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25th May 1999 Archive

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  • Cat out of K7 bag..

    As Persian president Katmai praises Clinton…

    Our good friends on the hardware and gaming sites have, yet again, alerted us to certain facts we should know. And, at the same time, AMD was responding to pix of the K7 cartridge with a definite "no-comment". Meanwhile, Iranian president Katmai was welcoming US president Clinton as a friend of the federation of American states …

    Business 25 May 1999, 00:28

  • Win VIP tickets to Networks Telecom

    Updated We've got two to give away, worth £1,200 each!

    If you're a UK reader of the The Register and you're likely to be going to this year's Networks Telecom show, we're pleased, in conjunction with the organisers, to offer two VIP packages for the event. All you need to do to enter is to send the answer to the following question here, putting Competition as the subject line. Here' …

    Business 25 May 1999, 04:02

  • It's a person – Gates 3.0 ships

    Disappointingly though, the name isn't Damian...

    It's a son for Melinda and Bill Gates. Rory John Gates (anag: short Jane orgy, shag Jerry onto) arrived at 2:40pm Pacific time on 23 May, and weighed in at eight pounds 12 ounces. Bill, 43, was present at the birth, and was subsequently seen on the Microsoft campus wearing a hospital bracelet. We are told that the couple are " …

    Business 25 May 1999, 07:48

  • Broadband wireless goes live in Europe

    US outfit WinStar opens for business in Amsterdam

    US broadband wireless specialist WinStar Communications has rolled out its first European service in Amsterdam. The company, which offers business fixed wireless provision of frame relay, ATM, high speed Internet and private line, says it will establish a presence in other European markets before the end of the year. WinStar's …

    Business 25 May 1999, 08:19

  • Matsushita to invest in Symbian phone alliance

    Another biggie joins the ranks, and NTT's interested too

    The Symbian alliance is poised to crack the key Japanese market, according to reports in Tokyo. Yesterday's Nihon Keizai Shimbun said that Matsushita's will invest in Symbian, while NTT Mobile Communications is considering Symbian's EPOC as the OS for a cellular device to be released in 2001. Symbian is a joint venture company …

    Business 25 May 1999, 08:20

  • IBM certifies four Linux versions for servers

    And seems to be exhibiting a general increase in level of commitment

    IBM is increasing its commitment to Linux with a series of announcements, including the certification of four major Linux versions, Caldera, SuSE, Pacific HiTech, and Red Hat as 'ready to run' on IBM Netfinity 3000 and 5000 servers. In addition, the company is extending its ServerProven Solutions programme, which tests software …

    Business 25 May 1999, 09:11

  • MS plans stakes in ten key Euro companies

    And is lobbying to get DSL implemented faster. Sometimes you find yourself applauding Microsoft...

    Microsoft has a target list of ten European communications companies it wants to put money into, according to company European Internet director Georges Nahon. The list's existence, together with some clues about who the companies might be, was revealed in an interview published yesterday by Dow Jones Newswires. Market size, …

    Business 25 May 1999, 09:12

  • IBM Euro channel gets e-wasted

    Slims to 60 people in UK by July

    The Euro arm of Big Blue rolled out its PartnerWorld initiative but the scheme means a vast shake up in the channel. According to Kevin Bishop, IBM's director of business partners for Europe, its PartnerWorld scheme "is a unified solution across all of our brands". That means, he said, that IBM channel partners will be able to …

    Business 25 May 1999, 09:30

  • Snes9x.com host explains actions

    Nintendo vs emulation not our fight, says ISP boss

    The ISP at the heart of Nintendo's latest anti-emulator actions, HalfPrice Hosting, a division of Express Technologies, has spoken out about its decision to nuke the www.snes9x.com Web site. The site, maintained by Dutch emulator developer Jerremy Koot, was removed at the console company's behest last week (see Nintendo pursues …

    Business 25 May 1999, 10:27

  • SiS goes live on 630

    North and super south bridges et al

    Taiwanese chipset manufacturer SiS has now gone live on its 630 technology. According to the company, the SiS 630 is PC99 and PCI 2.2 compliant, supports Pentium II/IIIs, Celerons, PC-133 VCRAM/SDRAM, three dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) and up to 1.5Gb main memory. It also supports Ultra ATA 66 IDE, five OpenHCI USB ports, …

    Business 25 May 1999, 10:36

  • Hackers to wage war on Serbs

    Milosevic bank accounts are the target of cyber strikeforce

    The CIA will wage a cyberwar on Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic, using hackers for a sabotage campaign. US president Bill Clinton has ordered the clandestine plan, which includes hacking into Milosevic's foreign bank accounts. It is understood that the US will also try to grind down his public support this way. Clinton issued …

    Business 25 May 1999, 10:45

  • Intel registers loop to prevent people going inside

    Has Chipzilla gone stark staring bonkers?

