22nd June 1999 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

AOL scare gives FreeServe punters the jitters

Carry on speculating, we say

Dixons Group shares were the FTSE 100's second worst performer yesterday on (wrong) news that AOL Europe was considering joining the free ISP brigade in the UK. The Daily Mail even says that AOL's entry into the UK free ISP market could cause a price war. Which is astonishing, considering FreeServe is,well, free. AOL would have …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 09:03
Does Intel broadband sat deal cut out NatSemi?

An AOL, Hughes, Intel triple alliance seems to be brewing...

Was that rending noise the sound of Chipzilla eating NatSemi's lunch? Earlier this year Hughes, AOL and friends announced AOL TV, and NatSemi happily announced that it would be supplying the MediaGX chips for the set-top boxes. Now Intel and Hughes Networks have announced that Intel will be supplying the Pentium chips for the, …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 09:03
Judge muses on Microsoft's motivation

MS on Trial Method acting approach makes it into trial proceedings

No doubt attempting to enliven proceedings during one of those notoriously dull court sessions with economists, Judge Thomas Penfield Jackson yesterday suggested that Microsoft's intent in giving away Internet Explorer might be one of the points the case hinges on. This is not particularly good news for Microsoft, as the …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 09:05
Gates money-pile now bigger than galaxy

As a matter of interest, he could now afford to launch nine broadband satellite networks

Microsoft accounted for three of the top four slots in the latest Forbes list of the world's richest people, with only famous investor Warren Buffett separating the trio of Gates, Allen and Ballmer. Gates naturally heads the list, Microsoft's escalating share price having seen off a succession of former world's richest people …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 09:08
Will MS lawyer swing for trial defence catastrophe?

MS on Trial And read to the bottom for a squabble on why nobody wants Bill...

Microsoft will know who to blame for the inadequacy of its legal defence. Sullivan & Cromwell, its main trial law firm, has made some epic errors of judgement. It may be that orders as to how the case should be conducted came from Microsoft via head lawyer Bill Neukom, whom we tip for an early bath. In any event, it was a high …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 10:19
Fishing trip nets MS Sun secrets, but no evidence

MS on Trial So under the circumstances, mustn't grumble...

It was valuable for Microsoft to be able to have access to the legal documents about the AOL-Netscape-Sun deals, so that it could develop a strategy that would have the maximum effect against the intentions gleaned from the documents. It would be hard for AOL to change its plans significantly as a consequence of this, since to …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 10:22
AOL boss muses, can we afford to dump MS?

MS on Trial Interesting memos - shame the witness knew nothing

The transcript of evidence from AOL SVP David Colburn, who was called by Microsoft as a hostile witness, shows the extent to which Microsoft was gobsmacked by the AOL-Netscape-Sun deal. It was evidently negotiated in conditions of considerable secrecy, with code words such as "Odyssey" for Netscape, "Apollo" for AOL, and "Zeus" …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 10:25
PC gets left on shelf

Over exposure to PCs in the workplace blunts home users' enthusiasm

We may buy it in a flurry of excitement to get on the Web or as an educational tool for our children, but it seems that once we get it home, we ignore our brand new PC and it sits gathering dust. The PC's new status as an ornament has been revealed by research from the States. Five years ago only 29 per cent of the US population …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 14:08
S3 buys Diamond Multimedia

Multimedia giants R'US

S3 has turned predator with the $175 million share acquisition of Diamond Multimedia. Well, well, well. That will teach us to listen to our California chip friends, who swore blind that S3 was being stalked by its smaller rival 3dfx. (We still think this is, or rather was, true). With Diamond, S3 is now far too big for 3dfx to …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 14:12
Phoenix readies plan to subvert MS OEM contracts

Put it in the bios! They'll be putting the whole OS (hello DR-DOS) in the bios next...

Through its OEM contracts Microsoft has a vice-like grip on the OS installation and first boot sequence of a PC. So much so that earlier this year MS OEM chief Joachim Kempin suggested that, if PC companies wanted to advertise their own wares on their PCs, they could do it via an embedded operating system that executed while the …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 14:59
VA new investment telegraphs another Linux IPO?

