5th January 2000 Archive

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Analysts bullish about Apple ahead of Expo announcements

Expect good news from Steve Jobs, they say

Investment bank Saloman Smith Barney (SSB) today dubbed Apple's stock an outperformer and raised its target price to $115. At the same time, Warburg Dillon Read said it expects the stock, marked 'buy', to reach $125. Both statements come in anticipation of some good news from Apple interim CEO Steve Jobs' keynote at Macworld …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 01:12
SuSE Linux joins Debian to embrace Mac

Adds 'x86 world' credibility to existing Linux-on-PowerPC projects

SuSE is to join Debian as the second major Linux distributor to expand its horizons beyond the x86 world to the PowerPC processor in general and the Mac in particular. A "beta quality" version of SuSE 6.3 for the Mac will be unveiled tomorrow at MacWorld Expo, here in San Francisco. The finished release is set to ship in the …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 01:12
Celerons and Linux to power Intel Web appliances

Window of opportunity shuts for Microsoft

Intel will announce its plans for consumer Web appliances at a conference in Las Vegas today. The company is to sell appliances with the Intel logo to telecom operators and service providers, which will then sell them on to consumers. These are not PCs running any version of Windows, which is not good news for Microsoft, given …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 10:24
Big Q pundit gazes into Compaq 2000 crystal ball

Busy year on the Alpha front

Assiduous Digital, and latterly Compaq watcher, Terry Shannon, has outlined his ideas on the company's plans for the year 2000. In the latest edition of his newsletter, Shannon knows Compaq, he offers 10 predictions on product and other developments throughout the year. Shannon agrees with The Register that the delayed "Wildfire …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 10:52
Gov't slammed for serial IT blunders

Spend! Spend! Spend! Failure! Failure! Failure!

Basic errors repeated time and time again are to blame for the British Government's inability to deliver major IT projects on time and within budget. That's the conclusion of a damning report published today by the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) which claims taxpayers are footing the bill for the Government's blundering IT …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 11:45
Ingram steps into WStore CHS breach

Ecommerce dealer aims to double sales

Online reseller WStore has made Ingram Micro its sole distributor in the UK. Ingram steps into the shoes of now defunct distributor CHS Electronics UK, which WStore previously used to distribute its IT products in this country. The Internet-only PC dealership said the partnership would allow it to increase its product portfolio …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 12:02
Compaq buys Inacom's PC operations

So much for channel assembly

Compaq has stepped up its direct business by paying $370 million cash for Inacom’s PC assembly facilities. The deal, predicted here last month, will see the US distributor hand over its four US assembly and distribution operations and 2,500 staff, as well as its systems for managing customer orders online. The agreement is …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 13:01
MS Office blocks Linux progress on desktop, says VA chief

Control of applications is Microsoft's real key asset

Office, not Windows, is Microsoft's real killer asset, according to VA Linux Systems CEO Larry Augustin. In an interview with CNBC yesterday Augustin described MS Office as "the one big application" in the desktop arena, and said Linux wouldn't make serious headway here until a strong enough rival appeared. That doesn't mean …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 13:34
Golf snobs turn backs on scruffy Gates

We don't want your sort round here

Bill Gates is cocking a snook at uptight golf snobs, by building his very own £20 million golf course. The exclusive Vintage Country Club in Indian Wells, California laid into the world's richest man for looking too scruffy, in a case of the Emperor's Old Clothes. Vintage rebuked the Microsoft chairman for wearing a T-shirt on …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 14:11
2000 is the year of the Rambus

Shaking free from launch embarrassment

Direct Rambus DRAM could be in office machines and consumer electronics as early as 2001 as prices fall. By the end of this year, the high-speed next generation memory chip is expected to account for 16 per cent of the DRAM market, with 270 million units sold, according to a Nikkei Market Access survey. Four companies Toshiba, …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 15:35
Virgin dotcoms banking arm

Australian analysts leak 'secret information'

Richard Branson's Virgin has attempted to dampened speculation that it is set to open an Internet bank to compete with Egg, Smile and e-bank in Britain. The company said that a plan to create a Net bank was just one of a number of options currently being considered by the financial branch of the group, Virgin Direct. Virginmoney …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 15:40
Seven alternative uses for an Intel Bunny Suit

