26th March 1999 Archive
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How to crash Bill's parties
The Register's tech support team offers tips for illiterary types seeking signed Gates books
No invite for today's exclusive book-signing by His Billness? (See Gates exclusive signing ceremony.) Well, don't despair, you can quite possibly just walk in. We did a bit of contract work for MS a few years back, and this involved listening to a Bill Gates speech (it was highly-paid contract work, obviously). The great man …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 07:36
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Obituary: Pentium MMX nearly dead. Celeron barely alive
A year ago Market reacts to cut-down processor with obloquy
Posted 30 March 1998 The same sources that report that we will all stand at the graveside of the last Pentium MMX this August also expect we will cheer the arrival of the Celeron. This, of course, in a similar way to the refrain: "The king is dead, long live the king." But evidence is mounting that Intel will find it hard to …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 08:31
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WinChip2 300 pix make it to WWW
More chip hardcore looms on site
Jonathan Hou, over at Fullon3D, has kindly sent us some pictures of the IDT/Centaur WinChip2/300. He says he has some samples and will shortly post a review and some benchmarks, so check his site out. In the meantime, here's a pic of the package. ®
Business 26 Mar 1999, 08:40
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JC analyses K7 in depth
Them pins, them pins, them gold pins
Over at JC's hardware pages there's a heap of speculation about how the MD K7 will work. That follows pictures of the K7 posted on a Japanese site yesterday (see AMD K7 ripped asunder on Japanese site). There's enough information to conclude that the processor is designed in such a way that two CPUs can easily be connected …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 08:57
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MS-DoJ deal talks scheduled for Tuesday
MS on Trial But from what we hear of Microsoft's 'offer,' it doesn't look good
Only one attorney general broke ranks yesterday after the meeting to discuss a possible out of court settlement with Microsoft. Patricia Madrid of New Mexico said: "We'll have talks on Tuesday," and that they would include all parties (ie. the states as well as the DoJ). She also noted that Microsoft gave $2500 to her opponent …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 09:58
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Intel goes hell for leather to hire Merced staff
What's the latest Merced, and what's the earlier one?
A Register reader who calls himself the Sixth Vulture has painstakingly compiled job adverts Intel has placed since the beginning of the month. And the list is long, suggesting either Intel is short of staff or is ramping up its Merced project. On 1 March, Intel advertised a total of 20 Merced vacancies, including jobs for …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 11:22
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UMC to build 12-inch wafer fab
Orders up, company says
A report in Taiwanese newspaper the Commercial Times said that United Microelectronics Corp (UMC) will build a 12-inch fab in the Tainan science park. UMC had originally intended to build an eight-inch wafer fab but increased demand has caused it to bring forward its plans. The company now has five fabs and last year bought …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 11:34
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MS planning shedloads of Windows NT variants
Cunning marketing plan to convince you it's not one size fits all really
Weird noises from this week's Gartner Symposium in San Diego say Microsoft, despite apparently postponing development of one version of NT, is planning something in excess of ten different new versions. But from the reports it seems clear that the scheme is going to fall awkwardly between the techie plan, which is converging on …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 11:41
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London is the capital of digital Europe – official
Nice to know we’re among friends
It's official. London is the wired capital of Europe. More than a quarter of the 250 international companies that have invested in London are in the hi-tech industry, creating 15,000 in the capital, according to the inward investment agency London First Centre. "London offers one of the most technologically-advanced …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 11:49
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UK consortium plunges $7 million into Korean anti-Microsoft firm
Bids to enter Internet market
English-language newspaper the Korea Herald said today that a consortium of five unnamed UK institutional investors have put $7 million into Hangul and Computer. Last year, Hangul, which turns over nearly 30 billion won, became an overnight celebrity after it was persuaded to carry on developing its own, rather than Microsoft …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 11:49
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Class action blizzard snows AMD
More cases precipitate
Last week we saw several class action cases placed against AMD and its CEO Jerry Sanders III. And this week, the blizzard is continuing. The latest actions have been placed by lawyers Marc S Henzel, John Thompson (on behalf of herself?) and another plaintiff called Schwarz. The actions centre around AMD allegedly not disclosing …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 11:53
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Sony, EMI team up on Net music development
Major labels backing for Sony's MagicGate technology?
Two of the world's 'big five' music labels, Japan's Sony Music Entertainment and Britain's EMI, have agreed to co-operate on the development of their respective Internet sites. According to a report in today's Financial Times, the two companies are exploring ways of bringing technologies and systems both have in development to …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 12:03
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Mystery litigation hits IBM, Apple
What can be going on?
