13th April 1999 Archive

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Palm to hit 60 per cent share by 2003 – report

But the research may be blindsided by new entrants...

3Com Palm Systems will increase its market share and continue to dominate the handheld market, according to a new market study from Computer Economics of Carlsbad, California. Palm is forecast to go from the present 54 per cent market share to 60 percent in 2003, while Windows CE devices will increase from 8 per cent to 18 per …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 08:42
IBM rolls out fastest JVM, plans Linux version

Big Blue aims at MS with compliance and speed

IBM claims that its new JVM for Windows is an average of 30 per cent faster than any other JVM, from tests with the SPECjvm98 and VolanoMark benchmarks. In some cases, IBM's JVM (which is based on Java 1.1.7B, although a Java 2 version will be available later in the year) is 52 per cent faster than other Windows versions, IBM …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 08:44
Games vendors to ‘blame’ for murdered students

Sony, Nintendo and Sega in the dock

In December, 1997 three Kentucky students were shot dead by a fellow pupil at their high school. The parents of the murdered children blame media violence for warping the mind of 14 year-old killer Michael Carneal. They say they will slap a $130 million law suit on a clutch of video games companies and Internet porn sites which …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 08:46
Taiwanese sue Micron – for dumping!

Micron DRAM 'cheaper' in Taiwan than in US

Well this is a turn-up for the books. The Taiwanese Semiconductor Association (TSIA) has taken up cudgels against Micron, accusing the belligerent US DRAM maker of dumping DRAM chips in Taiwan. Micron is selling DRAM modules cheaper in Taiwan than in the US, according to the TSIA. This is a classic definition of dumping. Also …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 09:12
MS thin server details thin on the ground

But our Graham has a few ideas...

Details of the thin server that Microsoft president Steve Ballmer announced last week at the WinHEC are, well, thin. It is clearly a genuflexion to Linux servers, and does not even seem to have reached the Slideware phase yet: it's just NameWare so far, to wit EasyPC. Nevertheless, Ballmer was confident it would be delivered in …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 09:58
Gates interview undermines MS witness testimony

Now Schmalensee's 'bits of paper' claims look even less plausible...

We have found a serious conflict between what Gates said in a soft interview for a controlled circulation magazine produced by a Chicago-based management consultancy, and the evidence of Professor Richard Schmalensee, Microsoft's expert economist witness during the Microsoft trial. The evidence about Microsoft's sales records …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 10:57
Mobile computing market to double in Europe by 2005

Survey finds high demand for cheap, robust portables leading the way

The mobile PC market in Europe will be worth over $12 billion by 2005, according to a survey by Frost & Sullivan. With sales almost doubling to $12.53 billion over the next six years, compared to $6.98 billion in 1998, the future is certainly looking bright for portables. More portable, cheaper, higher performance notebooks are …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 11:12
eBay fixes price of shares

IPO to raise over $1 billion

On-line auction house, eBay, wants investors to fork out $170.00 per share to help it raise more than $1 billion. The company first announced its intention to offer 6,500,000 shares of common stock last month although what it plans to do with the cash is still a bit of a mystery. Of the 6,500,000 million shares available, 4,250, …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 11:13
Who do you want to sue today? KDE?

That pesky satirical slogan just keeps popping up...

Register readers Doug and Anna Weathers have drawn our attention to a potentially larger target for Microsoft's "Where do you want to go today?" legal eagles. Fire up Linux with the KDE shell, move the pointer over the K icon in the lower left hand corner, and the message "Where do you want to go tomorrow?" pops up. As KDE is …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 11:26
Lovelorn computer users miss out on romance

Oh, that I were a glove upon that hand that I might kiss that Geek

The Millennium bug is playing havoc with the love lives of the UK’s eligible young bachelors and bachelorettes. IT professionals are struggling to find passion among the processors, due to the long hours spent fiddling with the knobs on their beloved PCs, according to a survey by the Club Sirius dating agency. And for those who …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 11:32
CBS sets sights on Internet

New media means new markets, says US giant

US film to music giant, CBS took another step toward becoming a major player in online media yesterday after it announced it was buying a stake in two established Net companies. The giant media company signed letters of intent with Storerunner -- an online shopping mall -- and the top movie site Hollywood.com as part of a $200 …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 11:43
Welsh speakers blast BT’s language policy

