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11th February 1999 Archive

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  • A year ago: Fresh Intel price war to hit 3Com

    Great Stan means Gigabit business

    Our friends at Intel confirmed what we all knew anyway and that is they want it all, even in the Gigabit Ethernet arena. Last week Intel cut prices on some of its products but everyone we've met during the last week say that this is just a precursor of an all out war on the Gigabit Ethernet front. At the beginning of last year, …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 08:06

  • MS' $500k sweethearts deal with UK ISP

    MS on Trial But did it use it as a crowbar to help IE into the market?

    Microsoft VP Cameron Myhrvold found himself explaining a $500,000 'bung' to British ISP UUNET Pipex in court yesterday. He had referred to this and other European 'co-marketing' deals in his written testimony, replying to earlier allegation by Jim Barksdale, but was now confronted by one of his own smoking emails. Barksdale had …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 09:09

  • UK Net dial-up charges among highest in Europe

    Oh no they're not, pleads BT

    UK Net users have to pay some of the most expensive call charges in Europe, according to figures from telecoms monitoring firm Phillips Tarifica. The cost of a half-hour local daytime call in the UK is £1.18, compared to just 50p in Italy. In Germany the cost is just 86p; in Spain it is 60p. And contrary to a report in today's …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 11:25

  • JSB post-float results beat expectations

    But it still lost money since its AIM listing

    Web access control software specialist JSB Software yesterday reported that its first interim results since the company floated were ahead of budget. For the six months ended November 1998, JSB recorded a pre-tax loss of £373,000, which it described as significant improvement on the predicted £642,000 loss. Interim turnover also …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 11:42

  • Genuine Pentium III systems for sale in UK

    Machines running both Linux and NT

    A UK company told The Register today it was already selling systems based on the Pentium III processor and the chips are the genuine article. Digital Networks UK is selling 500MHz systems and 450MHz systems, and has verified details of their authenticity with Intel. According to a representative at Digital Networks, the ID …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 12:00

  • Dissecting Sony's Game

    Analysis Why is Sony chasing PlayStation emulator developer Connectix when it's case is so weak?

    What is Sony Computer Entertainment up to? On Monday, the company's COO, Kazuo Hirai, told delegates at the American International Toy Fair, being held this week in New York, about the PlayStation's amazing sales -- more than four million units were sold in the last two months, he claimed. In short, a towering success. Yet at …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 12:06

  • Linux fan releases UltraHLE source code

    Could nuke Nintendo legal action against N64 emulator's developers

    The Nintendo vs. UltraHLE case took a new twist yesterday when a programmer posted source code for the Windows-based N64 emulator on the Internet. Programmer 'GossiTheDog' admitted the code, a conversion into C++ of the original UltraHLE source, was "nowhere near complete" and "does not compile", but he said he released the code …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 12:11

  • Creative Labs endorses MP3

    Forthcoming Rio clone will support controversial digital music format

    Creative Labs has finally come clean and admitted it will support the MP3 digital music format in the portable music player the company is currently developing. "It's going to be MP3," a Creative spokesman confessed, according to US gaming magazine Maximum PC. However, no ship date other than "this year", pricing, features or …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 12:35

  • Intel shrugs shoulders over re-marked chips

    Lots of PII remarks sloshing round in the channel

    System integrators and dealers can expect little help from Intel if they buy re-marked processors, it has emerged. That is the conclusion that must be drawn after Digital Networks UK (DNUK) bought a consignment of Pentium II/450 parts that turned out to be re-marked PII/300MHz chips. According to DNUK, when it contacted Intel …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 12:44

  • Net loophole to slash corporate tax receipts

    Register your e-commerce business outside the UK and cut your tax bill, claim consultants

    Corporate tax avoidance is set to increase as more and more companies get hooked online. And as government coffers run empty it will be ordinary consumers who'll have to pick up the tab. That's just one of the conclusions published by an esteemed group of companies and consultants that warns that the Net could provide a legal …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 13:10

  • MS contract exec explains Netscape ‘acceptable degradation’

    MS on Trial But not very effectively, one might observe...

    On the 50th day of the Microsoft trial, Will Poole, senior director of business development for Windows, came across as Microsoft's cheeky chappy. He's in effect Microsoft's negotiator for contracts with Internet content providers (ICPs) and came to Microsoft when eShop, a company he co-founded, was acquired in 1996. He reports …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 13:14

  • CEO declares independence for Yahoo!

    But isn't that what Lycos' boss said?

