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29th April 1999 Archive

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  • Zander dismantles Solar System

    A year ago Sun reigns-in subs and heads for consumers

    From The Register No. 74, April 1998 Sun's inherent loopiness was muted somewhat this week via restructuring. The outfit's five operating companies, sometimes apparently known as 'planets,' have been busted down to divisions, while two more key divisions, Network Storage and Consumer/Embedded Markets, have been added. The reorg …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 07:24

  • Rioworks mobo introduced

    No ISA slot -- the first of many

    Rioworks has joined the list of motherboard vendors to introduce support for Intel's 810 chipset. The company said that the BS81-M will support chips running at 300MHz-433MHz or higher. Interestingly, Rioworks said that the board is suitable for corporate IT environments, confirming the acceptance of the low priced Celeron, …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 08:29

  • Osmosis pledges to repay debts

    More than 100 staff to go as company reshapes to fend off troubles

    Software and components distributor Osmosis has confirmed it is in dire financial straits and is junking unprofitable operations back in an attempt to stop the collapse of the entire group. The company held a press conference in London yesterday and issued a press release which carried the heading Osmosis wants to honour all …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 09:39

  • Corel back on track, says CEO

    Interview CEO Michael Cowpland talks to The Register about Microsoft, Java, Linux

    Corel CEO Michael Cowpland sounded-off to The Register in Amsterdam during the Dutch InterNetworking trade show. In the league table of optimists, Corel CEO Michael Cowpland must be near the top. Corel has had a series of bad quarters until the last quarter of fiscal 1998, as it adjusted its business model. It does now look as …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 09:54

  • Corel back on track – page 2 of 3

    intro

    Previous Page Cowpland on... Java Cowpland is adamant that WordPerfect Office 2000 for Linux and Corel Draw 9 for Linux were not going to be a re-run of Corel's less than successful efforts on the Java front. "Sun over-promised and under-delivered," Cowpland claimed. "You could say that Sun conned the industry because there's …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 09:58

  • Corel back on track – page 3 of 3

    intro

    Previous Page Cowpland on... Microsoft In its competition with Microsoft, Cowpland is playing a high-volume, low-cost strategy. Corel sales went up in units in the last year in the US market, while Lotus has fallen to around two per cent of the market. Another part of the strategy is to offer in effect a light version free, and …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 10:00

  • ARM denies role in Acorn dismemberment

    When is a takeover not a takeover? When the tax planners get involved...

    Thanks to everyone who referred The Register to ARM’s press release of April 27. "The board of ARM Holdings plc has noted the announcement of the recommended offer made by MSDW Investment Holdings Limited for Acorn Group plc. The board would like to clarify that ARM Holdings plc has no involvement in the transaction." So what’s …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 10:15

  • Bleem beats back second Sony strike

    US District Court chucks out request for sales suspension

    Bleem, the company that makes the Windows-based PlayStation emulator of the same name, appears to have beaten back Sony's latest attempt to force it to stop shipping product. According to the emulator developer, Sony launched last Friday a second request for a temporary restraining order against it. The first attempt, made last …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 10:32

  • Amazon.com revenue rises 236 per cent

    But Wall Street prophets shouldn't expect profits for a long time yet

    Amazon.com's sales continue to expand, but its profits remain elusive -- and the company warned they will continue to be so for some time. The Internet bookstore yesterday posted a first quarter 1999 loss of $61.7 million on revenues of $293.6 million, and increase of 236 per cent on the same period last year. Half of Amazon's …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 11:04

  • 25 per cent of Sega staff for the chop

    Colossal loss predicted for fiscal 1998 -- and 1999 doesn't look any better

    Sega is to cut 1000 jobs -- 25 per cent of its workforce -- next year, following a poor set of results for the last 12 months. The games console maker yesterday warned it will post of loss of around Y45 billion for fiscal 1998, which ended on 31 March. Sega blamed lower-than-anticipated sales of consoles and software, and poor …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 11:34

  • Katmai was resurrected because of AMD threat

    Deschutes horses, don't they?

    Sources close to Intel's plans have told The Register that for a period of time .25 micron Katmai was cancelled. But Intel resuscitated the beast because of the ominous threat of the K6-III, the well-informed source said today. "Time to market rules at Intel, always," the source said. "Coppermine with more L2 cache is a further …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 12:06

  • Thomson Consumer Electronics backs MP3

    Consumer electronics giant buys into MP3 software specialist, plans family of MP3 players

    French state-owned consumer electronics giant Thomson Multimedia has taken a 20 per cent stake in MusicMatch, the company that develops MP3 playback, encoding and management software for Diamond Multimedia's Rio and Creative Technologies' Nomad players. The deal gives Thomson access to MusicMatch's Jukebox software, and it's …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 12:20

  • Asian memory fabs return to full production

    Semi market shows signs of revival

    Further evidence that the DRAM market is on the mend has emerged. According to the Friday edition of The Korean Herald, South Korean and Japanese fabs are practically back to full production. This time last year, the major memory manufacturers in Asia reduced production because of poor sales. There was also pressure on the …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 12:26

  • NEC claims breakthrough on quantum computer

    Will run "millions of times" faster

    Japanese company NEC, together with other researchers, claimed today they have made a breakthrough on the supercomputing front. According to NEC, the consortium has developed the fundamental building block for a future quantum computer by controlling the superposition of quantum states in a solid state electron device. The …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 12:35

  • Microsoft launches streaming media division

    Expect to see Murdoch-style tactics being used to outbid RealNetworks and Apple

    Microsoft's move to beat RealNetworks at its own game advanced a step yesterday when the Great Satan of Software announced the formation of a streaming media marketing unit. The aptly named Streaming Media Division will develop Microsoft's streaming technology, announced earlier this month and going under the Windows Media …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 12:46

  • Free phone calls for UK this summer

    Two schemes offer cost-free calling in exchange for ads

    Two schemes offering users free calls in exchange for listening to ads will start in the UK this summer. New phone company on the block, Freedom, looks set to pip BT to the post by offering the first nationwide system on 1 June. The scheme works by subjecting users to radio-like ads at the start of each call, then periodically …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 13:04

  • PCs going cheap from Egg

    But have they cracked it with ecommerce yet

    Fujitsu has come up with a different slant on that old conundrum -- which came first, the chicken or the egg? It has teamed up with Egg to offer Internauts the chance of a PIII PC with subscription-free Net access, all for less than £1,000. The offer is part of Egg's tentative move into the real world of ecommerce and although …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 13:14

  • CIH virus hits Taiwan hardest

    Pirate software to blame for unchecked spread

    The CIH virus struck hardest among countries where pirated software was most prolific, according to software company Data Fellows. The bug, which hit about 300 users – or 20 known companies - in the UK, caused most damage in Asia. Thousands of hard disks were overwritten overnight on 25 and 26 May in Taiwan alone, says the anti- …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 15:00

  • Freeserve users targeted by free call offer

    Battle for hearts and minds of Net users set to break out

    The UK could be about to become embroiled in bloody battle for ISP supremacy following the official launch today of screaming.net. The service -- a joint venture between rival electrical retailer, Tempo, and LocalTel, an independent Surrey-based service provider for BT -- is to compete directly with the phenomenally successful …

    Business 29 Apr 1999, 15:12