    Good old Intel is up to its old weaselly tricks again and is attempting to register the loop that encloses its Intel Inside legend. Our take on this is that it must be attempting to prevent people from sticking stuff inside the loop such as Intel Outside, Ugeek Inside, Chipzilla Inside or whatever. This is an interesting …

    Business 25 May 1999, 11:19

  • DRAM famine due next year

    Survey Demand for memory to boost semiconductor revenues, limit supply

    Expect DRAM to be in short supply in 18 months' time -- that's the warning market researcher Dataquest sounded yesterday. It's an interesting conclusion, not least because of the semiconductor industry is currently experiencing a DRAM surplus and prices are falling. Dataquest believes that increased demand for PCs, consumer …

    Business 25 May 1999, 11:24

  • Azlan bounces back into the black

    Starting to draw a line under the problems of the past

    Troubled networking distributor Azlan has clawed its way back from the brink, posting a pre-tax profit of £5.5 million for the year ended 31 March 1999. This compared to the company's loss of £6.8 million for the same period last year. The 1999 figures were before exceptional costs of £1.6 million. Sales were up 17 per cent to £ …

    Business 25 May 1999, 11:33

  • Samsung wins huge Amstrad BskyB deal

    Worth 170 million satellite receivers

    Amstrad is to buy $170 million worth of digital satellite receivers from Samsung Electromechanics. The receivers, which will be shipped to Amstrad by June next year, will receive BSkyB broadcasts. According to reports, the latest deal is a follow-up to an earlier $43 million deal. ®

    Business 25 May 1999, 11:41

  • Microsoft UK boss bashes wired Britain

    We are destined to become an also-ran of the digital world Svendsen tells conference

    The boss of Microsoft UK has delivered a scathing attack on the UK's attitude toward the Internet and ecommerce. In a keynote speech delivered on the opening day of Internet World 99 in London, David Svendsen pounded the government's record on its wired policies and thumped UK business for being complacent and unambitious. In a …

    Business 25 May 1999, 11:45

  • UK government threatens own Y2K push

    Exclusive Chancellor's changes mean contractors might pack bags

    Computer contractors in the UK are up in arms following changes UK chancellor Gordon Brown made to counter tax avoidance in the spring budget. According to one contractor who consulted his accountant about the changes: "This is going to decimate the UK IT industry." He said: "Myself and 32 per cent of contractors surveyed would …

    Business 25 May 1999, 11:52

  • From window locks to Net music star

    Reversal of fortune

    A down at heel maker of window locks has become an Internet star performer overnight. Yesterday, shares in Midlands-based Arthur Shaw jumped 113 per cent, when it was revealed that music publishing magnate Bryan Morrison was to reverse a new Internet business into the company. But before you get too excited, Arthur Shaw shares …

    Business 25 May 1999, 12:00

  • Oxymoron of the week: The Prison Portal

    Within these walls...

    The Prison Service has set up a Web site, which goes by the incredibly dull name hmprisonservice.gov.uk. What a missed opportunity for the UK's first Prison Portal. Think of what it could have been called -– inclink.com; doingtime.com; porridge.co.uk; goingnowhere.com; The site is really rather good, with a bias towards caring …

    Business 25 May 1999, 12:36

  • HP and Intel join hands

    And speak about the architecture that is yet to be

    Intel and HP will reveal details of the IA64 instruction set tomorrow morning US time. Already accidentally(?) leaked briefly on the Web yesterday, the instruction set will run first on the Merced processor which is due for tape out this week for sampling later in the year. First shipments are due in mid 2000. Watch this space …

    Business 25 May 1999, 12:45

  • UK Web population dominated by the middle classes

    Plethora of freebie services have failed to bring democracy to the Net

    Rich people still dominate Net usage in the UK, prompting fears that the divide between the Internet haves and have-nots is widening. That's just one of the conclusions from a new batch of research due to be published tomorrow at Internet World 99 in London. According to Fletcher Research, the latest recruits to the Net are …

    Business 25 May 1999, 12:46

  • Blacksmith's daughter forges Register expenses

    Caught napping...

    Channel reporter Linda Harrison is the daughter of a blacksmith. Here she is caught forging links with new and unnamed friends in Slough when she should be writing one of her snappy little stories... ®

    Business 25 May 1999, 12:54

  • Stars Wars comes to Internet World

    The Dark Side is coming to get you -- and for once we're not talking about AMD

    Ciscom Ltd is in deep doo-doo after its marketing stunt to lure Netties onto its stand backfired today at Internet World 99. Instead of making people curious to visit the stand, the sight of Darth Vader and his two intergalactic storm troopers armed to the teeth only served to terrify people witless. Visitors could have been …

    Business 25 May 1999, 14:08

  • Macromedia to free Flash

    Web graphics technology to go open source (ish)

    Web graphics specialist Macromedia is to freely licence its Flash Player's source code, but it's not yet clear whether the move will embrace the open sourcer movement. Macromedia bought Flash technology a few years ago and has been promoting it as a de facto standard for animated vector graphics on the Web ever since, with some …

    Business 25 May 1999, 14:43

  • Intel's NewsPad from Acorn… the saga continues…

    Didn't Acorn have a similar design?

