24th September 1999 Archive

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Intel chips away at networking

OEM for the IP World

Intel is dipping into petty cash to buy another building block for the Internet Economy. It is taking on the telecoms components and products division of Stanford Telecommunications, a company currently being acquired by Newbridge Networks. Stanford makes silicon components for "head-end equipment used by cable companies and …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 07:26
MS spins off Expedia – what do you want to IPO today?

The first of several?

Microsoft is spinning off its loss-making Expedia travel service, and has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission for an IPO. This may be the first of a number of such offerings, with Car Point having been tipped as another candidate, following a hint by president Steve Ballmer on Monday. This …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 08:58
String him up! Market applauds Ballmer stock intervention

MS prez merrily describes tech stocks as overvalued

Microsoft president and ace publicist Steve Ballmer knocked five per cent of his own share price and made a substantial dent in the Dow Jones yesterday by describing the overvaluation of technology stocks as absurd. Oops. Speaking to an audience of journalists (double oops) Ballmer said that he'd put "our own company and others …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 09:59
Torvalds sees Windows decline, rise of Linux appliance

And software prices will crash, within three years

While Steve Ballmer was causing stock prices to crash in the USA (String him up!), Linus Torvalds seems to have been coincidentally making related predictions in Helsinki. Software prices, he said, will start to fall drastically, with the crunch coming in around three years. Torvalds was talking to the determined Reuters …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 09:59
LinuxOne to IPO – but with what, exactly?

Updated Linux distributor appears to have no software, no basis for investment

Following the trend led by Red Hat, Linux distributor LinuxOne yesterday filed its plan to make in an initial public offering of three million shares. Sounds straightforward, but this is one IPO that appears to be anything but straightforward. The company's filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission claims LinuxOne …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 10:00
Spammers sued by Microsoft

Three US companies in the dock over pirate software scam

Microsoft is suing three businesses in the US that sold pirated software to thousands of people online via a mammoth spamming operation. The companies sent out 25 million emails worldwide, with legal firms and companies in the public sector among those duped into divulging credit card details online. The companies responsible …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 11:09
Dope dealers drive eBay potty

The grass isn't always greener…

Pot heads who hoped to cash in on a trip of a lifetime after responding to an ad on eBay offering 500 pounds of marijuana have received a different kind of blow from the online auctioneers. Less than 24 hours after the ad was posted, officials closed down the offer but despite eBay's quick reactions bidding had reached $10 …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 15:20
Shareholders say ‘yes’ to S3, Diamond merger

Company splits into separate business units -- primed for sell-off?

The proposed merger between S3 and Diamond Multimedia will now go ahead after investors in both companies voted this week to support the deal. And with the deal effectively done and dusted, S3 revealed its post-merger structure. The company will split into four independent divisions. Multimedia will take charge of S3's 3D …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 15:26
DRAM prices go through roof

128Mb DIMMS now selling for £200

DRAM prices were reaching dizzy heights this morning following uncertainty caused by the Taiwanese earthquake, with 128MB DIMMs nudging £200. Dane-Elec was pricing 128MB modules (PC 100) at £195 plus VAT, and 64MB modules at £97. Yesterday the market saw the price of 128MB modules (PC 100) surge by up to 20 per cent, according …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 15:29
Ecommerce minister caught sitting on fence – shock

Net access prices must come down, but the gov't won't lift a finger to help

Britain's ecommerce minister Patricia Hewitt wants to cut the cost of Net access for consumers -- but it's not her priority. Instead she told a Net conference at the London School of Economics yesterday that sorting out the ecommerce bill was more important. "We have got to get the costs down," she said. "I will be pushing this …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 15:36
Novell unleashes NDS for everyone via free email system

Give it away and we can out-directory MS, thinks Schmidt

Novell has quietly made its play to take directory services to the masses, opening up an NDS-based free email service at myrealbox.com yesterday. We don't of course need yet another free email service, but Novell is banking on NDS as the system's unique selling point. And if it succeeds, of course, it'll be one more step in the …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 15:42
i820 derailed as Intel goes Rambust

Third memory slot problems leads to indefinite delay

Intel has delayed shipment of its i820 chipset due to problems with Rambus, leaving PC builders dreaming of a Whitney Christmas. The chip giant today told systems builders that it would not start shipping the i820 on Monday – the planned launch date. The i820 chipset – called "Camino" - is needed for the use of Rambus memory, …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 16:28
It's Time to give away software

UK system builder hands out £35m freebies to schools

Time Computers is coming to the aid of impoverished schools in a £35 million IT give-away. The "Free Software for Schools" bonanza is due to kick off on Saturday, when parents and kids can start collecting tokens for Tiny kit from The Times newspaper. Two tokens will appear each day - one for school and one for home - until next …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 16:53
Graphics cards, Intel chipsets hit badly in quake aftershock

Component shortages could peak in November

Manufacturers of a wide range of computer and electronics products will be hit by a shortage of key components following Tuesday's earthquake, say analysts and industry sources in Taipei. "Some companies simply can't produce right now, for example the fabs (chip makers) in Hsinchu," said Paul Meyer of Credit Lyonnais Securities …

Business 24 Sep 1999, 17:09