23rd July 1999 Archive
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Capellas gets top job at Compaq
No Hellman, no way
The Compaq triumvirate moved to squash speculation yesterday evening by naming chief operating officer Mike Capellas as its new CEO. But the decision is likely to surprise many who had hoped Compaq would recruit a top flier, perhaps from outside the industry. The 44 year old Capellas only joined Compaq last summer and will have …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 07:51
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Asus site hacked
Strange war message up there in French
The Asus web site has suffered a hack attack. Over at the site, there is a message in French protesting against demonstrations about the Kosovo war and the displacement of refugees it has caused. Asus is a Taiwanese company but this site belongs to the US arm, based in Milpitas. The message has been up on the site for at least …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 08:27
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Philips flags in Q2 – jam tomorrow?
The giant's old problems don't seem to change
Philips Group's second quarter was far from Earth-shattering: sales growth was a mere 1 per cent over the year-earlier quarter. This was thanks to North American sales, since there was no growth in Europe, and the market in Latin America is depressed. Philips employs 228,000 people. Sales declined 2 per cent in Q2 to 7.3 billion …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 09:35
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MS-EDS buddies operations deepen
So now EDS can sell you even more and even bigger MS systems...
EDS has broadened its relationship with Microsoft. The plan is for EDS to "design, deploy, manage and support Microsoft-based server and desktop infrastructure solutions" for NT Server and Exchange with EDS' Distributed Systems Management offering. To achieve this, EDS will train and certify up to 7,000 MCSEs or MCSDs in what is …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 09:38
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Gates pushes vision of ‘Web-centric’ PC
But really, he just means more of the same...
At the tail end of Microsoft's analysts meeting this week Bill Gates rolled out the next instalment of his vision - in this case, it's the Windows Web-centric platform, apparently. As with most of Gates' visions it sounds more advanced than it's likely to turn to be, and besides, it's sufficiently far down the road for it not to …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 09:41
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Amiga to choose MIPS claims rival
And will it be acquired by ATI?
Wolf Dietrich, head of Amiga upgrade developer Phase 5, yesterday revealed some intriguing evidence that Amiga, Inc. has chosen MIPS as the basis for its upcoming Linux 'multimedia convergence computer'. Dietrich's case centres on the similarity between Amiga's work and graphics specialist ATI's set-top box reference design …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 10:20
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Trident sues Via on three counts
And claims it poached staff
US wire Techweb is reporting that Trident will file suit against Taiwanese chipset manufacturer Via in the US today. According to the report, the suit will be on three counts including alleged fraud, alleged patent infringement and alleged breach of contract. Via is also being sued for allegedly poaching 25 Trident engineers, …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 10:27
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Rainbow replacement for Blue Screen of Death launched
Windows crashes to appear in iMac colours
A US programmer has come up with a unique cure for Windows' infamous Blue Screen of Death', according to a report on Maximum PC magazine's Web site. Well, sort of. Nathan Lineback's neat Visual Basic application, BSOD Properties, won't stop your PC from crashing, but it does let you express yourself by allowing you to chose you …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 10:33
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Chipzilla in 133MHz FSB bet hedging shocker
…don’t hold yer breath for it
Despite gingerly dipping its corporate toe in the PC133 DRAM water, everyone’s favourite chip behemoth seems to lack conviction on either those nice fast DRAMs or the long-awaited Camino i820 chipset, due to arrive any eon now. The venerable BX chipset (which should have been headed for the chip gulag by now had not Camino …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 10:35
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Great Satan of Four Part Harmonies born
Great Satan of Haircuts becomes Great Satan of Barber Shops
Mr Capellas, the new CEO at the Big Q, must be humming happily to himself today in four part harmony. Eckhard Pfeiffer was the CEO of the Great Satan of Haircuts because of his frequent changes of hair style. And so Mike Capellas is now CEO of the Great Satan of Barber Shops... Lucky his name isn't spelt Cappella -- that means …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 10:43
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Windows 2000 in Intel chipset screw-up
OS slides down Bannister and lands on bum
Intel does not like making disclosures about codenames it has not yet decided to talk about. But at Computex earlier this year, we talked to a very nice chap on the Chicony stand, who was happy to tell us about Bannister, also known as the Intel 440MX chipset, a mobile Celeron platform. Microsoft, like Intel, does not like …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 10:58
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Free PCs drive sharp upturn in US PC market
But major vendors still doing better than the cut-price crew
The 'free' PC appears to be having an effect on the US computer market already, according to the latest research from market analyst PC Data. The company, which monitors PC sales through US retail and mail order channels, found that computer sales rose 35 per cent during June -- an in the last two weeks of the month, in …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:01
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Via's K7 roadmap makes Platform99 appearance
Chipset firm firms up its firmware
Via disclosed more details of its roadmap plans at a conference in Silicon Valley held earlier this week. At the Platform 99 conference, the Taiwanese company confirmed that it was supporting PC133 and AGP4x for the Athlon K7 processor. Earlier this year, we reported from Computex that such a chipset was on the way. (See K7 to …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:17
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Early adopters hit Win98SE bug
That'll teach 'em to be first on the block...
