3rd February 2000 Archive

Browse by publication date, or search the site.

Torvalds hails commercialisation of Linux

No clash with open source values

For someone who "doesn't like doing talks", Linus Torvalds makes a pretty good fist of public speaking. Yesterday, the self-described Poster Boy for Linux took to the stage at the main conference hall in New York's Jacob Javits Center and played the packed audience (several thousand strong) like a seasoned pro. And, from his …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 07:26
China shuts down Internet cafes

Threat to Communist state secrets

Officials in Shanghai have raided and shut down 127 Internet cafes because they posed a threat to state secrets. The establishments were all unlicensed and had been selling and distributing material banned by communist China. Some 192 computers and 110 CD-ROMs were seized in what was the city's fourth raid since last April, …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 09:00
Channel Flannel Extra

What the channel papers say

Haven't got time to read this week's Computer Reseller News or MicroScope? Don't worry, we've read 'em for you. Here's our round-up of some of the channel weeklies' best stories. MicroScope Ideal Hardware is about to fall into the clutches of Ingram Micro. Sources claimed the US distributor was in talks to buy Ideal, InterX's …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 09:05
More Intel chip, chipset details leak

Willamette up to 1.4GHz

Overclocking site Hard OCP has published details of up and coming announcements from Intel during the year. According to the story, Solano II and Camino II will be designated the 815e and the 820e, while a 1GHz Pentium III is slated for the third quarter of this year. The roadmap shows a 933MHz Pentiun III in June, although our …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 11:39
Online store security holes let hackers buy at cut price

Shopping cart apps vulnerable to price tampering

A security hole in some web-based shopping cart systems allows shoppers to edit the data and buy items at reduced prices, according to an ISS (Internet Security Systems) X-Force security alert issued this week. According to X-Force, 11 shopping cart applications used by e-commerce sites are vulnerable to this kind of malicious …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 11:59
Opera debuts latest Linux browser release

Still in alpha, but progressing quickly

Browser terrorists Opera Software this week showed off the latest Linux version of their eponymous Web viewer, Opera. Alas, Opera for Linux 4.0 remains in its alpha testing phase, leading the company to admit it "isn't usable as a full browser", but Opera is at least pushing ahead with its development programme. "[Development is …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 12:21
AOL scoffs at class action

Punters gets their defaults in a twist

The class-action lawsuit filed against AOL, which alleges that its software displays cuckoo-like tendencies by displacing other Internet accounts when loaded, is nothing more than a storm in a teacup. Well, that's according to Rich D'Amato, the AOL spokesman who said that the lawsuit had "no basis in fact or law." Filed on …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 12:44
Transmeta Crusoe explained

Any comparison with ARM is simply fruity

Our friends at IT Network have published a lengthy piece on their site which goes into detail into the significance of Transmeta's Crusoe technology, which caused such a stir in Silicon Valley last month. It rips apart the claim that ARM technology is in any way related to Crusoe, saying that this is an apple and oranges …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 13:02
Sony to sell online via 9000 in-store terminals

Order online, by collect and pay for your goods at bricks'n'mortar locations

Sony's plan to dominate e-commerce took a curious step forward today, as the company's Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE) division announced a scheme to entice buyers online through kiosks to be located in over 9000 Japanese retail outlets from convenience stores to music shops. According to Reuters, SCE has signed 11 companies, …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 13:04
States MS brief: Bork aims to undermine appeal court ruling

MS on Trial 'No shelter for illegal conduct,' he says

Judge Robert Bork has been prominent on the sidelines of the Microsoft case. He's a former US solicitor general, federal appeals judge, a believer in "constitutional originalism", and the author of a much-cited antitrust tome. He's also a pal of Judge Posner, the Chicago-based mediator. Microsoft tried to recruit him to advise …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 13:19
'Monopoly, predation' – trade body brief foams at MS

MS on Trial Legally dubious, mayhap, but a rollicking good read...

In some ways it's a surprise that the amicus brief for the DoJ was written by the Software and Information Association Industry Association, but perhaps the DoJ knew that the Association for Competitive Technology was being invited by Microsoft to do its Amicus. Certainly, "the world's largest trade association representing the …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 13:23
Supreme Court may have to decide on MS tying, says Lessig

MS on Trial And on current precedents, Microsoft could yet escape

Did Microsoft illegally tie Internet Explorer to Windows? That depends on how you interpret the law, and the law itself is in urgent need of clarification, according to Harvard Law School professor Lawrence Lessig. Lessig had been asked by Microsoft trial judge Thomas Penfield Jackson to produce a brief dealing with the tying …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 13:25
DoubleClick hit by email privacy war

Users urged to hit back at plans to compile mega database

The Internet's largest advertising company, DoubleClick, is under fire from a leading consumer rights group as the row over the way it collects and uses Net users' personal data escalates. The group - the Center for Democracy and Technology (CDT) - is calling upon Net users to bombard DoubleClick with emails urging the ads giant …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 13:32
Mirror editor in Viglen share-deal row

Paper's 'exclusive' scooped by The Register months ago

Daily Mirror editor Piers Morgan is being investigated by the Stock Exchange after it emerged he bought shares in Viglen Technology the day before they were tipped by his paper. The share-dealing row, which has even embroiled The Register, goes back to 17 January when the tabloid editor paid £20,000 for shares in the London PC …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 14:32
The Internet will give you a lift – official

Is this the daftest idea so far this year?

