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13th May 1999 Archive

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  • Compaq faces storm over VMS VS10 pricing

    Corporate users will be well saddened

    Sources perilously close to Compaq’s plans said that when its VMSstation is announced in June, an entry level box will cost well over $7,000. The VS10 has been long awaited by a set of corporate users who need and use the VMS operating system, but none expected this type of price from Compaq. And users are also well up in arms …

    Business 13 May 1999, 06:17

  • IBM Micro-Cyrix agreement takes further twist

    A Year Ago IBM claims lower prices and better distribution for same parts

    From The Register May 1998 A row is set to erupt between NatSemi-Cyrix and IBM after Big Blue said it would offer the same processors to the market but at a lower price. That could precipitate the end of the agreement between both companies, as National Semiconductor prepares to fabricate all parts itself. One source said it was …

    Business 13 May 1999, 06:26

  • Web sales make big bucks for Big Blue

    E-business means easy money, Gerstner tells analysts

    IBM claims that doing business digitally has added $20 billion -- around a quarter of Big Blur's annual revenue -- to its balance sheet. In the first quarter of this year alone the company said it did $4.5 billion over the Web. Telling financial analysts the good news in New York yesterday, IBM CEO Lou Gerstner must have been …

    Business 13 May 1999, 07:52

  • Great Satan of Software moves in on SMEs

    Microsoft rolls out channel scheme to target small businesses

    Microsoft has expanded its Direct Access scheme for resellers following growing channel interest in the scheme. The software heavyweight is offering a CD with its £199 package, which offers advice and product information to those selling to the SME market. This adds to existing products and training. There are also seminars …

    Business 13 May 1999, 07:59

  • Branson bids to make round the world non-stop Webcast

    Great Satan of colourful pullovers will be taking any questions

    Virgin boss and oh-so-nearly-non-stop-round-the-world-balloonist, Richard Branson, is staring in his own Webcast next Tuesday to let ordinary people quiz him about his life, the universe and everything. Aides close to the UK entrepreneur said they want the broadcast to be "even bigger" than similar events hosted by Prince …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:02

  • Lotus boss accused of ‘intimate relationship’ with PA

    For Papows, sorrows come in battalions. But he probably thinks he made the battalions up

    Just be pleased you're not Jeff Papows today. On top of the problems about his fantasy heroism as an aviator and chucker-back of live grenades, plus our story yesterday that noted that Notes was seen by the US Army as a secure product when Exchange wasn't, the news today is that he's been caught between two women. Sharon Ricci, …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:04

  • MS ‘temps’ win court action over stock purchase plan

    In light of the new salary structures, something of a pyrrhic victory, mayhap...

    If you think Microsoft is tough with its competitors, you should try being a contract employee working for the company through an agency in the Seattle area. After a long and very bitter fight, the US Court of Appeals yesterday overturned two earlier decisions by the District Court and allowed another 5,000 or so contract …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:07

  • MS grabs medic Web site, invades Sweden

    Spend, spend, spend... But Sendit's GSM technology could come in handy

    Whatever prompted Microsoft to start spending its cash (and it could have been just a whim, since the company is not noted for having much of a business plan) it is doing it with all the enthusiasm of a pig chasing truffles. Nothing is left unsniffed, it would seem. The latest truffling ground is WebMD, a subscription-based …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:10

  • MS-backed US law could destroy consumer rights to redress

    No matter how dud the package you just bought is, the software companies will be laughing. At you.

    Microsoft is backing awesome legislation which absolves software producers from virtually all liability for their products. Even if it's shipped with a virus, doesn't match a demo, is just plain defective, or so bug-ridden it's unusable, American consumers will have no right of redress under the proposed rules. Microsoft's EULA …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:12

  • Sun unveils Solaris Linux compatibility

    Efforts with lxrun beginning to pay off

    Sun yesterday put the next stage of its plans to have Linux applications run on Solaris into place. The company has been collaborating to produce enhancements to the lxrun Linux compatibility program, and using lxrun for the Intel edition of Solaris it is now possible to run Linux applications unmodified. Sun will also be …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:56

  • Nintendo deal could mean big PowerPC presence in home

    Matsushita-Nintendo link to put consoles at centre of home networks

    IBM's PowerPC deal with Nintendo, announced yesterday, could turn out to be a lot bigger than $1 billion. A related deal also announced yesterday, between Japanese giant Matsushita and Nintendo, could give PowerPC a giant heave into the home electronics/networking arena. The two companies have agreed to "a comprehensive …

