22nd March 2000 Archive

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Disabled people represent the true digital divide

IT offers much to those least likely to use it -- report

Disabled Americans are missing out on a good deal of the benefit which IT can offer them, a new study concludes. Only twenty-four percent of disabled Americans own computers compared with a national average of over fifty, and only ten percent use the Internet compared with a national average of thirty-eight, according to a …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 07:57
IPO values Caldera at $1.2 billion

Strong debut defies NASDAQ jitters

Despite worries that the Linux stock boom may have run its course, yesterday's float by Caldera Systems more than doubled the price of the five million shares offered in difficult market conditions, partly resulting from the expected Fed rise in interest rates. NASDAQ dropped more than 200 points in the first hour, but Caldera …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 08:23
Kymata to bring light to UK dark fibre

US dosh will fund second Scots opto fab

An injection of US money means that a Scottish startup is able to build a second wafer fabrication plant in Silicon Glen. Kymata, a private limited company based in Livingston, received funds this month of $72 million from US venture capitalists, with the lion's share coming from Kleiner Peck, said Barbara Fitzpatrick, marketing …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 09:04
Hackers can control military assets remotely

Anyone care for a nightmare?

Army officials are concerned that skilled computer enthusiasts, and in particular those engaged by hostile military organisations, can hack into military weapons systems and control them remotely, Federal Computer Week reports. The potential exists for hackers to access computerised systems used for navigation and weapons …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 09:07
Rambust kicked in goolies by Big Blue

Ouch! The roller coaster ride from memory hell

Shares in volatile memory company Rambus (ticker: RMBS) fell sharply on Wall Street again yesterday, aided and abetted by IBM, which has never really liked the firm, or the technology anyway. IBM said it has a faster double data rate (DDR) chip under its corporate sleeves than the one Rambus and Intel are cajoling semiconductor …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 09:39
Cash Register: 1-14 Mar, 2000

Tales from The Bubble Economy

14 Mar 2000 Lastminute jumps -- but punters get next to no shares 13 Mar 2000 250,000 flock to register for Lastminute IPO RealCall has unveiled plans to float, with an IPO that would give it a value of around £100 million. The company develops software and services that enables people visiting Web sites to log their telephone …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 10:19
Net minnows Carlton and WH Smith huddle close

Second division players team up

WH Smith and Carlton Online have climbed into bed, with a cross-promotion deal which will see them share ecommerce revenues. Carlton, the UK's second biggest commercial TV station, will dish out £15 million worth of advertising for free to WH Smith, on TV, online and on the cinema screen, to promote the joint venture. On its Web …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 10:34
Mr Oxford University accuses Oxford University of murder

Cybersquatter on the offensive

An Australian man has changed his name to Oxford University in a bid to settle a domain name row with the esteemed uni. The self-confessed cybersquatter, formerly known as Doc Seagle, has taken legal advice and reckons he'll be safe from any legal challenge by the academic institution. Other sources claim Mr University - Oxford …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 11:02
Tiny Online touts 24/7 Net for 'less than £30' per month

Sounds like BT Surftime's behind this

Tiny Online, the ISP and e-tailing arm of the PC manufacturer, is to offer flat-fee unmetered access to the Net. 24/7 access will cost less than £30 a month, and offpeak unmetered access will set users back less than £10, according to Colin Greene, GM of Tiny Online. He wouldn't say exactly how much it would cost or name the …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 11:41
SuSE Linux 6.4 to ship 3 April

Easiest Linux to install - ever, claims company

European Linux distributor SuSE will ship the next major release of its incarnation of the open source operating system on 3 April, the company said yesterday. SuSE Linux 6.4's USP is ease of installation. The company claims 6.4 will be the least fiddly version of the OS to install, thanks to its much-improved graphical …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 11:50
Distie stung with fake Compaq memory

CRN also reports chip theft in crime-packed issue

Hurrah for CRN UK for two big crime stories. First up is the "major UK distributor (which) has admitted that it has up to £200,000 worth of fake Compaq memory on its shelves". CRN funks it, by declining to name the distie, which said it bought the product, packaged for retail, from a broker which claimed that it had sourced …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 12:05
SCO falls into sales black hole

...But climbing out RSN

SCO expects its Q2 sales for the period ending 31 March to be "significantly lower" than anticipated, because of "Y2K-related delays and other effects". But in mitigation, reseller activity is returning to previous levels, accordig to feedback from channel partners noted by CEO Doug Michels. SCO also issued a profits warning in …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 12:06
Marks out of ten for the Chancellor