It’s good to talk - but only in English

BT has come under fire from the Welsh speaking community who are accusing the telecomms giant of anti-Welsh behaviour. The problem stems from pagers. Welsh speakers who want to send messages to each other, in Welsh, using their pagers are being told by BT that they cannot. Speaking on BBC Radio 4 this afternoon, representatives …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 12:12
Tesco will not spin-off its ISP

Will use it to keep people shopping - every little helps

Giant grocer Tesco has no plans to spin-off its Internet business -- well, not yet anyway -- despite yesterday's announcement that Dixons was planning to sell-off Freeserve. It also made it clear that the subscription-free TescoNet ISP service launched at the end of January will be an integral part of the supermarket's future …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 12:33
Direct path will solve Compaq woes

Thin end of Dell-shaped wedge, Simon Meredith reckons

Compaq’s announcement that its Q1 earnings would fall short of expectations due to a slowdown in demand for business PCs should not come as a surprise. This merely confirms we have known for months -- that PC sales will increasingly go direct and that companies with the lowest cost model will do best. Right now that means Dell …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 12:57
Wintel Easy PC – the substance-free initiative?

Analysis Microsoft seems to have hijacked Intel's cunning plan -- is it clever, or just desperate?

Here's a puzzle. Microsoft didn't exactly announce much of significance or show much that was convincing at last week's WinHEC, but if you try to look for further information on what was potentially one of the biggies, Easy PC, you'll come up strangely empty. Now, why could this be? Microsoft itself doesn't go much beyond the …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 14:15
And Silicon Graphics is now… SGI

Its called brand flexibility

Was that the best it could do? Silicon Graphics International has changed its name to -- SGI. And we thought the company was going to rebrand itself: "Smaller than Sun". Poor Silicon Graphics is big in servers and supercomputers -- or so it insists, with these product lines accounting for half of company turnover. Only, no one …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 14:36
Mishaps mar Microsoft Office 2000 meet

What went right? we wonder

A catalogue of mini disasters haunted Microsoft's Office 2000 Deployment conference in Nice this week with missed flights, lost luggage, crashing demos and alcohol bans. UK journalists gathering to fly to Nice on Sunday were sent to the wrong Heathrow terminal eventually causing two journalists to miss the flight. Air France …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 14:55
Apple to move on Merced

Analysis Shift away from PowerPC just Intel spin, but Merced support is something else...

Claims that Apple is to make, or at the very least is considering, a strategic shift away from the PowerPC platform and over to Intel would be easy to dismiss if they had appeared on a Usenet newsgroup. But when they come from a senior figure within Intel's Architecture Group, the team that guides the evolution of the company's …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 14:58
Apple to move on Merced

intro

Click here for the previous page IBM, meanwhile, continues to see the chip in multi-processor servers, the role that its Power chip-set, which formed the basis for the PowerPC, was developed for. That's why it wasn't too keen on AltiVec, a technology far less relevant to the kind of systems IBM is interested in. IBM reckoned the …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:01
Apple to move on Merced

intro

Click here for the previous page And, just to really make things difficult for Microsoft, here comes Intel with a completely new high-end 64-bit CPU, Merced. Microsoft has committed itself to a Merced version of Windows 2000, but it's being cautious about its release. Even Intel is concerned, and has been off funding Linux …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:03
Cisco shells out $2bn for CTI house

Spreads telecom wings

Cisco is dishing out $2 billion of its highly rated stock for a small CTI software developer. Takeover target GEOTel has at least some real revenues to report. For 1998, the Massachussets company produced sales of $44.9 million in 1998 (1997: $18.6 million) and net income of $9 million, 45 per cent up on 1997. Interest income …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:18
Chipzilla wants to entice you into online shopping

Will lure you with Excite’s friendly front end, apparently

Chip maker Intel and portal Excite have jumped into bed together to provide Net users with an altogether more satisfying online shopping experience. The multi-level agreement to develop a new ecommerce service, designed to simplify buying and selling on the Internet, will combine Intel's ecommerce technologies -- predominantly …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:23
New man at the top to push Freeserve IPO

Dixons’ financial whizz kid takes reins at ISP

Dixons has made John Pluthero chief executive of Freeserve less than 24 hours after announcing that the company was exploring the option of selling off its subscription-free Internet business. His appointment -- coupled with yesterday' announcement -- suggests that Dixons is serious about making the most of its Internet …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:25
Thin client resellers to get Boundless help

