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21st June 1999 Archive

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  • MS Death List II – enemies scheme was live

    MS on Trial And the programme was approved by Gates

    Our report of Microsoft's 'friends and enemies list' last week (See story) was uncharacteristically favourable to Microsoft, according to Bristol Software. Microsoft has shrugged-off the list, which suggests treating software companies differently depending on who's side they're on, as the work of a new staffer, and something …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 07:06

  • IE5 installation kills-off NT remote update service

    A helpful little piece of integration breaks update automation. Pending arrival of Win2k, no doubt...

    A network administrator for a major US bank has drawn our attention to a serious (for him, at least) breakage of NT caused by Internet Explorer 5.0. In summary it would appear that Microsoft integration/proprietorisation via IE 5 disables a highly useful open systems(ish) routine, the Schedule service. This ships with NT, and in …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 07:11

  • AMD K7 advertised in US Computer Shopper

    Oops-a-daisy...

    Our friends over in the US, in particularl at JC, have noticed that Sys is advertising a $4,000 K7 system running at 800MHz and apparently using some kind of cooling technique. That has led other friends, in particular Jonathan Hou at Fullon3D, to speculate about the price of the K7 by breaking down the spex of this machine. …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 07:19

  • Merced deader than MontyPythonParrot?

    It's time for Intel to come clean. Now.

    It really would be a good thing for Intel and its customers if the company would come clean ever so soon now and quash speculation on its Merced processor. Chat on message boards, including Silicon Investor is raising temperatures round the world and some Intel cooling technology could well be in, rather than out of order. …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 07:33

  • Intergraph CEO claims Intel “grossly misrepresented” facts

    A year ago Alabama judge sets date for trial in Year 2000

    Posted 22 June 1998 -- a year ago A war of words between Intergraph and Intel has escalated after the chip giant filed a counter suit in Alabama last week. Jim Meadlock, CEO of Intergraph, which is cited by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) along with Compaq and Digital in antitrust allegations against Intel, was also …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 07:52

  • Does Coppermine have a crap core?

    Willamette is Intel's pet, it can't be .18 micron

    Problems which Intel admitted with its Coppermine core last week point to the platform giving little performance boost. But sources close at Intel suggest that Willamette, as reported here earlier, is the chip giant's secret weapon. The sources told us earlier today that there cannot be a problem with the .18 micron process …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:01

  • Taiwan spans up OEM CD-ROM biz

    Japanese cede lion's share

    The local press in the shape of Computex Online is reporting that Japanese manufacturers of CD-ROM devices have transferred the bulk of that business to Taiwan. According to the report, Taiwan is likely to account for over 40 per cent of the CD-ROM business in the near future. Japanese manufacturers are, instead, concentrating …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:02

  • Web goes wibbly wobbly over Y2K

    Ahem...

    Check this one out. If you're running Windows 95, switch to a date in the year 2000 through the control panel. Then go to the Compaq site here to see that we're into the 100th year of the Christian era. Gigabyte is avoiding the problem of the Year 2000 in a different way. If you go to its site here, you'll see it's reporting …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:03

  • Cash conscious surfers back Freeserve model

    Research claims Dixons’ hold on market now unshakeable

    Net users in the UK are fickle and think nothing of trading ISPs if they can save a few bob*. That's the conclusion of a new study by Fletcher Research Internet Access Strategies: Freeing the Future. It concluded that Net users have been swift to adopt subscription-free providers while leaving subscription-based services such as …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:09

  • Freeserve tops UK ISP hit parade

    Research shows who’s up and who’s down, pop pickers. Not ‘alf

    The study into the UK ISP market by Fletcher Research shows the impact the subscription-free services have had. In only nine months the picture has changed totally. The once mighty AOL has been hit perhaps the hardest, slipping from the No 1 slot down to No 3 in the ISP Hit Parade. Using Fletcher Research’s figures, the full …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:12

  • European banks slip through the Net

    Study shows institutions underestimate the Web – silly bankers

    European banks have not grasped the threat of the Internet and risk losing customers unless they shape up, according to a study out today. Today’s report by Price Waterhouse Coopers (PwC) and the Economist Intelligence Unit was based on interviews with over 50 top banking execs. It claims that banks see the Web as "futuristic" …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:13

  • easyJet goes for easyNet café life

    Cybercafe launch from cut-price airline firm

    Hewlett-Packard has stumped up $5 million worth of hardware to kit out a new cybercafe in central London. The IT giant has joined forces with Stelios Haji-Ioannou, CEO of the cut-price airline easyJet, to create what is already being hyped as the world's biggest cybercafe. Opened today by Haji-Ioannou, easyEverything is sited …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 12:19