We revisit PwC's ten Budget tips and see how they stand now

Earlier this week The Register published PricewaterhouseCoopers' (PwC) Ten Top Tips for the Chancellor ahead of yesterday's Budget. There was lots of talk in the wake of Gordon Brown's speech of the boost to the UK e-conomy, but just how did it stand up against PwC's list of recommendations? Ian McDade, tax partner at the PwC …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 12:16
Apple movie marketeer joins Palm

PowerBook product placement

Palm yesterday announced a number of senior appointments yesterday, but one of the most interesting selections was Satjiv Cahil as Palm's chief marketing officer. As almost all of the newswires have pointed out, Cahil is an ex-Apple marketing staffer. He's also a former Sony employee, and with Sony already an official PalmOS …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 12:22
Carry on Falling – Lastminute shares

Private investors take stock

Lastminute.com continued to plumb the depths of ever darker shades of red for its army of small investors today. By lunchtime, lastminute.com shares had hit 285p, down 35p on the morning. It is now some 95p lower than its offer price. Yesterday, small investors were looking at losses of some £40. Today, it's even more and anyone …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 12:50
Laddish One 2 One attempts corporate breakthrough

They've got the troughs and they're going for it

The newly formed multimedia division of telephone firm One 2 One said today that it is to break into the corporate data sector, courtesy of IBM, Sun and its parent, Deutsche Telekom. John Drinkwater, marketing head at One 2 One's UK operation, said that an analysis of the firm's call pattern reveals it has 20 million units of …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 15:28
Europe unleashes second probe into MS

Can't even spend $3bn on a little cable company without Brussels chipping in, apparently...

Microsoft has found itself on the receiving end of a second European Commission investigation, over its proposed purchase of a 29.9 per cent stake in UK cable company Telewest. The Commission already has an antitrust investigation of Microsoft building up steam, and earlier this week extended the deadline for Microsoft to supply …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 15:32
Ban Quake, Home Office adviser demands

Menace to Society

British kids should be banned from playing gory computer games, a Home Office adviser has warned. PC games which celebrate murder and mutilation encourage youngsters already predisposed to violence to commit crimes and become a menace to Society, said forensic psychologist Professor Kevin Browne. "It is gory for gory's sake. If …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 15:37
Cyrix folk walk out after Via revelation

Updated Nine frontline mutineers say this is no bounty

Nine frontline staff at Cyrix's old HQ in Richardson, Texas, walked out yesterday just a day after the CEO of Via said wanted to spin off the CPU division of his company as a separate going concern. According to sources in Richardson, Steve McMahan, former director of engineering, and eight other key people left the firm …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 15:48
Internet pharmacies draw fire on Capitol Hill

Most sites are mere electronic crack houses

There are roughly six legitimate Internet pharmacies on line, and approximately four hundred rogue operators selling prescription drugs and controlled substances without compunction, Kansas Attorney General Carla Stovall said in testimony before the Senate Health Committee Tuesday. American consumers have unfettered access to …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 15:54
First fake Athlons spotted

ComputerNerd issues alert

A US reseller has warned consumers to be on the lookout for ersatz Athlons. ComputerNerd USA recently received a shipment of counterfeit AMD Athlons. It said its suspicions were aroused after staff noticed that the packaging on the chips appeared to have been tampered with. The plastic cartridge back covers on the fakes were …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 16:01
German firm registers MP3 as trademark

It appears that observations are welcome

A German company appears to have registered the MP3 name as its trademark and in accordance with European Union rules is awaiting observations from any parties who may be interested. Hypermedia GmbH Webcasting has registered MP3, one of the most commonly hit words on major search engines, in respect for hardware and software for …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 16:30
MS code leak ‘ships’ Win 2001 a year early

Looks chillingly like Win2k. Here we go again, folks...

Early code of Whistler, the next version of Windows 2000, due to go into beta by mid-year, has escaped onto the Web. Microsoft seems to have confirmed that the code is genuine by saying it's investigating the breakout, but is so far taking a pretty laid-back attitude. As well it might - reports indicate that there's nothing …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 17:12
Office 2k SR-1 makes registration with MS compulsory

Makes life easier for consumers and harder for pirates, it says here...

Compulsory registration for Microsoft Office is a reality, following the arrival of Service Release 1 (SR-1) for Office 2000 yesterday. As The Registerreported earlier this year, SR-1 reincorporates the Registration Wizard that appeared during Office 2k beta, and if you haven't registered the product after 50 uses, it stops …

Business 22 Mar 2000, 17:19