    Tim Koogle, the head honcho at Yahoo! has confirmed that the leading portal has no intention of loosing its status as an independent company. Interviewed in the French newspaper La Tribune today he said: "Yahoo! is an independent and will remain independent." His insistence that Yahoo! will not get caught up in the current …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 13:14

  • Eurocrats back tighter protection for digital copyright

    Proposed legislation could hit software users too

    The European Parliament yesterday backed controversial legislation, dubbed the Report on Copyright in the Information Society, that seeks to increase protection of copyright material in digital world. The case has become a tug-of-war between lobbyists. On one side, artists and content providers keen to protect their assets (see …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 13:18

  • SiS to support K7, Pentium III

    And Camino in its sights too

    An interview obtained by Jonathan Hou at PC One has revealed SiS future chipset roadmap. (The full interview is here). Hou interviewed SiS executive Sylvia Lin, who claimed that Intel had "copied" her company's approach to integrating graphics. At the same time she confirmed that SiS will support the K7, and will continue to …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 13:21

  • AMD claims 30 million 3DNow! chips will ship by year end

    Starts propaganda war against Streaming SIMD

    In a bid to lay down the ground rules for the fight between the K6-III and the Pentium III, AMD has briefed games and hardware Web sites about the future of 3DNow! And, according to a transcript of the discussion, which is posted at JC's site, AMD executives have claimed that 30 million processors using the 3DNow! instructions …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 13:41

  • UK tax records affected by EDS MCI Systemhouse deal

    Deal worth $17 billion. Is our data safe in Worldcom's hands?

    Electronic Data Systems today agreed to buy MCI WorldCom's IT services arm in an asset and employee swap deal valued at $17 billion. A few years ago, before New Labour was elected, the British government gave EDS permission to manage every tax record off shore. Now MCI Systemhouse will manage that function, posing questions …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 16:05

  • PlusNet increases customer base 1000 per cent

    FreeServe? We were there first -- Sheffield ISP

    Sheffield-based Internet Service Provider PlusNet has attracted more than 100,000 customers to its service since it started trading in 1997. Although the company claims to have increased its customer base by 1000 per cent last year, it believes it will double in size before the end of 1999. Around 60 per cent of PlusNet's …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 16:09

  • Battle of Intel shark and AMD minnow ramps up

    AMD claims ents industry thinks it's great

    A further salvo in the war between AMD and Intel over streaming extensions was fired by the smaller company today. AMD said that Digital Anvil, 3DO and a gaggle of others have already brought thousands of games to the party. But on the 17th, next week, Intel is likely to bring thousands more game companies to the party. Intel …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 16:15

  • BT to resell Inktomi search sytems to Europe

    First Euro-centric search system to go online this summer

    Search engine provider Inktomi yesterday signed a deal with British Telecom that permits the UK telco not only to host Inktomi's first European search cluster, but to resell Inktomi search engine facilities. Financial terms of the "strategic alliance" were not made public. Inktomi said it will deploy one or more search engine …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 16:47

  • Compaq could snap up AMD

    Rumour Share price makes it vulnerable

    Speculation mounted today that the massive drop in Advanced Micro Devices' (AMD) share prices over the last two weeks had made it vulnerable to one of its suppliers, Compaq-Digital. IBM had previously been interested in taking over AMD but has decided that its Microelectronics division is not its top priority. Its top priority …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 16:49

  • Hefner huffed over Excite, Netscape for smut substitutions

    Search for Playboy and get Tease.com instead

    Executives at Excite and Netscape are getting a little hot under the collar after they received a writ from Playboy Enterprises alleging they have infringed the smut service's trademarks. The adult entertainment company alleges that when Net users type the words 'Playboy' or 'Playmate' into Excite's search engine, the same …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 16:52

  • Memsolve calls in receiver

    Creditors fail to come up with rescue package

    Memsolve today resigned itself to the official appointment of administrative receivers from BDO Stoy Hayward. Dermot Power and Charles Macmillan went into the Widnes, Lancashire-based components distributor after the company admitted it owed around £4 million earlier this week (see earlier story). Power, a BDO Stoy Hayward …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 17:00

  • Banks could face run on Y2K money

    Nat West admits it's only 98 per cent compliant

    Worries were surfacing today that banks will not have enough money if people start panicking about the Year 2000 problem. There are also concerns about whether large banks will have their Y2K plans in place by the 31st of December next. Banks, typically, have most of their funds tied up in other investments and at any one time …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 17:04

  • No Iridium phones shipped in UK yet

    And when will they start?

    An Iridium representative in the UK confirmed today that no single satellite phone has yet shipped in the United Kingdom. We don't know how many have been sold in greater Europe also. And it could be quite a while before the sales ramp up from zero to one. The representative said Iridium hoped to make an announcement next week. …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 17:34

  • Cyrix enlists for Rambus

    Where Intel leads, so shall ye follow

    Cyrix is has signed up for Rambus, joining AMD on the Intel-led memory bandwagon. The NatSemi sub is licensing the Rambus interface for use in future versions of its integrated processor. It will be interesting to see how this squares up with Cyrix’s low pricing model. Is it planning a server on a chip, or what? The company says …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 17:47

  • MS exec denies knowledge, MS press release defies gravity

    As a bit of light relief, we thought we'd analyse Redmond's latest bulletin

    According to a Microsoft press release of today, Microsoft VP Cameron Myhrvold yesterday explained "the value of ISP contracts." A particular problem for Microsoft on this front is explaining the contracts that required that 85 per cent of the browsers distributed by participating ISPs should be Internet Explorer. In the press …

    Business 11 Feb 1999, 19:48