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29th October 1999 Archive

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  • Etre 99: to be or not to be

    Highlights from the CEO schmooze

    It was supposed to start at 16.00. The two presenters are sitting in the corner talking to each other. The time is now 16.40. No one knows what to do or when to do it. You've guessed it -- this is Etre 99 Containing what I hope to be some insights and useful observations, my notes follow. If you don't have the time, just scroll …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 05:50

  • Intel execs outline Y2K chip futures

    No Willamette until second half of next year

    We weren't there because it was midnight UK time and we were practising our Halloween tactics, but thanks to the power of the Wibbly Wobbly Web we were able to catch up with what the Intel luminaries (can employees of a Satan be luminaries?, ed) had to say at an executive briefing yesterday. We did this courtesy of Intel's Web …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 06:28

  • Packard Bell shows Panrix red card over footy ad

    System builder on subs bench after Leeds United sponsorship row

    Panrix is alleging foul play after its advert was pulled from the Leeds United football ground to placate the club's sponsor, Packard Bell. The Leeds-based PC builder paid a five-figure sum for a full season's advertising board, bearing the words "Panrix Computer Systems". But the ad disappeared after less than two months, with …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 07:03

  • Compel issues profit warning

    Y2K bug eats into resellers sales -- hungry little bleeder

    Compel joined the plethora of IT companies issuing profit warnings yesterday. The UK company warned that results for the year ending June 2000 were expected to fall materially below forecasts. It blamed a worse than expected slowdown in customers buying IT. "As the year 2000 date change draws closer it is becoming increasingly …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 07:11

  • King of the Jungle bags HP marketeer

    Rubio to join Bennett in new venture

    Hewlett-Packard UK is losing one of its top level staff to the growing empire of Steve Bennett. Patricia Rubio, HP marketing manager for PCs, has been poached by the IT entrepreneur for a new venture in December. The two will be starting a media business to promote Bennett's jungle.com and Software Warehouse operations, sources …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 08:53

  • Inprise reports Q3 loss, consults legals on MS brand heist

    AppCenter? Didn't we hear that name somewhere before?

    Inprise produced a net loss of $1.4 million (3 cents/share) in its Q3 reported yesterday, but less than the 10 cents loss of the First Call consensus. The Q3 revenue was up 17 per cent on the previous quarter, but at $46 million, 5 per cent down on the year-earlier quarter. The company is cash rich, with $179 million at the end …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 09:27

  • US Net founder elected to ICANN board

    No, not Al Gore, the other guy...

    Despite rumours that the first elected ICANN board would accommodate no US citizens, Net founder and bona fide Son of Uncle Sam Vinton Cerf was elected to the last available seat. Cerf, one of the Net's co-developers responsible for TCP/IP protocol, is currently senior VP of Internet architecture and technology for MCI Worldcom …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 09:57

  • Obituary David Goldman, Sage

    Simon Meredith pays tribute to one of the key figures of the UK IT industry

    The death of Sage founder David Goldman, after a long illness, will have been greeted with great sadness across the in the IT industry this week. Goldman was a familiar figure in the trade, having been at the helm of what has become Britain's most successful software company. He and Graham Wylie started Sage in 1981 along with …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 10:36

  • Computacenter buys Metrologie

    Update It's the channel sale of the century

    Computacenter has agreed to buy Metrologie, less than a week after the CHS Electronics subsidiary went on the market. Metrologie will continue to trade under its own name. The UK reseller this morning confirmed the sale from administrators BDO Stoy Hayward, saying more details would be given this afternoon. The deal covers …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 11:01

  • So, who really invented the Net?

    Another great British invention that had to go overseas for funding

    News that a senior minister in Her Majesty's government didn't know his Arpanet from his elbow has ruffled some feathers among learned British Net users. A number of people have contacted The Register to say that Chancellor of the Exchequer, Gordon Brown, was right when he claimed yesterday that the Internet was a British …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 11:25

  • Karma follows sister companies into receivership

    Buyer expected within days

    Karma UK has gone into administrative receivership, the final CHS Electronics domino to fall in Britain. Peter Copp and Edward Blackwood from BDO Stoy Hayward have been appointed administrative receivers for the PC components distributor. Copp said: "Failure of other companies within the CHS group has had a knock on effect on …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 11:44

  • Sony preps satellite digital content delivery service

    Applies for broadcasting licence, readies spin-off company

    Sony has firmed up its plan to distribute digital content via satellite. According to Japanese business daily Nihon Keizai Shimbun, the company will today apply for a satellite data broadcasting licence. Once Japan's Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications has granted a licence, Sony will create a wholly owned subsidiary worth …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 11:57

  • Intel likely to bring Solano chipset forward

    But 815 does not cure Caminogate problems

    Sources close to Intel plans said today that the company had plans to release its i815 (Solano) chipset early, in a bid to bridge some of the gaps in its portfolio. The Solano chipset, although an extension of the i810 (Whitney) chipset, has support for AGP 4x. Although it was intended to be produced in the first half of next …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 12:01

  • Willamette due 2H 2000

    Register sources suffer bad attack of over-enthusiasm

    We've been keeping a pretty close watch on Chipzilla's reaction to Athlon's success, as have a sizeable number of moles around the World. So when a normally reliable source tells us Willamette is coming real soon now, we pass that info on to our readers. It appears, however, that this time our sources got a bit ahead of …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 12:05

  • Intel CuMine fails to dampen AMD's Athlon squib

    Now there's a shortage of Slot Ones..

