31st May 1999 Archive

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MS web screw-up posts last year's Muglia news

But don't worry, they still haven't shipped most of it yet...

Last year's speech by Bob Muglia to the TechEd conference was funnier than this year's - which may of course be why it was last year's that was posted on the Microsoft web site last week. The goof ran for several days, and wasn't corrected until the weekend (with backdating of the posting date), Of course there was no comment or …

Business 31 May 1999, 06:01
Micron to face 67 per cent Taiwan DRAM tariff

The bitten is biting, apparently...

US chip maker Micron could be hit by anti-dumping tariffs of up to 67 per cent in Taiwan, according to reports over the weekend. The Taiwanese Finance Ministry is considering the matter, and is expected to recommend punitive tariffs by August. The boot is usually on the other foot. Micron, which is about as popular as anthrax in …

Business 31 May 1999, 06:04
Office 2000 is MS top-seller before it even ships

Now, where did we hear that one before?

Microsoft's curious ability to sell huge stacks of software seems to have been tuned up a notch or two. Now it can apparently make something a best-seller and have it rated the most popular product before it even ships. With over a week to go before Office 2000's UK launch we were more than a little surprised to see the …

Business 31 May 1999, 06:10
MS urged Symantec boss to write articles defending it

MS on Trial Gordon Eubanks didn't remember, but fortunately there were emails...

Former Symantec CEO and general-purpose industry guru Gordon Eubanks was caught in the old memory fork last week when DoJ attorney David Boies 'reminded' him that he had indeed written newspaper articles defending Microsoft at Microsoft's request. Eubanks has been fairly active in dashing off pieces supporting Microsoft, but …

Business 31 May 1999, 06:16
MS dilettante research head ousted in Ballmer purge

Does this herald a clear-out of Microsoft management?

Nathan Myhrvold, Microsoft's CTO and head of Research, has been booted out of Microsoft on sabbatical, of indeterminate length, according to a report in Time magazine dated 7 June. The report says that President Steve Ballmer was behind the move, which resulted from his spending more than half his time out of the office pursuing …

Business 31 May 1999, 06:20
ViA continues PC-133 push

Intel must be snarling, backstage

Chipset manufacturer ViA will use this week's Computex trade show in Taiwan to re-inforce its support of the PC-133 memory market. At the same time, it is also set to introduce some 1394 Firewire products, according to the company. ViA and every other top tier Taiwanese manufacturer will show PC-133 solutions, the company …

Business 31 May 1999, 07:35
Taiwan losing it in monitor market

A year ago Previous milch-cow shows slackening growth

From The Register, a year ago At the opening of the Computex trade fair in Taiwan today, the major players in the IT industry said that the island had fallen behind in the market share for monitors. Chen-Pen Lin, director of the influential Market Information Centre (MIC), said monitors, which formerly led production ahead of …

Business 31 May 1999, 07:48
Intel increases StrongARM push

Hiring, not firing after firing not hiring

Chip giant Intel is looking for staff to populate its Fab-6 plant in Hudson, MA, which it acquired from DEC as part of a deal with the Federal Trade Commission. Last summer, 600 individuals lost their jobs at the plant after Intel moved to cut costs, using strong arm tactics and pink slips. The company is looking for StrongARM …

Business 31 May 1999, 08:08
IDT's Winchips not dead

Just breathing in a stentorian way

The Japanese IDT Web site is displaying details of roadmap for x.86 chips which show it extending well into the 21st century. And according to Daiki at his Japanese Web site, this means 400MHz and 450MHz parts by the end of the year. IDT has kept a low profile since rumours started flying early this month that it was getting …

Business 31 May 1999, 09:23
How Intel regards the press – Official

Here's the fully monty

A kindly reader has somehow obtained the full transcript of an internal Intel document on how to deal with the European press. We were only able to publish snatches of the document earlier this year. (See this one and this one.) The document reveals that Intel deals with different European countries very differently indeed. …

Business 31 May 1999, 09:56