24th December 1999 Archive

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Via takes further stake in S3

Not quite a takeover... yet

Taiwanese chipset and microprocessor vendor Via has increased its stake in graphics company S3. That follows rumours a few days ago that S3 was the target of Via's attentions. Via has bought 10.8 million shares of S3 at $13.50 a share, with the ostensible reason being given that the deal is to "strengthen the partnership and …

Business 24 Dec 1999, 09:08
AMD sued over patent

Updated Individual files in California

One of our readers seems to have turned up trumps over a legal action being taken against AMD over alleged patent violation. According to the reader, the patent in question (see original story below) is to do with a method for testing semiconductors during their manufacture. He points to this entry at at the US Patent Office …

Business 24 Dec 1999, 09:30
S3 damns Nvidia ‘negotating tactic’ lawsuit

Which could explain why Nvidia won't say what it's about...

S3 today slammed rival 3D graphics company Nvidia for launching legal action as a mere bargaining counter against S3's own lawsuit against its rival, launched in May 1998. An S3 spokesman described Nvidia's complaint that S3 has violated its intellectual property rights as "completely without merit", the standard line companies …

Business 24 Dec 1999, 11:17
Tosh, Microsoft thrashed over Windows notebook licence

But don't think it's easy -- it's not

An Australian end user deserves a fabled Register pin for winning a battle to get his money back for an operating system he didn't want. Geoffrey Bennett, a Linux fan, fought a long and sometimes acrimonious fight to make Toshiba refund A$110 because although he wanted the notebook, he didn't want the Microsoft operating system …

Business 24 Dec 1999, 11:50