtual bums on seats
Yahoo! has confirmed it is to buy the Web company GeoCities in move that will create the world's largest online community. The news ends speculation that the two were holding secret talks and is yet further evidence of the frenetic activity currently being witnessed among Internet companies. Speaking to analysts earlier today, …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 18:19
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MP3 distributors threatened with patent suit
Pay a one per cent royalty, MP3ers, or we'll take you to the cleaners...
MP3 music site MP3.com was yesterday told to cough up a one per cent royalty on every music track it sells to a customer for download -- or face legal action. The bizarre demand was sent to MP3.com president Michael Robertson by Christopher J Reese, VP and general counsel for online music supplier Sightsound.com. Sightsound.com …
Business 28 Jan 1999, 18:23