    The plot is thickening nicely on Intel's so-called non-product the WebPad. Apart from the fact that bitter rival Cyrix-NatSemi already has a reference design for something called the WebPad, it could be that Intel Architecture Labs is even less innovative than we thought. According to several emails received by The Register …

    Business 25 May 1999, 14:53

  • It's time to get on down and dig the groovy Internet, hep cats

    Our man at Internet World '99 thinks too many old geezers think the Web will help them look cool

    Internet World '99 is awash with corporate suits who believe if you say "Net" and "ecommerce" a lot then you're one of the wired elite. For many of the grey-haired middle-aged men here today, having anything to do with the Net industry is like drinking from the fountain of eternal youth. Just by being here they're hoping that …

    Business 25 May 1999, 14:57

  • PIII is a Ferrari, says Intel

    If only the Web deserved such 'highly tuned' hardware...

    Using a PC torqued up with a Pentium III chip to access the Internet is like driving a Ferrari down a dirt track, according to Intel bigwig Dave Hazel. If only network companies could turn their dirt tracks into super fast freeways then the Intel Ferrari would really be able to open up and turn a few heads. Hazell was commenting …

    Business 25 May 1999, 15:40

  • Seattle II mobo up for grabs Do proxy servers disguise huge amounts of users?

    We will give a prize of a brand new Intel Seattle II motherboard to the best answer of the following question: Do proxy servers disguise users hiding behind them? As runner-up prizes, we will give 25 Register badges -- prized items for the cognoscenti -- to the best runners-up. Here are the groundrules. We know exactly which IP …

    Business 25 May 1999, 15:51

  • Ballmer says Win2K will be later

    Will the share price collapse before everybody realises he didn't mean later than ever?

    Wrapping up a Q&A session with journalists in London earlier today Microsoft president Steve Ballmer happily announced that Windows 2000 would be available later. Later than what? Later than expected? Later than before? Later than Christmas? You decide. His precise words were: "... and Windows 2000 will be available [long pause …

    Business 25 May 1999, 16:01

  • Huge tariffs levied on Taiwanese DRAM firms

    Facts and figures follow...

    As revealed here yesterday, the US Commerce Department ruling found dumping margins from 4.9 per cent to 30.89 per cent on DRAM chips. Mosel-Vitelic was initially assigned the highest margin at 30.89 per cent. Those assigned on Vanguard International Semiconductor and Nanya Technology were lower than what Micron alleged at 10.36 …

    Business 25 May 1999, 16:16

  • Barnesandnoble.com IPO to raise $422m

    Biggest e-commerce IPO ever so yah boo sucks to you, Amazon

    US bookstore chain Barnes & Noble's online offshoot, Barnesandnoble.com, has finally made its official IPO announcement. The company, a joint venture between B&N and Germany's Bertelsmann, was always intended to go public at some stage, but today it revealed details of its Securities and Exchange Commission filing. The offer of …

    Business 25 May 1999, 16:21

  • The Pentium III 550MHz is an emergency

    Follow that ambulance marchitecture

    The 550MHz PIII is a stopgap processor which only exists because Rambus has yet to deliver. Intel's Plan A was for a 533MHz part using the i820 Camino chipset at 133MHz FSB, but that ain't happening as planned, hence the hot (literally) 550MHz/100MHz FSB part hurridly rushed to market to maintain the speed bump lead over AMD. As …

    Business 25 May 1999, 16:24

  • Marchitecture(n)

    The Oxford English Regictionary, part 550

    Marchitecture(n). The use of marketing hype to position a stopgap product as a cure for cancer, the answer to life, the universe and everything, or to excuse a company's inability to deliver a genuinely innovative product on time. Cf, the Pentium III 550 processor; any car built by the Rover Group; the iMac.

    Business 25 May 1999, 16:49

  • MS mounts major bid for soul of knowledge worker

    Digital dashboards are in, and Exchange is turning into something called Web Store, apparently

    Just a matter of days after Bill Gates unveiled his visions of "knowledge workers without limits" and digital dashboards, Microsoft was announcing "specific plans" for achieving them on two separate continents. And listen up, people, because these specific plans contain a deal of information as to how Microsoft plans to …

    Business 25 May 1999, 16:57