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4th May 1999 Archive

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  • Intel sues Via – by mistake…

    Updated Meanwhile, Motorola-Intel settle

    Confusion now surrounds a law suit Intel took against chipset manufacturer and chief rival Via Technologies. The federal action was filed against the Taiwanese company in the US on the 28th of April last. Sean Davidson, a marketing executive from Via in Taiwan, has emailed us since we first filed the story early yesterday, to …

    Business 4 May 1999, 06:15

  • AMD fuels speculation on K7

    Refuses any comment on performance

    An article posted on The Register last weekend has highlighted the hype mill in the industry over future K7 performance. After we posted comparisons between the K7/500 and the Pentium III, allegedly from an Acer engineer, we contacted AMD for clarification on performance. Our story drew an unprecedented number of readers but …

    Business 4 May 1999, 06:39

  • Wang goes Dutch in $1.36 billion deal

    Getronics swoops to form services behemoth

    One of Dell’s key service partners, Wang, has been bought by Dutch services giant Getronics. The deal is worth around $1.36 billion, with the combined company worth an estimated $5 billion. Wang is the world’s number five IT services company and this deal saw its shares valued at more than 14 per cent more than the closing …

    Business 4 May 1999, 07:50

  • Compaq notebooks slammed by corporate users

    A year ago IBM, Dell get loyalty, give reliability

    From The Register No. 75, May 1998 A US market research organisation has slammed the quality of Compaq notebooks and claims Dell is now challenging IBM as the top mobile vendor. Technology Business Research (TBR) monitors corporate satisfaction with IT equipment and has released a quarterly report on the market. It surveyed over …

    Business 4 May 1999, 08:24

  • Will Compaq change direction on Alpha?

    New broom may sweep clean

    The departure of Eckhard Pfeiffer as CEO of Compaq two weeks ago could spell a sea change in the company's chip strategy. Pfeiffer, a long-time fan of Alpha technology, promoted the platform vigorously during his reign at Compaq. But strife between two networking divisions -- one from the old Digital guard and the other from the …

    Business 4 May 1999, 08:43

  • MS is balkanising Windows, says Be's Gassee

    MS Remedies File formats a go-go are sucking users into Redmond's clutches

    Speaking at Ralph Nader's Microsoft remedies conference, Jean Louis Gassee, CEO of Be (a developer of an alternative operating system to Windows), started by praising Microsoft for its achievements, but went on to add that "power corrupts, and monopoly power corrupts absolutely". Although Microsoft claims it wants to innovate, …

    Business 4 May 1999, 09:59

  • MS paid $50k to buy ‘Compaq of Europe’ out of DR-DOS deal

    MS Remedies Meanwhile, an MS employee likens integration to 'bubble gum and bailing wire'

    A deposition from senior Microsoft employee Phil Barrett contained the admission that the "integration" in Windows 95 could be likened to using "bubble gum and bailing wire", according to a lawyer speaking at the Nader Microsoft Remedies conference. Giving an update on progress in the Caldera case, Steve Hill of Snow, …

    Business 4 May 1999, 10:03

  • Liberate OEMs, open Windows APIs, says MS critic Reback

    MS Remedies Veteran MS antagonist has a list of remedies that look viable

    The lawyers speaking at Ralph Nader's Which Remedies? meeting had a better grasp of the situation than the economists, but those from a traditional antitrust law background did not seem to appreciate just haw obdurate a company Microsoft would be in compliance, or even if it were split. Those like Gary Reback who had crossed …

    Business 4 May 1999, 10:09

  • Consumer activist Nader lashes MS at Remedies conference

    MS Remedies Wide-range of axes heard grinding in Washington last week

    Ralph Nader, the legendary American consumer activist who came to fame in the 1960s for declaring war on General Motors and winning, has turned his attention to Microsoft's business practices. Nader's Which Remedies? meeting in Washington on Friday was the second in the Appraising Microsoft series that Nader had sponsored (the …

    Business 4 May 1999, 10:15

  • Cyberstrike man slammed for spam

    Unmetered calls action group hits out at member’s actions

    The Campaign for Unmetered Telecommunications (CUT) has condemned the actions of a rogue member who sent spam to 25,000 people yesterday. Loose cannon David Hawker sent the unsolicited email to promote a European-wide cyberstrike due to take place on June 6. In open defiance of what many people believe to be the scourge of the …

    Business 4 May 1999, 10:26

  • Iomega shuts plants, readies redundancies

    Plan to return storage company to profit continues with anticipated job cuts

    The job cuts Iomega CEO Jodie Glore predicted a couple of weeks back the company would have to make have at last taken place. Late last week the removable storage Stan announced the closure of two "magnetic technology" development factilities in California. The work carried out at the plants will be moved to Iomega's Utah HQ. It …

    Business 4 May 1999, 11:11

  • Stakes raised in MediaOne bidding war

    Great Satan of Software to set up tracking stock to strengthen hand?

