12th October 1999 Archive

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Linux guru Raymond accused of ‘vulgar Marxism’

First Monday makes desperate bid for hits

In an ill-tempered article Nikolai Bezroukov has mounted a personal attack on Eric Raymond, author of The cathedral and the bazaar and well-known Linux luminary. Raymond is accused of promoting "an over-optimistic and simplistic view of open source, as a variant of socialist (or to be more exact, vulgar Marxist) interpretation …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 08:55
Intel's Xeon chips to migrate downwards

The middle meets the top end, the leg bone's connected to the hip bone

Chip giant Intel is expected to announce shortly a subtle change in its strategy on its high-end Xeon processors, bringing the server family much closer to the desktop family of chips. That has emerged after an investigation into the pricing of new Coppermine Pentium III and Xeon processors, which Intel will introduce in the …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 09:25
MS to hike enterprise pricing 50 per cent – Gartner

Or over five years, 224 per cent for 5000 desktop installations

A Gartner report just released warns that the cost of Microsoft software to enterprises will go up 50 per cent by 2002. The increase will be not from increased prices, but from changes in the terms and conditions that will adversely impact major users. The report claims that Microsoft will start charging 20 per cent more for non …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 09:39
SiS licenses Rise x86 technology

Comes to rescue of ailing Tiger

Taiwanese chipset company SiS has licensed a whole raft of x86 technology from Rise, to help it grow its integrated solutions business. SiS, like Via, is a competitor to Intel in the chipset business. The licence deal means Rise is in a better state to continue developing technology, while it gives SiS more ammunition to better …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 10:03
PC Science stock sold by administrators

Clearing out the warehouse today

The leftover stock of defunct PC manufacturer PC Science is going on sale today in Boroughbridge, North Yorkshire. Joint administrative receivers Julian Whale and Peter Terry of KPMG instructed the tender sale of the company's stock of finished goods, components and kit. Viewing will take place until 4.30pm this afternoon, with …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 10:06
Rambus fixed? We'll wait and see

Intel, Rambus working hard to get off memory hook

Forbes magazine is claiming that Intel and Rambus have found a solution to the technical problems which have dogged the introduction of Chipzilla's i820 Camino chipset. According to the report, which can be found here, wiring specifications which caused the difficulties have now been solved. But Intel has so far unable been to …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 10:40
Dell pumps $8.5 billion into Samsung for LCDs

Investment to fund new production plant, keep Dell supplied during glut

Dell today followed Apple's example and pumped a pile of cash into Samsung to ensure the direct PC vendor gets as many LCD screens as it needs over the next five years. That said, Dell's investment dwarfs Apple's. In August, the Mac maker sent Samsung a cheque for $100 million -- Dell's comes to $8.5 billion. Samsung will use …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 10:46
MS touts free service calls – - for channel

£1 million dealer programme

Microsoft is pumping £1 million into the UK channel to promote sales to small businesses. From today, the software giant is offering a free phone support service called Direct Access Business Critical Support. Resellers can speak to Microsoft engineers about problems their customers are experiencing. Microsoft said this …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 10:56
08004u publishes customer records by mistake

Five minute concentration lapse

The personal details of some 200 Net users were published on the Web after a lapse in concentration by UK ISP 08004u. The names, addresses, user names, passwords and other sensitive information were mistakenly published last week when technicians at the Dundee-based ISP switched servers. According to David Banks, 08004u's MD, …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 10:59
Gateway cow maddens mothers

Rubber promo toy labelled hazard to children

PC vendor Gateway was struck with its own form of Mad Cow Disease this weekend when it emerged the company's latest bovine-based promotional product, the so-called "Rubber Stress Cow", could prove harmful to children. Apparently, the foam rubber toy can easily be mutilated UFO-style by unsuspecting sproggs who could then choke …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 11:03
Intel scores Nokia Linux set-top box deal

Do we see a reference platform coming on?

The Linux-based Internet-capable set-top boxes Nokia demonstrated last month are to go into production next year, using Intel chips. The news is obviously not terribly encouraging for Microsoft and for the low-cost chip outfits who were looking to set-top boxes for salvation (although most of them seem to have keeled over anyway …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 11:10
FT, Alcatel demo next year's high-speed wireless access

FT Paris trial goes live in Geneva

France Telecom and Alcatel have are mounting a live demonstration of high-speed GPRS (General Packet Radio System) wireless data at this week's Telecom 99 in Geneva. France Telecom intends to roll out GPRS to its Itineris mobile customers next year, offering wireless Internet access at up to 115kbit/s. The Geneva demo, according …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 11:48
O'Reilly, VA Linux, SGI to drive Debian retail push

