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11th November 1999 Archive

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  • Nortel raises stakes with open IP

    But rival Cisco hasn't flinched

    Nortel Networks rolled out what it calls 'New World' routing and IP software in New York on Monday, with hopes that a wide variety of servers, PCs, consumer gizmos, set-top boxes and processors will soon become Internet compatible under their Open IP Environment. The software, currently licensed to over 75 companies, features …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 09:26

  • Women to dominate the Net

    Latest research gives profile of typical female surfer

    Women would prefer to ditch their microwave ovens than be parted from the Internet, according to a survey by women's portal Women.com. In fact, women love the Net so much 70 per cent of those surveyed said they couldn't imagine life without it. The research also discovered that the average woman online is more likely to be …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 10:24

  • South African channel giant sees massive profit growth

    Another bumper year for acquisitive Datatec

    Datatec saw profits rise 159 per cent thanks to "staying nimble" and an aggressive acquisition strategy. The South African group posted profit of R196 million (£19.6 million), on sales of R5.6 billion (£561 billion), compared to R2.6 billion (£260 billion). More than 90 per cent of the technology and services company's profit …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 10:24

  • Online shopping is big

    Even bigger than everyone thought

    Web shoppers will spend between $12 billion and $15 billion (£700 million to £900 million) over Christmas according to Ernst & Young - almost double previous estimates, and at least treble the amount spent last year. Two-thirds of the 1,200 US consumers surveyed said they expected to do at least 10 per cent of their Christmas …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 10:25

  • BT spreads wings with $200m JV

    Sets sights on international Web markets

    BT is to form a £123 million ($200 million) joint venture with Web directory outfit, LookSmart, as part of a deal to provide portal services and exploit emerging markets in Europe and the Far East. The deal will build on BT's base of more than 31 million Internet and wireless customers, and LookSmart's Web navigation directories …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 10:26

  • Millennial round-up: bug fever begins

    It'll all be fine, oh no it won't, oh yes it will

    Bill Clinton isn't worried, nor are fund managers, so why is the US building a £25 million disaster bunker and pulling its diplomats out of countries prone to the millennium bug infestation? Like the passengers on a troubled plane we are constantly (too frequently?) being reassured that the millennium bug won't strike. Bill …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 10:27

  • No surrender: Gates draws a line in the sand

    MS on Trial Agreed settlement unlikely - Microsoft unshiftable on key areas

    Bill Gates yesterday claimed that Microsoft was "willing to go a long way to address the government's concerns," and then effectively ruled out a negotiated settlement by declaring Microsoft unshiftable on two key points. Speaking to a Microsoft shareholder meeting about the current antitrust trial situation, Gates stressed that …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 10:43

  • The price of empire: MS' $14bn acquisition spree

    New report follows a 20 year audit trail

    In 20 years Microsoft has spent more than $14 billion on more than 140 acquisitions and investments, according to an investigation of SEC filings, corporate documents and industry sources conducted by G2 Computer Intelligence. The resulting report, The Microsoft Empire: Roots and All, considers the question of whether Microsoft …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 11:17

  • Red Hat preps ecommerce oriented Linux upgrade

    Ads Java, journaling file system, Motif and better database support

    Red Hat yesterday announced - or rather Oracle announced on its behalf - that the next release of Red Hat Linux will integrate support for Java support, provide a journaling file system and add the Motif GUI. The Oracle connection comes from the two companies' plan to promote Oracle 8i on Linux. The notoriously anti-Microsoft …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 12:11

  • Transmeta to come out of hiding next January

    And with a notebook-oriented CPU, c't reckons

    Transmeta will launch its first processor on 19 January 2000, according to Germany's c't magazine, and not at Comdex next week after all. The terse c't report claims the chip is codenamed Crusoe because it's aimed at the notebook market. In other words, we're talking about a low-power chip, which while nonetheless welcome does …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 12:27

  • Teacher’s Net porn conviction upheld

    You can look but don't touch

    A school teacher's four-month sentence for downloading child porn from the Internet has been upheld by the Court of Appeal, setting a legal precedent. The sentence had previously been quashed on appeal but the judges ruled that downloading or printing indecent material constituted an offence. Jonathan Bowden said he was not …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 12:54