    Business 13 May 1999, 08:59

  • Nokia starts push into wireless LAN

    Products due in Q2 in US, Q3 in Europe

    Cellular phone giant Nokia is mounting a major push into the broadband wireless LAN market, with 2 megabits per second products due in Q2 in the US and Q3 in Europe. The company will be putting out IEEE 802.11 compatible PC Cards and LAN access points which use the 2.4GHz part of the radio spectrum. Nokia modestly describes the …

    Business 13 May 1999, 09:46

  • Gates in talks over $1 billion Deutsche Telekom deal

    Will DT be jealous over the bigger piles everybody else is getting? But it's got lots already...

    Today's Microsoft mega investment story is for a $1 billion stake in Deutsche Telekom or its cable TV operations. According to German newpaper Die Zeit today, His Billness has been deep in talks with DT chairman Ron Sommer, and the pair envisage a broad alliance covering Internet, online services and mobile phones. DT is a …

    Business 13 May 1999, 09:47

  • Fly Me, I'm Virgin Net

    Wannabe Portal for travel and music

    Virgin Net has decided to shift its Net strategy and reposition itself instead as a portal jammed with content rather than as a conduit for people to hook onto the Net. The decision by one of the most familiar names in the business is an indication of just how competitive the provision of Net access has become in the UK. Sources …

    Business 13 May 1999, 10:02

  • Intel's Otellini outlines chip strategy

    No intention to squash rivals

    Paul Otellini, general manager of Intel's architecture business group, paid a whistle-stop visit to London today and outlined the company's business strategy. He also mentioned a new product which comes out next week which we're not allowed to talk about. So go here to find out about the 550MHz Pentium III. Otellini said: "Two …

    Business 13 May 1999, 10:09

  • Intel back-tracks on IEEE1394 support

    Great Satan joins FireWire patent pool, as it dramatically cuts royalties

    In a major about-face, Intel has joined the IEEE1394 (aka FireWire) patent pool, the self-appointed consortium of PC and consumer electronics vendors which jointly controls FireWire intellectual property and charges royalties accordingly. At the same time, the other poolers announced their new 1394 tarriff, designed to counter …

    Business 13 May 1999, 10:12

  • We demand our D Notice from MI6

    Where is it? We're miffed

    Security agency MI6 has slapped a D Notice on the press which effectively gags newspapers from printing details of its operatives. We wrote a story about the Web site that posted information on the agents yesterday, but we're a bit disturbed we haven't yet received a D Notice in the post. In the days of the disastrous Suez …

    Business 13 May 1999, 10:48

  • Web site names UK spies

    Lives put at risk as moles’ details splashed over Net

    British spies’ lives were put in danger today after their true identities were splashed over the Web. A US-based Web site publicly identified agents working for the Secret Intelligence Service (SIS), the nation’s overseas intelligence gathering arm, formerly MI6. Government officials were swift to open an investigation, …

    Business 13 May 1999, 11:13

  • Vanguard breaks into Direct Rambus market

    Taiwanese firm says production started

    Vanguard said today that it has succeed in developing .19 micron 128Mbit and 144Mbit Direct Rambus memory chips. It will now move into mass production of the parts at its fab in the Hsinchu Science Park on the island. At the same time, Vanguard also announced it will manufacture .19 micron 128Mbit SDRAM chips. ®

    Business 13 May 1999, 11:22

  • Sony Music backs MS' digital delivery format

    Coup for the Great Satan, or sign of online music's multi-format future?

    Sony has selected Microsoft's Windows Media Technologies (WMT) to drive its first foray into digital music distribution, due to go live this summer. Sony Music Entertainment, the Japanese giant's US-based music and video subsidiary (it's dominated by Americans because it used to be CBS Records), will initially offer singles for …

    Business 13 May 1999, 11:24

  • Official secure music scheme to kill all non-compliant formats

    Even your CD collection will have to go

    The music industry has planted a timebomb in Secure Digital Music Initiative (SDMI) to nuke all non-compliant files at a time of the business' choosing, according to a source close to the SDMI. The source, cited by MP3.com (and therefore not what you'd call a friend of either the SDMI or the music majors behind it), claimed to …

    Business 13 May 1999, 11:52

  • Will the FTC re-open Intel investigation?