The $700 kit has unexpected uses

1. It is the best contraceptive mankind ever invented. 2. Young people will envy your trendy fab gear. 3. It will keep the rain out as you're walking to the fab. 4. You will never have to buy a deodorant again because Intel forbids you from wearing deodorants in a bunny suit. 5. You will never be bothered by your partner for …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 15:47
Millennium Bug prophet receives death threats

And the $10 million eBay bid is off as well

Defrocked prophet of Y2K doom Peter de Jager claims to have received death threats from a number of followers disppointed by the rollover's lack of destructive effects, today's Express reports. "One death threat in particular began with profanities and the person on the phone made it abundantly clear that my life is now at risk …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 16:00
Computacenter ‘theft’ arrests

In Brief: two on police bail

Two former Computacenter employees have been arrested on suspicion of theft of Computacenter property. The men were arrested in December and are currently on police bail pending further enquiries, according to St. Albans police. Neither have been charged. ®

Business 5 Jan 2000, 16:06
Millennium Bug prophet ‘not upset’ by $10m eBay hoax

Bidder goes to ground

It's been confirmed that the record-breaking $10 million bid for the Web address year2000.com was a hoax. The bogus bid for the Web site address was made via the online auction house eBay after the current owner decided to sell it. Had the sale gone through it would have been the highest amount paid for a Web address. The …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 16:43
Ma Bell and BT sing in Concert

$10 billion deal is finalised

AT&T and British Telecommunications Plc announced today that their $10 billion joint venture, Concert, has been signed, sealed and delivered. Concert will combine both companies' international networks, traffic, and business products. "This is a new company for the new Millennium addressing the massive growth in e-business in …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 17:01
Compaq flogs blue breadbins to the masses

Retro-PCs styled for consumers

Compaq is to launch an easy-to-use Internet range of Presario PCs from $999. The Houston vendor is today unveiling plans for its desktop Presario EZ2000 series, with one-touch Web access, at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas. The two models, aimed at home users, will be based on either the Intel Celeron or Pentium III …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 17:05
Intel Linux devices challenge MS – but at the server end

Analysis There's a whole pile of middleware being pointed at the service providers too...

Intel's shiny new web appliances do indeed shun Windows in favour of Linux, but a closer examination of Intel's strategy makes it clear that this is the least of the headaches Chipzilla is presenting its 'ally' Microsoft with. Aside from building a range of cheap, Intel-branded access devices the company is proposing to …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 19:41
Apple's Jobs declared CEO for life

Drops 'interim' from job-title -- and about time too

Apple's senior executives, most of the rest of the company's staff and the Mac faithful were all granted their most cherished wish today when Steve Jobs struck the 'interim' from his job title to become Apple's full-time CEO. Two-and-a-half years on from the palace coup that saw off Gil Amelio the previous CEO, Gil Amelio, an …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 20:20
MS gives Californians $400 each to buy computers

Just go to Best Buy, sign up for MSN, then cancel...

Microsoft is giving Californians a $400 gift to help them buy computers, according to the estimable San Jose Mercury. Of course, this isn't happening by design - it's just a strange coincidence of MSN incentivisation and Californian consumer law. It works like this. When shopping at Best Buy and a few other stores, you sign up …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 21:16
Apple unveils MacOS X, readies ‘classic’ OS' retirement

Next-gen GUI wows crowd, but a long way to go before it ships

Apple officially launched MacOS X today and, effectively reversing the company's previous system software strategy, signed the death warrant for the current, 'classic' version of the Mac operating system. Of course, 'launching' and 'releasing' are two very different concepts in the IT business, so Mac users won't get their hands …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 21:20
Tech stocks take a battering

The large print giveth and the small print taketh away

Headline-grabbing valuations have lately given way to small-print corrections in tech stocks, which in turn have initiated an overall contraction in stock indices worldwide. Euro STOXX fell today for a five per cent loss, while the Eurotop 300 index was off 1.8 per cent. European tech, telecoms and media shares took a battering …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 21:55
Apple's Internet strategy takes shape

Jobs looks to Net as next Apple revenue stream, prepares ground for move on info appliance market

Steve Jobs finally unveiled Apple's long-awaited Internet strategy during his keynote at Macworld Expo today - the only one of the many rumoured keynote topics the Apple CEO actually spoke about. However, the plan doesn't go as far as many observers had expected. The Mac maker was believed to be planning a branded Internet …

Business 5 Jan 2000, 22:42