  • BT's Bonfield: No free local calls

    Net users need a range of tariffs, it seems

    BT's CEO, Sir Peter Bonfield, today ruled out any plans to introduce "free" local calls in Britain saying that "there's no such thing as a free lunch". Interviewed on BBC TV this morning, he said BT wanted to create a range of different pricing models to suit the needs of different Net users. His comments came on the day BT …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 12:56

  • US outlaws cybersquatting

    Ban to be enforced through little-known Satellite Viewers Bill

    Cybersquatting looks almost certain to be banned following the passing by the US House of Representatives of a Satellite Viewers Bill which had attached to it a cybersquatting bill. This bill is unrelated to one that was bogged down in a House-Senate conference, although the terms are very similar. Where a trademark is infringed …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 14:28

  • MSNBC blunders over poll position

    Netscape, Mac users barred from 'future of Microsoft' vote. Curious, no?

    Polls conducted on the Internet are prone to being invaded by afficionados who wish their view to prevail. There are, of course, other ways to give an incorrect picture of sentiment, such as miscounting the voting, or -- as has just happened -- having a bug that does not allow certain categories of voters to express a view. As …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 14:34

  • Windows2000.com owner sells domain to Microsoft

    Kerstein gets bob.com, 'other considerations' in return

    Windows 2000 was an unexpected name for NT 5, as is seen from Microsoft's failure to check whether the trademark Windows2000 and the domain Windows2000.com might just have been previously claimed before it barged in. As it turned out, the domain was being used, and not by a cybersquatter but by Bob Kerstein of Falls Church, …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 14:39

  • Opening Windows IV: Is the relevant market a dying market?

    Special Report Like Microsoft says, the judge's problem will probably go away anyway

    It's important that Microsoft's biggest rivals don't want to compete with Microsoft directly in the client space, because this fact is of deep significance to what the judge sees the problem as being. Prior to getting on to the juicy bits detailing sundry Microsoft hoodlumisms Judge Jackson's findings of fact define a relevant …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 15:06

  • Opening Windows III: Would promoting OEMs fix it?

    Special Report But how do you decide which OEMs, and what they're allowed to do?

    As far as Windows is concerned the needs of the OEM PC makers are pretty narrow, but promoting the OEMs as part of a solution might still attract Judge Jackson. No major PC OEM is going to want to licence a version of Windows built by a rival OEM, but if enough of them had the right to tailor their own versions it would make an …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 15:13

  • Opening Windows II: DR-Dos and IBM could have been contenders

    Special Report But that was then, not now...

    In 1995-96 a forced unbundling of OS and GUI, together with some form of source licence, would have been welcome to Novell, because it could then have continued development of DR-DOS as a desktop OS in the Intel space. Instead of this, the DR-DOS team have moved the OS into the low-resource and embedded arena. DR-DOS still …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 15:15

  • If the judge opened Windows source, who'd come?

    Special Report Nobody much is interested in fixing his MS problem, these days

    The government's current position in the Microsoft antitrust case is that any settlement, whether imposed or negotiated, will have to address all of the problems identified by Judge Jackson in his findings of fact last week. Probably the central problem, as far as the judge is concerned, is the monopoly he says Microsoft holds …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 15:17

  • Virgin shakes up mobile market with One2One deal

    Claims to offer simplified tariff structure

    Virgin is promising to cut mobile phone bills by a third with the launch of non-contract phones from Virgin Mobile. Speaking at today's launch in London, Richard Branson said the company would offer a simple, one-tariff system without contracts. This applies to pay-as-you-go and billed customers. Virgin Mobile, a joint venture …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 15:26

  • Compaq targets Web-dazed corporates with iPaq

    Stick an 'i' on the front, tell punters its got Net access, sell buckloads. Sorted

    Compaq's iPaq may not share the iMac's colourful casing, but the principles behind are exactly the same: provide a cheap, task-specific (in this case, Internet access) PC in an attempt to save the vendor's bacon. It certainly appears to have worked for Apple, but will it work for Compaq? The key to the iPaq is not its iMac- …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 16:05