Forget brain-numbing musak next time you're in a lift (US, elevator) IBM has come up with something altogether far more irritating. Instead of piped sounds, a flat screen monitor called an e*Display will feature different pages from the Web. Of course, what's not clear is how the system will work. For example, will it need its …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 14:44
Sad geezer auctions himself on eBay

He's doing it for Valentine's Day - talk about a cupid stunt

Lovesick John Alanis has put himself up for auction on eBay to try and find himself a date for Valentine's Day. Alanis -- who describes himself as 5'7", fit, and with blue eyes -- has only managed to attract $45 since bidding began last week. The auction closes tomorrow. The e-Romeo said: "The way I see it, prospective dates can …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 15:54
Oi, don't get Fresh with us

New meeja — same old problems

There's at least 20 reasons why prospective Internet companies looking for a PR agency to do their voodoo spin work should choose London-based Fresh Communications Ltd. That's how many times they sent the same effing release today to an already overworked inbox. Nuff said. ®

Business 3 Feb 2000, 15:54
AMD spells out mobile plans for 2000

Mobile K6-III plus and K6-2+ real soon now™

While mobile Athlons will not arrive until close to the end of this year, AMD aims to bridge the gap by introducing Gemini-based chips before June, it said today. Gemini is similar technology to Intel's SpeedStep mobile processors, which help to increase the length of time a notebook will stay active. Richard Baker, marketing …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 16:01
Transmeta IPO: maybe this year, maybe not, says CEO

Dave 'Definitely, Maybe' Ditzel srikes again

Transmeta appears to be taking its 'will they? won't they?' approach to chip announcements to the company's financial future. Speaking at a Banc of America Securities conference in San Francisco yesterday, Transmeta CEO Dave Ditzel told the assembled gathering of analysts that "it is possible we could do an IPO" during 2000. Or …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 16:08
Samsung at work on $200 ‘disposable’ PC

Era of ten-PC households fast approaching

Samsung plans to use Intel's upcoming system-on-a-chip silicon to produce what it reckons will be the first disposable PC, coming in at a price -- under $200 -- that makes upgrading unnecessary. "At an under-$200 price point, the PC has no need to be upgraded -- it will simply be replaced," Bob Eminian, VP of marketing at …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 16:48
IBM releases Journaled File System to open source

From Wide Open News

IBM cemented its commitment to Linux today, announcing a series of new initiatives -- including the contribution of code and four developers to building an enterprise-class journaled file system. Lack of such a system has hampered to some degree Linux's adoption by enterprise-class and ecommerce customers. And no surprise: a …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 16:55
Intel plays five per cent rule six times in three days

Quokka Sports? What that?

Intel has filed a total of six form SC 13Gs with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the last three days, showing that it has made investments of less than five per cent in the different firms. The ownership statements cover smarterkids.com, Quokka Sports Inc, Liquid Audio Inc, Launch Media Inc, VA Linux Systems Inc …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 17:00
UK gov to shake up telco regs

Britain to maintain leading position in digital age

The government is planning to introduce new measures to reform the regulation of telecommunications and broadcasting in Britain. It claims the new measures are necessary to keep Britain at the "forefront of the digital age". A White Paper due to be unveiled later this year will look at a number of issues including tracking the …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 17:13
VA Linux buys Slashdot.org

Along with the rest of Andover.net

VA Linux Systems is to buy Andover.net, owner of Slashdot, Freshmeat.net and a clutch of disparate Linux Web sites, for $1 billion in shares and some cash. Speaking at LinuxWorld Expo, Larry Augustin, VA's CEO, said the company would pull the Andover sites into a "great developer community and resource online to drive open …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 17:57
Linus praises ‘good fragmentation’

No Unix Disease here

"Open source," according to Linus Torvalds, "forces people to live in harmony, even when they don't want to." The Linux community will not catch the "Unix Disease with lots of resources going the wrong way (through vendors catfights)". Java is dying too, because it's catching the Unix Disease, Torvalds says. During his Linux …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 20:54
IBM dubs Linux as realistic champion against NT

It's not your father's OS2

Big Blue is embracing the open source movement in general, and Linux in particular, with a vengeance, and no doubt with the painful lessons of their spectacularly unsuccessful OS/2 still in mind. The company is moving ahead with ambitious plans to produce various network systems built around Linux, which it will be able to …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 21:12
Black Douglas slaughters other Scot, native New Yorker

Not much change there, then...

Knowing, as we did, that we were living life to the edge, and having to meet Mike Capellas and Enrico Pesatori the very next morning, last Tuesday evening when the office closed, we decided to take our chances and tip up and see Gervas "Black" Douglas, and his erstwhile boss, Mike Passmore. Mike was Gervas' boss at Novell, and …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 22:03
Psion wins huge UK gov contract

Deloitte Touche brokers it

Psion has won a deal with the UK government to supply several hundred thousand handheld devices to civil servants, according to sources. The deal is being brokered by Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, an accountancy consultant company. The Register understands the products will be used by various government departments to record …

Business 3 Feb 2000, 23:01