    The battle for control of MedaOne shows no sign of letting up. US cable operator, Comcast, put in a bid of $47 billion to buy MediaOne but this was trumped by AT&T's bid of $56 billion. If successful, AT&T would end up owning more than 50 per cent of Telewest. MediaOne owns half of UK mobile phone minnow One-2-One, as well as a …

    Business 4 May 1999, 11:29

  • Linuxcare to move into big time

    New CEO to tackle major league competitors like IBM, HP

    Linux support specialist Linuxcare took its latest step into the wide world of professional corporate IT, with the announcement today of a new CEO and its first round of venture captial financing. Taking over from founder Arthur Tyde, Fernand Sarrat was named Linuxcare's chief executive. Tyde himself will remain at the company …

    Business 4 May 1999, 11:34

  • LineOne loses its head

    Updated: MD replaced - details sketchy

    LineOne's MD Andrew Burke has left the company -- but keep it to yourself, it's still a secret. It appears Burke has been replaced by Ajay Chowdhury and while there's no confirmation of where the new MD is from, one unconfirmed report suggested he's been bussed in from United News & Media -- one of the companies bankrolling …

    Business 4 May 1999, 11:51

  • RCA unveils Lyra MP3 player

    Portable digital music player supports MS Audio, RealAudio too

    French consumer electronics giant Thomson Multimedia's US subsidiary this week announced its first digital music player, the RCA Lyra. However, the company's support for the controversial MP3 digital audio format, signalled last week by its acquisition of a 20 per cent stake in MP3 software specialist MusicMatch, was tempered by …

    Business 4 May 1999, 12:08

  • May the fourth be with you

    Star Wars Web sales go into orbit

    As online stores began flogging Star Wars merchandise yesterday seconds after the embargo was lifted at midnight, many stores have reported a brisk trade in intergalactic toys. According to a report by the venerable CNET, the official Star Wars store -- Mos Espa Marketplace -- was overwhelmed by a "phenomenal' increase in …

    Business 4 May 1999, 12:33

  • RealNetworks launches universal digital music player

    Supports MP3, rips CDs -- you need never download another player again

    RealNetworks' launch of RealJukebox yesterday grabbed headlines more for its support for the controversial MP3 digital music format, but that's really the least of the list of points that make the offline music player software important. The release of RealJukebox sees not only Real's numerous strategies to beat back Microsoft …

    Business 4 May 1999, 12:57

  • Web porn credit card scam – biggest ever

    Man charged with $50m fraud

    A man is due to appear before a federal judge in Los Angeles today, accused of masterminding what is believed to be the biggest credit card scam in history. Kenneth Taves, 47, allegedly "earned" $49.4 million last year before concealing it in an offshore bank account in the Cayman Islands. Federal financial sleuths are still …

    Business 4 May 1999, 14:44

  • Universal signs InterTrust

    'Big five' music label's music ecommerce project to take on IBM, Microsoft

    One of the world's 'big five' recording companies, Universal Music Group, has signed InterTrust to supply the rights management software that will form the basis of its online music sales activities. The deal comes just weeks after Diamond Multimedia licensed InterTrust technology to ensure future versions of its Rio digital …

    Business 4 May 1999, 15:01

  • Fears grow over Web perverting kids

    Filtering software selling like hot tomalleys as parents bid to protect kids from cyber filth

    Parents are becoming increasingly worried about what their children may stumble across on the Internet, according to the company that produces the Internet filtering software CyberPatrol. It reported that sales of CyberPatrol have shot through the roof as worried parents have tried to protect their children from the Net's darker …

    Business 4 May 1999, 15:33

  • Freebie users pump up Virgin’s bottom line

    New customers bolster figures in wake of ‘no-charge’ announcement

    Online Service Provider (OSP), Virgin Net, has attracted more than 50,000 new customers to its service in the last 10 weeks despite the fact that it only became subscription-free at the weekend. Although Virgin Net has been holding back until now to begin marketing the service it hasn't been able to stop the steady increase in …

    Business 4 May 1999, 16:16

  • Australian watchdog sets up its own Web scam

    Cons millions of dollars out of people -– let that be a lesson to you

    If you ever doubted that there's one born every minute, this could be the proof you’re looking for. The Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) has owned up to running its own Web investments scam. To coincide with April Fool's Day, the Commission ran a series of ads pretending to be a start-up company in need of …

    Business 4 May 1999, 16:34

  • Sinclair plans Linux(?) organiser/appliance

    Sir Clive is wavering over Linux - but he hates the PC standard

    Much of UK computer guru Sir Clive Sinclair's motivation for designing a new - possibly Linux-based - class of computer stems from disgust at current PC standard. He describes PC design as clunky, prone to repeated system errors and difficult to use. "The whole things a complete mess," he says. "I'm very tempted to design a …

    Business 4 May 1999, 17:17