Propellorheads everywhere just can't resist upgrading to the latest and greatest operating systems and downloading and installing the latest and greatest versions of BIOSes. Intel panders to these geeky needs by releasing a new BIOS rev for just about all its mobos every month or so. Shame then that those users who have …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:20
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MS to start Millennium beta today
First sightings of next year's model due any time now...
The first beta of Microsoft's Windows 98 replacement OS, codenamed Millennium, should go into beta within the next few hours. The company emailed beta testers yesterday telling them that the code would be available for download shortly, and that beta kits would be sent to them at the end of the week. So very shortly it should be …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:25
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Diamond posts disappointing Q2 figures
So is the S3 merger off or on, then?
Diamond Multimedia yesterday posted disappointing Q2 results, but at least the figures suggest S3's acquisition of the company should go ahead as planned. Diamond reported revenues for the quarter, ended 30 June, of $128.7 million, down 34 per cent on the $172.3 million posted for the same period last year. But while revenue …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:26
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iBook to pull in the punters Apple desperately needs?
Analysis iBook 'em, Dan-O...
Interim CEO Steve Jobs didn't spill the beans on Apple's upcoming ISP initiative and Palm Computing partnership at yesterday's MacWorld Expo keynote, but what he delivered instead -- QuickTime TV and the iBook consumer portable -- more than made up for them. Ranked in terms of their importance to Apple's success, Jobs' …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:29
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Could NatSemi SOCs threaten Celeron's existence?
Analysis When everything's on one chip, what price the Celeron
Intel engineers, as we speak, are scrabbling desperately to come up with their own version of a system on a chip (the Timna), but it is likely that National Semiconductor's Geode SOC has a clear lead of a year on the competition. But that poses questions as to what Intel will do with its Celeron processors faced with the rise …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 11:36
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Canadian firm swoops on JBA
AS/400 to ERP house valued at over £90m
JBA Holdings has agreed to a cash bid from Canadian software reseller GEAC Computer, valuing the company at over £90 million. GEAC will pay 250 pence per share for the Birmingham-based software vendor and AS/400 house, according to a statement to the stock exchange this morning. The offer will be made by ING Barings on behalf of …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 12:15
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IBM M-II x86 chip rises from the ashes….
Phoenix resurrected by Time
One small component in our story yesterday about Time introducing a so-called Free PC is a very small component called the 300 IBM M-II microprocessor. (Story: It's time for another free PC) Readers with long teeth will remember that under the terms of a deal between Cyrix and IBM, half of the silicon was doled out to Big Blue's …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 12:15
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BSA accused of dancing to Microsoft's tune
Allegations come out of South America that suggest the pirate buster is influenced by its biggest member
Shocking allegations of corruption have been levelled against pirate software watchdog the Business Software Alliance. These claims come from the magazine Mother Jones, which has published an article concerning a piracy case that was filed and then dropped against Antel, the Uruguayan national telco. Back in 1995, the BSA caught …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 12:54
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Cheap PCs will damage MS software sales, says CFO
And our redoubtable bean-counter doesn't expect to make money from Win2k for another year yet...