New gongs a-plenty from the boys from Brum

Boundless Technologies will kick off a new European reseller programme for thin client products in the UK next month. The "Variety Access" certificate targets silver and gold Citrix resellers. Boundless aims to enlist around half the UK Vars – 150 - and a third of those in Europe – 500 - by the end of 1999. The scheme will be …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:27
RealNetworks buys Xing MP3 technology

Encoding, streaming specialist snapped up for $75 million

RealNetworks has bought MP3 software developer Xing Technology for up to $75 million worth or RealNetworks stock. The deal gives Real access to Xing's MP3 AudioCatalyst encoding and decoding software and StreamWorks streaming MP3 application, all of which it will use to extend its RealPlayer application to support the MPEG-based …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 15:53
a2b unveils latest digital music player, format

Sounds better than MP3, downloads faster. Got that, SDMI?

AT&T digital audio subsidiary a2b today announced the latest version of its eponymous downloadable music format, which it claims takes 25 per cent less time to download than MP3 files and the previous release of a2b. But the real point of the system is not its technical capabilities, but its role in a2b's desire to get itself …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 16:17
BT enlists help of ugly little bald chap for TV ads

It was never like this in Bob Hoskins’ day

UK telecomms behemoth, BT, is online for a close encounter after employing a being from another planet to help market its services and products. No, we’re not talking about Chris Evans. ET -- the extra terrestrial star of the movie that shared his name -- is to feature in a £60 million ad campaign for the telecomms giant urging …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 16:20
One-stop maintenance shop from Boundless

Aims to bring down network management costs

Boundless Technologies has introduced software that provides maintenance and upgrades from one point for its Viewpoint, TC and Capio products. Its Viewpoint Administrator 2.0. management software has been expanded to manage the Boundless Viewpoint, TC and Capio product ranges of Windows-based Terminals. With a list price …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 16:25
UK mobile giant develops number that follows you around

Phone detects when you leave the house - diverts calls to you

Cellnet is working on a system where one number will automatically transfer between home and mobile phones. The company is working on technology that switches calls made to a home number over to the owner’s mobile as soon as the person exits the house. On their return, calls automatically revert back to the household phone. …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 17:41
Cisco buys GeoTel for $2 billion

Great Satan of Net on buying trail again

Networking giant Cisco is to buy GeoTel, a routing software specialist, for $2 billion in shares. GEOTel has some real revenues...unlike many of takeover targets in this sector For 1998, the Massachussets company produced sales of $44.9 million in 1998 (1997: $18.6 million) and net income of $9 million, 45 per cent up on 1997. …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 18:00
Intel preparing socket for Pentium III

Expect the designs mid-yearish

As reported here earlier this year, Intel will shift its Pentium III platform to a socketed design during the course of the summer. (Story: Intel says new socket on way iMac lookalikes) That is in line with Intel's .18 micron Coppermine plans, revealed here yesterday. Although the company is keeping tight lipped about the exact …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 18:15
Intel makes $2 billion profit in Q1

But Q2 will be flat, Barrett warns

Intel turned in $7.1 billion with profits of $2 billion for its first financial quarter. That compares with revenues in Q1 1998 of $6 billion, an 18 per cent rise. But revenues in Q1 1999 fell by seven per cent compared to the last quarter of its 1998 financial year. However, net profit of $2 billion in the quarter rose by 57 …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 20:52
British monarchy besieged by Net child porn stunt

Belgian anti-porn group wants to end Net smut

The British Royal family may be about to become the target of a sick paedophile publicity stunt aimed at raising awareness concerning child pornography on the Internet. According to a news item on the BBC's Ceefax TV information service tonight, a Belgian anti-porn pressure group -- the Morkhaven Group -- has sent disturbing …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 21:39
AMD reveals more K7 details

Updated Winhec presentation spills some multiprocessor beans

Chip company AMD has posted a presentation it made at last week's Winhec conference which shows more details of the future of the K7. The full presentation, made by Fred Weber, from AMD's computation division, is available as a Powerpoint file here. We now note that JC has posted a Microsoft Word version on his site, which …

Business 13 Apr 1999, 21:41