  • Linux alliance fights against Euro software patents

    Moving to US model would help monopolies and stifle innovation

    The EU's current plans to extend patent law to software has been attacked by the EuroLinux Alliance, which points out that current European patent law is already being abused by major companies. The net effect of the continuation of this abuse, or of new laws applying patents to software, will be to make life practically …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 13:03

  • K7 is definitely AMD Athlon

    Well, that's what the OEMs say -- the disties are silent

    Our feverish request to come up with the definitive new name for the K7 chip seems to have found a response. An OEM, who under no circumstances whatever wishes to be named, tells us that Athlon will be the name of the K7 processor at its launch next week. AMD wouldn't even give us the date of the launch so that we could write a …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 15:27

  • Prices go mad on IBM and Compaq notebooks

    Share Tip Is it a surprise?

    NECX, once more, has come up trumps on processor pricings -- whether DRAMs or CPUs. (Is there a difference these days?, Ed) According to our latest report from the trading floors in New York, both Compaq and IBM have slashed and burnt their notebook prices in the US. The reason is because of Intel's .18 micron technology, which …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 15:34

  • Buy UK company NorWeb, big time

    Share Tip It's got a groovy way of beating BT

    Sources close to UK NorWeb on Friday told us it has a way of beating BT on the ADSL front. The company, formerly an electricity provider, can use one of the pins on a three-way UK plug to deliver superior functionality than ADSL, our sources say. The full details of NorWeb's offering are unlikely to surface until Wednesday this …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 15:36

  • Fujitsu set to clean up on HDDs

    intro

    A source close to Japanese HDD company Fujitsu said today that there are likely to be only three players in the market by 2001. That could indicate Fujitsu is once more planning one of its big swoops. Fujitsu will be one of them, he claimed. He said that recent figures from Maxtor, Seagate, Quantum and Western Digital (WD) …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:06

  • French company likely to sue AMD if Athlon trademark

    It's a yoghurt thing

    A French company is up in arms over the suggestion that AMD will call its K7 Athlon. This is hardly surprising, and quite frankly, we're bored with the whole subject. We promise never to write about the K7 for another two weeks and instead to concentrate on its Big Brother Intel. Here's the letter: "Hi, I've just read your …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:06

  • Fujitsu pops down to Safeway in search of consumer sales

    Aisle 12, beside the fish counter

    Safeway supermarkets started selling Fujitsu computers at the weekend, its first dabble into the PC arena. Fujitsu multimedia Pentium III 450MHz computers are in 25 supermarkets at £899.99 including VAT. The pilot scheme will be expanded to other Safeway stores later this year. The PC has 128MB SDRAM, 10Gb hard drive, 56.6k …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:23

  • Hard times drive Western Digital warning

    Price war exacts toll

    Western Digital has warned that its loss on earnings for the fourth quarter will be double what analysts expected. The disk drive maker predicted a loss of 90 cents to 98 cents per share for the quarter ending 3 July. This excludes a $20 million restructuring charge announced earlier and associated with its media business. …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:41

  • Dell cuts reliance on Taiwan

    There's no place like home

    Encouraged by the prospect of a one per cent saving on its freight charges, Dell has reduced its OEM manufacturing in the Far East, preferring to produce and assemble more products in its Texas factory. The two companies reported to be affected, Quanta and Compal are playing down the impact of Dell's decision. Quanta said that …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:42

  • TFT workers work like quacks

    Rush to meet demand

    There is currently a major shortage of TFT-LCDs and manufacturers are unable to meet demand. In the rush to get into mass production, engineers are reported to be working like junior doctors. Companies are desperate to cash in on the market and are offering share options and salary increases to motivate their overstretched …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:43

  • Pro-spam Euro MP caught crying in her beer after election

    Tears of a clown

    There is something rather vulgar about ex-politicians bleating when they've been unceremoniously booted out of office. Take former European politician Christine Oddy. She told Silicon.com last week that the UK has been "stripped of its hi-tech MEPs" following this month's Euro elections. "There's no one to follow in my footsteps …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:55

  • Spam opt-out service goes live

    You can apply for more spam,too

    A global service that gives Net users the chance to opt out of receiving spam has been launched in the US. By registering with OptList.com Net users can ask to be removed from all email lists. On the other hand, if they want to receive junk mail and tailor it to cover specific areas, such as rock music or astrology, they can …

    Business 21 Jun 1999, 16:56