    As Cyrix, IDT totter, surely things must get hotter

    Just a few months after the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) effectively shut the door on an investigation into alleged anti-trust activities, it now seems perhaps that decision was a trifle premature. IDT said a few days ago that it would need outside financing to prop up its ailing x.86 project, and Cyrix said it would get …

    Business 13 May 1999, 11:58

  • ‘Show you can beat NT’ – MS declares war on Linux

    The Beast of Redmond says it will re-run a controversial shootout, and this time it's personal

    Microsoft has issued what amounts to a declaration of war on the Linux community, issuing a public challenge to a Linux versus NT shootout, to be hosted by PC Week Labs. Microsoft seems to have been seriously needled by Linux criticism of an MS-sponsored study carried out by Mindcraft (Linux camp slashes out at survey), and …

    Business 13 May 1999, 12:40

  • Spy leaker accuses Government of hype

    Names are already in the public domain, he says

    An ex-spy who published a list of secret agents on the Net, accused the British government of hype yesterday. Richard Tomlinson masterminded the US Website which named over 100 MI6 agents around the globe. Government officials have been desperately trying to shut down the site. A senior Whitehall official said the action put …

    Business 13 May 1999, 13:06

  • Register Tracks Down 007-Turncoat Web Site

    Tune in here for all our traitor spook Web stories

    The Register has seen for itself the controversial site containing a list of British secret agents and frankly, we don't know what all the fuss is about. The design is poor, uninspired, with no pictures or neat little animations. It is very text heavy and could really do with an HTML makeover just to brighten it up a bit. If the …

    Business 13 May 1999, 13:31

  • Japanese site shows Millenium benchmarks

    Just when will Babelfish translate this stuff?

    A Japanese company has screen shots showing just how fast its G400 accelerator is screaming along. Over at this place, is a screen shot showing a RAMDAC speed of 360MHz for a 16Mbits G400 board. Screamingly fast, we'd say. Why, oh why, doesn’t the famous Altavista Babelfish do translations from Japanese to English? ®

    Business 13 May 1999, 14:35

  • Intel to expand Manila fab

    Maybe

    An Intel UK public relations representative today said he was unable to confirm an Asian wire report that Chipzilla is making a further investment in the Philippines. Asia Pulse reported a Philippines government minister, Edgardo Espiritu, as saying that both Intel and Acer will expand their operations in the country. Intel has …

    Business 13 May 1999, 14:51

  • Radio chip mould broken by Cambridge firm

    It's a spin off from Cambridge Consultants

    Cambridge Silicon Radio (CSR) will use a $10 million cash injection to "break the mould" on the single-chip short-range radio market. The spin off from Cambridge Consultants plans to take on the market via the financial backing by venture capitalists 3I, Amadeus Capital partners and Gilde IT Fund. CSR will be a "fabless silicon …

    Business 13 May 1999, 14:58

  • Advertising Standards Authority desperate for online complaints…

    ...but it doesn't have email!

    The guardians of "high standards" in advertising want more people to complain about online ads. Staff are twiddling their thumbs and generally looking for odd jobs to do in the Online Ads/Scrutiny Of department at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA). "The ASA has received relatively few complaints about Internet …

    Business 13 May 1999, 15:17

  • Intel fabbing for HP

    Updated Someone wins a Register pin

    Intel has now confirmed it is acting as a foundry for its partner Hewlett Packard. Our resident cynic, Pete Sherriff, said: "It must be an Alpha". Intel's building Alpha chips for Compaq-DEC, he said. But Terry Shannon, industry analyst who runs Shannon knows DEC discounted that. Alpha chips already have an enormous amount of …

    Business 13 May 1999, 15:20

  • Compucom closes Entex buy

    It's $137 million greenbacks

    CompuCom Systems has finally clinched a deal to buy the $1.8 billion Technology Acquisition Services division (TASD) of Entex Information Services. The $137 million cash sale ended months of speculation. It will push Dallas-based network integrator CompuCom to a decent size to compete in the hardware business. Entex will …

    Business 13 May 1999, 15:29

  • Sega rallies BT, ICL for Dreamcast Net freebie

    Console hopes free Internet access will persuade buyers not to wait for PlayStation 2

    BT, ICL and Sega are joining forces to launch Europe-wide free Internet access -- snag is, you'll have to buy a Sega Dreamcast games console to use it. The console, which includes a modem and somewhere to plug your phone, is being branded more as a home entertainment centre rather just something that keeps kids occupied for …

    Business 13 May 1999, 15:38