Cut-price PCs may finally start to erode Microsoft's dominant position in the software market, company CFO Greg Maffei suggested yesterday at the company's analysts meeting. Maffei appears not to have floated the possibility of rival operating systems breaking into the market, but he was clearly concerned that the need for …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 12:57
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Rose contributed to Pfeiffer's ousting
It was all a terrible mistake, apparently
A source formerly extremely close to Compaq said last night that John Rose, ousted from Compaq shortly after Eckhard Pfeiffer was outside, had persuaded the Great Satan of Haircuts to buy Digital. And it was a huge mistake, apparently. The mistake was so big that many thousands of individuals in Compaq Europe could possibly lose …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 15:18
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Doncaster guy not a Doncaster geezer at all
He was born in a Little Chef in Wendover, instead
Sources close to one of the 50 HP branded cabs that now exist in Londinium told us a terrible tale yesterday evening and it turns out to be true. We were in the back of an HP taxi on our way to the Reading Jazz Festival when the news hit us. Hugh Jenkins, who now runs HP's enterprise server division in the UK, and formerly known …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 15:32
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Free PC no threat, says channel
UK resellers hit back at dinosaur dealer accusations
Distributor ATL Networks yesterday predicted dealers would be pushing up the daisies thanks to the free PC. ATL MD Mark Randall's statements prompted a variety of reactions from the UK channel, most of which were unprintable. ATL Networks was formerly Techex Communications, a company some Register readers will be familiar with. …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 15:44
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MS-Intel issue roadmap for next year's Windows-only PC
Wintel alliance not dead after all shock - what's Chipzilla playing at?
The Microsoft-Intel roadmap for next year's PCs is out, and although the pair were showing severe signs earlier this year of zooming off in opposite directions, it's now pretty clear that they're back in sync. Earlier this week the two published the first discussion draft of the PC2001 design guide, and from the accompanying …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 15:49
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Palm boss promises colour screens
Kessler's first dictat as Palm president also calls for two OS updates
Palm Computing is to release not only two major updates to the PalmOS between now and the end of the year, but it will also release a Palm organiser with a colour display. Details are patchy -- actually, details are non-existent -- but that's what new Palm president Alan Kessler has promised readers of US magazine The Business …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 16:05
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New Compaq CEO says Europe, Alpha integration disappointing
Something needs to change…
Mike Capellas, Compaq's new CEO, said today that the European wing of the corporation is underperforming. In a conference call with European journalists and analysts today, Capellas said: "Europe has been a great area of strength for us." But he admitted the last few quarters in Europe had been disappointing. And he also said …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 16:08
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EMC and HP: store-rage mounts
It was a pre-emptive strike...
A source close to HP's storage division told us today that the day before it developed its war against EMC, it removed the swipe cards from its former partner. The source, and he declined to be named but it's not Hugh Jenkins so don't target him, HP America, said that they found one poor EMC chap trying for 30 fruitless minutes …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 16:28
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Real world eclipsed by Web cast
You don't need to watch the solar eclipse when you’ve got a PC
The BBC is teaming up with the European Space Agency to show live footage of August's solar eclipse on its Web site for people who won't make it to Cornwall for the real thing. One pundit, seemingly unimpressed at the prospect of being able to watch the eclipse on their PC said: "Eclipse? Aaargh! We can all see the eclipse as it …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 16:30
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Lynx links Fujitsu to dealer channel
Manufacturer picks up another distie
Fujitsu has appointed Lynx Technology as a reseller for its PCs and notebooks. The Derbyshire reseller, part of the Lynx group, has also become an Authorised Service Partner, allowing it to maintain Fujitsu's range of PCs. Paul Edgeley, Lynx sales and marketing director, said the company was impressed by Fujitsu’s committed to …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 16:35
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Dosh shines out of Sun's dot-com
Will bumper year make McNealy go touchy-feely?
Sun Microsystems saw profits surge 37 per cent and sales grow 22 per cent for the fourth quarter ended 30 June. Net income was $395 million, against last year's $288 million, excluding an acquisition charge. Earnings per share were 48 cents, compared with last year’s 37 cents. Revenues climbed to a record $3.5 billion. For the …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 16:50
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Taxman at risk from Y2K bug
UK government expresses concern – you ain't kidding
The Inland Revenue hinted it would not hit its September deadlines for Y2K compliance in Parliament today. The Serious Fraud Office, the Intervention Board and the Northern Ireland Prison Service were also behind schedule, according to a government statement. Leader of the House, Margaret Beckett, said: "Good progress continues …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 17:02
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Encryption keys handed to police
UK gov't ecommerce bill enables access to code cracking technology
UK police will be able to demand access to encryption codes if they suspect criminal use of the Internet, thanks to the government's draft ecommerce bill. The bill was unveiled today with the stated aim of making the law in the UK e-friendly, so that within three years, the UK is the best place in the world to trade …
Business 23 Jul 1999, 17:13