The Hashimoto Corporation and Phonetel Communications is suing IBM, Apple and a string of other companies for alleged patent infringement. The action was filed on 18 March but details remain sketchy about the patents allegedly infringed. The plaintiffs are suing Apple, Bellsouth Products, IBM, Naft Inc, STL Electronics and US …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 12:26
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NatSemi to integrate LCDs, solar panels
Interesting patents That's a bright idea
National Semiconductor has registered a patent which will allow LCDs on notebooks and PDAs to be integrated with a solar panel. The patent, No. 5886688, says: "The present apparatus is for use in for example, a personal digital assistant (PDA) laptop computer, person computer, watch or the like, and in one embodiment includes a …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 12:43
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Memory Corp buys out Datrontech memory business
Claws some money back with Direct Rambus licence
Memory Corp has mopped up Datrontech’s minority stake in their joint venture company DTEC Memory Corp. The Scottish memory designer is paying £1.75 million in cash for Datrontech’s 49 per cent stake in the DRAM distributor. It will also repay loans made by Datrontech to DTEC amounting to £0.72 million, on December 31, 2001. The …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 12:53
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Online auctioneer plans $1 billion IPO
eBay gum, that’s a lot of cash
Online auction house eBay wants to raise $1 billion from a new share issue, although exactly what the company plans to do with the cash is still sketchy. All the company was prepared to say was that it would use the proceeds from the sale for "general corporate purposes." A total of 6,500,000 shares will be made available as …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 13:05
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IE download numbers scam – how it worked
And how MS spinmeisters plagiarised the fatal press release without noticing the discrepancy
Microsoft's admission that it told huge fibs about the number of copies of Internet Explorer four users downloaded in 1997 should have been a lot more embarrassing - because actually the two releases covering downloads of 4 and 5, one from 3 October 97 and one from 24 March 1999, seem to have come from the same boilerplate. This …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 13:29
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Intel licks stamps.com with money
More investment dosh for Broadlogic too...
Intel has put an undisclosed amount of money into US service STAMPS.COM and has also taken a share in Broadlogic. Over the last two years, Intel has invested in hundreds of technology companies. The aim, of course, is to sell more microprocessors. Broadlogic makes adaptors and software for broadband applications including cable …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 13:37
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Lotus Notes/Domino R5 to ship at last
More than a year late, but at least by now it should be free of bugs
After more than a year of delays and setbacks, Lotus has said it will have Notes/Domino 5 ready to roll next week. The most recent in the long line of delays took place in January at Lotusphere ’99. The much-awaited release (R5) had been expected to take place at the gathering of the great and the good of the Lotus world, but it …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 14:45
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FreeServe passes confidential customer info to PC World
ISP helps sister company peddle hardware to its subscribers
Staff working on the Dixons FreeServe technical support line have been passing on confidential customer information to their associate company PC World, in breach of the ISP's own strict policy on data protection. Customers of the UK's most popular ISP, who have been advised that they have hardware problems after phoning …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 15:05
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Demon libel loss could cripple Internet free speech
ISP will appeal High Court ruling
Demon Internet has lost the latest round in its court case against libelled scientist Laurence Godfrey. But it says it will appeal against the decision, which confirms that an ISP can be held liable for any content posted on the Internet. The ruling could cripple "freedom of expression and electronic trading", Demon says. In …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 16:04
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Troubled ilion sees last year’s profit turn into losses
Many excuses given but no real light at the end of the tunnel yet
ilion today turned in dismal pre-tax losses of over £3 million for 1998, blaming redundancy, management changes, and reorganisation costs. Last year, the troubled networking distributor posted a £6.1 million pre-tax profit but despite an increase in turnover for the year ending 31 December 1998, ilion saw this turn into a loss …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 16:39
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IBM chooses Manchester United as reference site
Do they realise what they're doing?
Forty eight hours after Loot Gerstner, the executive chairman of IBM worldwide revealed the extent of its PC losses, Big Blue has struck again. According to a release this morning, Manchester United, a football team from somewhere in England, is using Netfinity servers to brand its merchandise. There are some problems with this …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 16:52
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Merced project in utter disarray
Architect spills IA-64 beans. The thing isn't taped out yet. That's the reason for "babes in the wood"
In some ways we're glad we wrote our words earlier on today showing the number of jobs available to outsiders. And in some ways we are not happy. Now a senior Intel Merced engineer, who refuses to be named under any circumstances, but who is thoroughly reliable, has given us the inside track on what's happening in the …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 17:21
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Web site fails to pull channel business online
Weak reception for zygonet.com
zygonet.com, the on-line market for PC equipment, has received a lukewarm response from the channel despite claims that huge numbers of dealers and distributors are using the service. The company claims that over half of the UK’s distributors have joined the free Web site since its January launch, with dealers placing potential …
Business 26 Mar 1999, 17:22