    PC vendors are being told by their distributors and brokers that supply on Slot 1 Intel cartridges is constrained. That follows the launch of Intel's "Coppermine" 733MHz processor at the beginning of the week, and a further story showing there were big delays on its flip-chip S370 technology and its mobile parts. Intel has …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 12:17

  • Iridium rival ICO plans Teledesic makeover

    Forget satellite-based mobile telephony, high bandwidth Net links are where we're at now

    ICO Global Communications, the other satellite mobile phone company stuck in bankruptcy hell, may have found a way to get itself unstuck. According to the Dow Jones newswire, ICO will next month announce its plan to recast itself not as an alternative to Iridium but as a rival to Teledesic, the 'Internet in the sky' satellite- …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 12:41

  • Dell's hidden page on Rambus exposed

    You can't keep a good Caminogate down

    Perhaps one of the PC manufacturers which has suffered the most from Intel's decision to withdraw its i820 board at the last minute is Dell. It was very, very ready to roll until the very last minute. But wait. It used to have a page all about how wonderful Rambus was and a reader has sent us a copy. The page was here but it's …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 12:50

  • Can France drive open source as Europe's standard?

    Analysis The result may hinge on the difference between 'open' and 'open source'

    The French move to make open source software the official state standard, proposal 495, has created a great deal of interest, not to say scepticism. Are the two senators behind 495 mavericks who'll be ignored? Is this a classic French trick designed to boost French companies and undermine les americains? Will it happen, and if …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 13:27

  • Y2k bug eats StorageTek jobs

    Stalled sales lead to major job cuts

    StorageTek is to chop 20 per cent of its workforce after reporting tumbling Q3 profits. The US storage vendor reported a net loss of $16 million for the quarter ended 24 September 1999. This included pre-tax charges of $32.4 million, relating to litigation and a voluntary staff redundancy program. For the same period last year, …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 14:00

  • Ingram upbeat despite profit slip

    Distie maintains the future still looks bright

    Ingram Micro saw profits nosedive for the third quarter. The US distribution giant reported pre-tax profit of $17.5 million before exceptionals for the three months ended 2 October 1999. This excluded $2.7 million of reorganisation costs, and compared to $59.8 million for the same period last year. Sales were up 18 per cent at $ …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 14:04

  • Gates announces Generation I – run for it, kids

    McEncyclopaedias for all...

    Bill Gates received a gong from the New York Institute of Technology yesterday, but before he could pick it up, he had to make a speech. The content was very revealing. There was of course the usual re-writing of history ("The PC era started 25 years ago. That's when the first microprocessor chip came from Intel. That's when …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 14:39

  • US ISP blocks all UK email

    Dummies over react to alleged UK porn spam

    There are fears that a tit-for-tat transatlantic Net war could break out after a US ISP blocked all email bearing a .co.uk address. A New Jersey ISP, IDT, took the summary action last week after receiving spam which it traced to Leeds University. Not just content with blocking the source of the spam from Leeds University, IDT …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 14:52

  • MS consumer group: your executive departures tonight

    Now Bennett hits the trail

    The turnover of executives at Microsoft's consumer and commerce group continues. Pete Higgins pulled the plug about a year ago; Peter Neupert - who did much to bolster Microsoft's new media efforts - went last year; Brad Silverberg is leaving today, and now it's the turn of Rob Bennett, director of marketing for the consumer …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 14:56

  • Data-loss lawsuit costs Toshiba $1bn

    Floppy drive controllers a little too floppy, it seems

    A lawsuit in the US over faults in Toshiba laptops has cost the vendor $1 billion. Toshiba was being sued over the floppy drive controllers (FDC) in its portable PCs in the Federal Court in Texas. Two owners of Toshiba notebooks alleged that a fault in the microcode for the disk controller: "May, under certain circumstances, …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 15:41

  • MS makes Dow Jones eat ‘breakup clause’ story

    It'd be even funnier if we hadn't followed it up ourselves...

    In a rare victory Microsoft seems to have Dow Jones Newswire on the floor in tears, and has extracted a grovelling apology and correction. Dow Jones had reported that new Microsoft contracts, apparently drawn up with the possibility of Judge Jackson deciding to smash the company into little pieces in mind, covered for the …

    Business 29 Oct 1999, 17:28