Debian gets Red Hat, Caldera treatment

VA Linux Systems, SGI and IT-oriented book publisher O'Reilly Associates have come together to push Debian's eponymous Linux distribution through retail channels. For Debian, the move will provide the organisation access with the same kind of mainstream exposure Red Hat and Caldera are already getting for their own Linux …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 12:00
TurboLinux follows Intel's investment with VC cash

$6 million injection to fund management, programming team expansion

Linux distributor TurboLinux yesterday scored a $5.5 million investment from US venture capitalist August Capital, along with around $500,000 from investment bank Broadview. The deals follow Intel's investment in the company, made last week. TurboLinux (formerly known as Pacific HiTech) said it will use the cash injection to …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 12:29
EU scraps global Net tapping plans… for now

Current draft too vague

Europe's plans to introduce a global wiretapping system including the monitoring of e-mails and the Internet are to be scrapped. The decision by the European Council of Member States to abandon the current text of the proposal is expected to be announced within the next two days before being formally set before the European …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 12:32
Times promotes Murdoch interests with call for Free Net

Well, that's what we think

The Times dedicated a whole page of its grubby broadsheet newspaper (grubby, since the newsprint ink of this old media rag doth blacken the hands when ruffled) to the Internet war currently raging in Britain. At some length it spelt out how net users in Britain pay an arm and a leg to get online because unlike the US, for …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 12:57
MS-Lucent vs IBM-Nokia – rival ‘Web anywhere’ camps form

Nokia buddies up to Pervasive strategy while Lucent sells Exchange to ASPs

Rival camps vying for the 'Internet Anywhere' market are beginning to form, with near simultaneous announcements of alliances between Nokia and IBM, and Microsoft and Lucent. The Nokia-IBM deal is intended to further IBM's Pervasive Computing ambitions and accelerate take-off of WAP (Wireless Application Protocol), while Lucent …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 13:02
Microsoft lifts wallets online

Fifty retailers sign up

Microsoft today put its e-wallet online, allowing users to access this cyber credit card from any PC. The software company put its existing service on a website, allowing shoppers to buy from over 50 retailers participating in the scheme by simply keying in their username. Launched in July, the Microsoft e-wallet is designed to …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 13:03
Compaq silence on everything deafens universe

Analysis The sound of one pin dropping would shatter the calm

Since we revealed Compaq's local difficulties with NT earlier this autumn, the silence from the company has been deafening. It isn't just journalists from The Register who have had this experience - a straw poll amongst our IT press colleagues reveals a sad tale of silence and unanswered calls. And Compaq's share price on Wall …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 14:34
Computer Prices UK does its bit to kill Rip-Off Britain

...And saves having to flick through Computer Shopper

Check out Computer Prices UK before shelling out your hard-earned cash on new kit. The site, brainchild of whizz-kid Mads Hilberg, has been updated with a bright and breezy and very green design. Currently, Computer Prices indexes up to date retail prices on a big bundle of components, as well as prices from six leading UK PC …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 15:01
Oldest online info service goes portal

Can Dialog make the transition?

The Dialog Corporation, the London-headquartered current incarnation of the oldest online information service in the world, has made a desperate throw at producing portal services for business, science and technology in conjunction with Netscape. The sites looks rather bleak at present, but they are intended to appeal to online …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 15:24
Time for Europe to stamp out software pirates, BSA says

Flog 'em. And if that don't work, make 'em walk the plank

The Business Software Alliance (BSA) today called on Tony Blair to get tougher with software pirates. The group sent letters to the European Commission, the European Parliament and heads of member states – including our very own prime minister – to spur them into action to combat counterfeiting. The letters asked for a five- …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 15:47
Mobo giant hosts secret porn site

Updated The Register uncovers AOpen pornjack

A top US IT company has been unknowingly hosting a Danish pornographic Web site containing a clutch of sordid sex scenes. The hardcore material was discovered on one of the servers belonging to AOpen Inc -- the world’s largest motherboard and PC components manufacturer and part of the $7 billion Acer group, of Taiwan. Fourteen …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 16:11
Gates' WinCE mobile phone demo – vapourware again?

The demo was highly improbable, as was the claim that it was MS-designed...

From the reports of his performance this week at Telecom 99 it would seem that Bill Gates has been embroidering the truth again. Which is maybe just a little bit risky, because the telecoms people tend to be rather more hard-bitten and cynical than his usual audiences. During a speech Gates mounted a demo of a Windows CE-based …

Business 12 Oct 1999, 16:37