14th June 1999 Archive

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MS pricing for Win95: Compaq $25, IBM $46

MS on Trial Our friend from IBM reveals some interesting numbers

Microsoft tried to claim during the cross-examination of Garry Norris that IBM was "not one of the top-tier revenue producers for Microsoft", which stretched the definition of "top". Perhaps Microsoft meant that IBM paid Microsoft more than any other OEM, in view of what Microsoft was charging IBM for Windows. The first …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 08:45
IBM's audit: fear and loathing in the MS relationship

MS on Trial As the count progressed, a 'kiss and pay up' policy emerged...

One of the big surprises from the evidence of Garry Norris has concerned the issue of IBM having underpaid royalties to Microsoft. Microsoft decided to link the negotiation of a Windows 95 licence to agreement about the audit of royalties due, realising this would speed matters up, since IBM's need for the final Windows 95 code …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 08:49
MS turning to open source outfit for Java clone?

The words 'Microsoft' and 'GNU licence' seem a particularly weird combination...

Microsoft has turned to a small Java-cloning outfit, Transvirtual Technologies, to dig it out of the legal hole it's currently in, according to this morning's Wall Street Journal. If the Journal story is true it would appear that Transvirtual, which has previously espoused open source, has performed an interesting pirouette. …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 08:55
Say a little prayer for your ISP

Vatican wants Net patron saint

Net users in the Catholic Church want to canonise a dead Spanish bishop and make him the patron saint of the Internet. Born in 560AD, Isidore of Seville is regarded by many as the best choice for such a saintly position. His compilation of a 20-volume encyclopaedia -- one of the world's first databases -- makes him an ideal …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 10:44
3dfx tries to wrap up Creative's wrapper

Legal challenge claims copyright infringement, breach of contract

3dfx hit Creative Technologies with a copyright infringement and breach of contract suit on Friday, lashing out at the add-in vendor's development of a wrapper application to allow Glide-based games to run on Creative's nVidia TNT-based 3D accelerator cards. Creative issued the first beta of the wrapper, dubbed Unified, almost a …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 11:20
Chernikeeff boss lands £100 million in share sale

Bring on the tax planners

Networking company Chernikeeff has made its 62-year-old owner one of the UK's wealthiest IT magnates. Peter Harrison bought the privately owned PC network integration business for £133,000 in 1979. He has sold 49.9 per cent of Chernikeeff to quoted South African outfit Dimension Data Holdings, valuing the company at £200 million …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 11:24
Ericsson buys Telebit

Will buy three more companies this summer

Nice and slowly does it for Ericsson, the Swedish telecoms giant. It has refrained --so far -- from the urge to merge with a big datanetworking company. While Nortel, Lucent, Alcatel and GEC have stumped up billions for their US data networking businesses, Ericcson is showing far more caution. This week the company dipped into …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 11:29
Nobel Peace Prize winner sues Amazon

Trimble attacks 'horrendous allegations'

Amazon.co.uk is being sued for selling a book deemed to be libellous by a senior Northern Ireland politician and joint winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. David Trimble, Northern Ireland's First Minister, maintains that The Committee: Political Assassination in Northern Ireland by Sean McPhilemy contains "horrendous allegations" …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 11:32
LinuxPPC 5.0 ships

Adds glibc 2, kernel 2.2, Gnome, GUI installer

Mac-oriented Linux distributor LinuxPPC has begun shipping version 5.0 of its eponymous implementation of the open source OS on PowerPC. The new release brings LinuxPPC up to date with not only the latest kernel, 2.2, but the glibc 2.1 shared library. The kernel supports the iMac's USB ports, and is compatible with the new blue' …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 11:44
IBM attacked in staff Web uprising

Pension changes provoke mass spleen-venting

IBM is being cyber-Mooned after trying to switch staff pensions to a cash-related system. Big Blue workers are venting their spleens on a new Web site set up by a fellow employee, in what some would view as a career-limiting move. IBM Global Service staffer Sang J. Moon said he intended the site to be a place for employees to …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 12:38
Our favourite eBay error messages

Sorry seems to be the easiest word

There are times when saying sorry is simply not enough -—just ask the poor beleaguered customers at eBay. They know that saying sorry all the time for the same mistakes soon begins to wear thin and lose all meaning. For the online auction house bombed again last week and remained down for part of the weekend. Believed to be one …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 12:51
Iridium fires 80 staff

Has to double subscriber numbers in 15 days. Oh dear.

Iridium has laid off 15 per cent of its workforce -- around 80 people -- in the satellite mobile phone company's latest bid to stay in orbit. That said, the future for the remaining 470 staff doesn't appear to good. According to The Wall Street Journal, Iridium's subscriber base now totals 15,000. Compared to March's figure of …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 13:41
Churn baby churn: junk email inferno

Stop getting spammed: sack your ISP

Tired of getting spammed, but don't know where to turn? Easy. Sack your ISP and get another email address. Alternatively, you could refrain from signing up for Internet services, many of which sell on email addresses to junk email advertisers. So says Gartner Group, which has uncovered the startling fact that the longer you keep …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 14:55
Only 18 disk drive makers left

Any more for the cull?

Only the fittest of the fittest will survive the hard drive wars, according to DISK/Trend, the specialist market research firm. In 1999, there are only 18 active "or announced" manufacturers of rigid disk drives, compared with 20 in 1998 and 59 players at the beginning of the 90s. Companies have to adapt to an environment of " …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 15:04
Charles Schwab Europe touts free share trades

For one empowering month only

Online investors in the UK are being offered the chance to play the stock market without having to pay commission on their transactions. The promotion from Charles Schwab Europe applies to all UK quoted shares traded over the Web in July. "We see waiving the commission as a means of thanking our existing customers for their …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 15:40
GM food martyr publishes Web defence

Mashed potato

Britain’s first GM food martyr, Dr Arpad Pusztai, has gone to the Web to defend his reputation as a scientist. Pusztai was forced to resign from the Rowett Research Institute in the so-called GM Potato Scandal. He had conducted research into genetically modified potatoes which indicated that they could be toxic. But a panel of …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 16:30
Ram raids prompt Hammer move

This time it's a seven and a half ton truck

Storage company Hammer Distribution will move from its Basingstoke office following three ram-raid attempts. The distributor will relocate to larger offices, still in the Basingstoke area, this autumn. Paul Sangster, Hammer Distribution sales and marketing director, said a sense of urgency surrounded the move. "After last month’ …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 16:36
High Street giant zooms in on Web mall

Says it will succeed, where others have failed

Fashion Group, Arcadia, opened the doors to its new cyber mall this morning in a move that brings together a number of e-tailers all under one roof. There has been no shortage of hype surrounding the launch of Zoom, described in some quarters as the "largest e-commerce hub" in the UK. Stocked with Arcadia's own stores, including …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 16:44
Anti-piracy czars slammed for bully-boy tactics

Guilty of demanding replies with menaces

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) has been hauled over the coals by UK advertising regulators for intimidating companies indiscriminately. The Birmingham Chamber of Commerce and Industry objected to a mail-shot follow-up letter which warned IT professionals about the costs of software piracy. The complaint, upheld by the …

Business 14 Jun 1999, 16:47