  • BT's knockers reject flat-rate plans

    AOL, Energis, hit out at new tariff

    BT's sparkling bid to slash the cost of dial-up Net access to service providers is rapidly losing its lustre. Energis, the telco behind Freeserve, claims that BT has not come clean about the true cost of the new service to ISPs. Not only will there be extra charges over and above what BT has already published, Energis claims BT …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 16:10

  • Buy booze online

    At last! You can only take so many CDs and books

    Call it Anglicising the Web, a recognition of UK culture or just plain old commonsense, but the Web is starting to become really useful with the launch of two online off-licences. One, by high-street store Oddbins, has been set up to cash in on a champagne frenzy for the New Year. Going for your classy consumer, the site offers …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 16:14

  • Lord Chancellor's department goes to ground over banned Web site

    Own goal leaves legal eagles' feathers ruffled

    The Web site closed down after its ISP had been warned by the Lord Chancellor's department of its "offensive" material has proliferated on the Internet following media attention. The site, run by James Hulbert, accused five judges of acting corruptly. Following the site's removal, however, several parties, including Hulbert, …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 16:39

  • 08004u scuppered by 22,000 unauthorised users

    Plans to give every user their own 0800 number

    Scottish ISP, 08004u, shut down its 0800 access service last night after being overwhelmed by 22,000 Net users who gained unauthorised access to the unmetered service. It appears details of how to gain access to the service while bypassing the £49.99 a month were circulated on newsgroups giving some Net the opportunity to run …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 17:07

  • Register channel hits MyNetscape

    Read our headlines in your MyNetscape homepage

    If you're a MyNetscape user, you can now view Register headlines by adding our channel to your MyNetscape homepage. Simply click on the ADD REGISTER CHANNEL link below and your browser will automatically install The Register's channel for immediate viewing. If you don't have a MyNetcenter homepage, you'll be asked to set one up …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 17:15

  • Radio Shack to push broadband MSN

    Five year deal with giant of electrical retailing

    Microsoft has struck a five-year deal with Tandy's retail outlets in the US to push high speed Web access. The software vendor will start a "store within a store" in up to 7000 Radio Shack shops in the US. It will use Radio Shack's 25,000 staff to demonstrate and sign customers up to its MSN dial-up or broadband access. …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 17:47

  • Expedia IPO suggests there's gold in an MS break-up

    Go figure - if you can sell one bit for this much, how long can you keep the stockholders from wanting more?

    Microsoft's Expedia IPO closed at $53 yesterday, up from the $14 offer price which had been hiked from the original $10 to $12. It marks a rally in IPOs and shows underlying strength in the travel sector in particular. At the close, the gain was 277 per cent, but at one point, it reached 471 per cent. Microsoft sold just 15 per …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 19:50

  • Bill speaks on integration, lawyering and Linux

    Stuff from the shareholders' meeting you probably didn't read elsewhere...

    When he was talking to shareholders yesterday Bill Gates didn't just deal with the trial. Remember this is probably the most favourable audience he could ever had (so long as the stock price stays up), so they get to ask serious questions, and they get answers that are a cut above your average press conference. That process …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 19:56

  • No hooplah to Intel Rambus performance, analyst claims

    Intel beleaguered on all fronts (Part 1)

    A semiconductor analyst has written a piece about Rambus and synchronous DRAM which appears to damn the former and praise the latter. Bert McComas, over at InQuest, has posted a lengthy piece comparing the performance between DDR (double data rate) memory and Rambus. According to McComas, there is no perceptible performance …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 23:00

  • Merced, Pentium patents threatened in $8 billion suit

    Intel beleaguered on all fronts (Part 2)

    Techsearch LLC, which earlier this year threatened Intel with all sorts of dire consequences, seems to have won the first round in its legal fight against the chip giant. The patent in question relates to technology first designed by a firm called International Meta, which was originally under the wing of Apple. International …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 23:12

  • AMD confirms 750 Athlon a go-go, mentions Register in despatches

    Intel beleaguered on all fronts (Part 3)

    A conference call between analysts and chip firm Advanced Micro Devices has confirmed that a 750MHz Athlon is close to the starting gate. AMD told the analysts that it had managed to produce a 750MHz Athlon ahead of all expectations, but also said that the average selling price of its flash memory had suffered degradation. Top …

    Business 11 Nov 1999, 23:33