Shrewd fellows - get some money now and hold off for a little longer to maximise the bang

Do we spot Linux IPO number two on the horizon? If so, VA Linux Systems seems to be aiming for bigger bucks than Red Hat; it's cannily pulling in more money in second round finance, the general idea under those circumstances usually being to increase the value of the company in order to go for a bigger jump at IPO stage. VA is …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:01
Papers got wrong end of the stick, says AOL

You could have someone’s eye out with that, we say

AOL and CompuServe are not about to abolish their subscription-based services. Contrary to a rash of stories yesterday, AOL UK and its sidekick CompuServe have no intentions to give up precious revenue from their subscription-based services. A source close to AOL UK explained that the stories were misleading and that someone …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:24
Tosh pledges Y2K comfort zone

It’s not about stagnation, it’s about peace of mind

In a bid to smooth the path past the dreaded Y2K date change, Toshiba has promised platform stability for its Tecra notebooks and the Equium 7100 desktop system. Toshiba claims the decision to freeze any changes to the two machines in the run up to the millennium was prompted by the desire to address the concerns of corporate …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:25
Intel's Barrett concedes defeat on PC-133

He's waiting for the Rambus DRAM boys and girls to deliver

The CEO of Intel has admitted it has a contingency plan if Direct Rambus memory fails to deliver on time. Craig Barrett, speaking in London at a Dow Jones conference, said that his company would be "foolish" if it didn't have a contingency plan. Said Barrett: "We're committed to support Rambus DRAM but ultimately these solutions …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:43
Long arm of the law reaches into cyberspace

Civil rights brouhaha awaits Officer Dibble’s latest plan

Senior officers at the National Criminal Intelligence Service (NCIS) want to create a nationwide law enforcement agency to combat computer crime. John Abbott, the director general of NCIS, called for the creation of a cybercrime agency at the launch of a new report – Project Trawler -- detailing the threat posed by online …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:46
Intel's Barrett confirms Internet Pad a goer

It will be successful by next year, says Cheerio eater

The Internet Pad, which Intel successfully demonstrated in Oregon last year, is a reference platform that PC OEMs are interested in, the CEO of Intel said today. Craig Barrett, CEO at Intel, said that by this time next year there will be "successful designs" based on its reference design. Said Barrett: "I would expect to see …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:48
Intel's Barrett says cellphone standards not important

It can be done in silicon, claims CEO

Whether people are accessing their Web appliances in Canada, Japan, Korea, Europe or even the US is not imporant, the CEO of Intel said today. Responding to a question about whether wireless standards and wireless standard committees are or are not important, Intel CEO Craig Barrett, at a Dow Jones conference held in West London …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:56
Intel's Barrett fudges Merced, Coppermine

Delays irritate him, he admits

The man who runs Intel on a day-to-day basis has given the world the SP on chip delays. Craig Barrett, CEO of one of the biggest multinational corporations in the world, Intel, said today that when he heard Merced was delayed "nine months ago" he got very irritated. But, said Barrett, Merced was on target to deliver in 12 to 18 …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 15:58
Intel's Barrett says video conferencing on PCs big Intel mistake

Others, including Ray Lane, confess their sins

At a panel at a Dow Jones conference in West London today, Craig Barrett, CEO of Intel, claimed that his company had entered the PC videoconferencing market too early. That was Intel's biggest mistake, confessed Barrett. But Ray Lane, financial director of Oracle worldwide, appeared not willing to admit he or his company had …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 16:01
Psion's Potter says Amazon may “flop”

Backed up by other CEOs

In a remarkable statement today, the chairman of Psion, David Potter described AMAZON.COM as the Internet company most likely to flop. His opinion was hotly disputed by other CEOs at a Dow Jones conference held in London today. Potter said he thought the Internet company most likely to succeed was the site called IGLU.COM and he …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 16:14
Oracle's Lane has 18 TVs in two houses

But he doesn't mind losing personal organisers...

The guy tipped to be the next CEO of Compaq admitted today that he had a total of 18 TVs in two houses, but lacked a mapping system in his car. Tough former venture capitalist Ray Lane, made the startling admission at a CEO conference held at the Royal Lancaster Hotel in London earlier today. Further, Lane said in a panel Q&A …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 16:19
Web hate sites target women and children

Racists, fascists and terrorists show their true colours online

A report published tomorrow will reveal how hate groups are targeting women and children on the Web to spread bigotry and prejudice. In particular, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) claims that impressionable teenagers are being influenced by offensive material as the Web becomes a breeding ground for a disaffected minority. Much …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 16:21
Intel's Barrett to bash Blair, Brown, on bandwidth

And famous country Intel has more bandwidth than Italy and Spain combined...

The CEO of the biggest semiconductor outfit in the world said today he would tell UK Chancellor of the Exchequer and any other government minister he might meet that our country was not doing enough for end users and small businesses. Craig Barrett, CEO of Santa Clara based the Intel Corporation (ticker: INTC), told fify …

Business 22 Jun 1999, 16:25
Jamaican version of Da Regista found online

Amazingly, it makes more sense of stories than we do...

Check out this URL, chaps and chappesses. It's the rinky-dink version of the dialectiser all for Da Register Mon... Go here ya sucka ®

Business 22 Jun 1999, 19:18