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20th July 2000 Archive

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  • Windows 2000 SP1 delayed

    Security issues to blame?

    Microsoft has put back the release to manufacture of Windows 2000 Service Pack 1. Originally due earlier this week, the monstro 83MB patch is now scheduled for release on 24 July and should be available for web download a few days later. The software giant is keeping mum on the actual causes of the delay, but the word on the …

    Software 20 Jul 2000, 00:23

  • Cyrix stands up to Chipzilla with 1GHz Samuel

    Competitive, but not necessarily cheapest

    VIA Cyrix, long derided by Intel as a mere imitator, plans to hit 1GHz with its Samuel 2 Celeron rival. Having dumped its plainly daft PR ratings (Certain Intel insiders really got hot under the collar over that one), it now plans to go head to head with Celery on performance. VIA's director of marketing, Dean Hays, told The …

    Channel 20 Jul 2000, 03:46

  • AMD doubles chip sales in Q2

    Splits stock - my how things change

    Chip challenger AMD turned in revenues of $1.17 billion with net profits of $207.1 million for its second quarter, attributing its good results to a combination of increased microprocessor revenues along with strong sales of flash memory. Year on year, and quarter on quarter, revenues doubled, but this time last year AMD's …

    Channel 20 Jul 2000, 06:52

  • Caldera, SCO deny takeover talks

    You can't surf in Utah

    According to reports - well, one anyway - Caldera Systems and the Santa Cruz Operation are in discussions which could see the Linux company acquire SCO's OpenServer and UnixWare operating systems. SCO also owns the rights to the Unix trademark, and sits atop a pile of ye originale AT&T Unix code, some of which it's been …

    Software 20 Jul 2000, 07:34

  • Intel red-faced over Red Hat erratumnotbug

    Headless networks and headless chickens

    A large UK university - we're not naming names - is livid because of an Intel erratum which is preventing it from rolling out 1U headless servers running RedHat Linux, which it wanted to adminster remotely. But a problem at Emission Boulevard, Intel's HQ, means that the boffins at the uni, rather than install commodity x86 …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 07:57

  • AOL gets further into bed with RealNetworks

    AV online party time

    AOL has signed a deal with RealNetworks to install its Internet media software throughout its network. The US ISP will use the RealSystem 8 software to pump out interactive and broadband entertainment to its 23 million customers. As part of the deal, AOL will get to include a new piece of RealNetworks software - used for …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 09:05

  • Excite makes Tories the top for tits

    A lesson for all porn hunters

    A boob at Excite.co.uk seems to have mysteriously connected William Hague with women's chests. One vulture-eyed Register reader today spotted that all was not right with the excite.co.uk search engine. While hunting for sites under the word "tits" (obviously someone with too much time on his hands), he found that top of the …

    Election 2001 20 Jul 2000, 09:05

  • Two new exploits run without victims' action

    And guess whose $oftware is implicated....

    It's been a busy week for software bug hunters. First, users of Microsoft Outlook and Outlook Express will be bitterly disappointed to learn that they are now potential sport of an e-mail exploit which will run automatically, without any action from the victim, a possibility which has been predicted for years while Redmond has …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 09:59

  • OJ Simpson goes on line with Web Q&A

    'Um, so how long does a blonde take to bleed to death?'

    Acquitted murder suspect of the century OJ Simpson will appear on a series of US television programmes next week, including NBC's Today show and ABC's The View, to tout a new Web site created for him to take questions from the public, called AskOJ.com. The site is the tasteless brainchild of a company calling itself …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 10:01

  • Anand gives Duron overclocking masterclass

    Our guide to the hardware that's out there

    To start off with, Anand has being doing some detective work and discovered how to overclock the Duron, following his earlier investigations into the whole TBird/Duron debate. A few pins adjusted here and there and Hey Presto! Except there is more to it than that, so check out his musings for yourselves. Back to the new …

    Hardware Roundup 20 Jul 2000, 10:14

  • Spot Register a weekly update

    Memories, drives, CPUs made of this

    While many firms in the PC world live and die by price lists, buying through authorised distribution and dealers and generally playing it safe, there's a continuous frenetic undercurrent in which key components are bought and sold. This is the so-called Spot Market. Once a week, we're able to bring you these movements, thanks …

    Spot Register 20 Jul 2000, 10:20

  • Linux grows 666 per cent in Japan

    Woe to you, oh earth and sea... and servers?

    Linux share of the Japanese server OS market grew a staggering 666.3 per cent last year, market research company IDC has reported. Of course, that doesn't imply the open source OS dominates the market now. According to IDC Japan's numbers, by the end of 1999, Linux accounted for only four per cent of the server OS market, up …

    Software 20 Jul 2000, 10:25

  • The lateness of Intel's Mercedium

    Analysis AMD Leaves on the corporate line

    We met at nine. We met at eight. I was on time. No, you were late. Ah yes! I remember it well. -- Alan J. Lerner Over the last six years of The Register's existence we have written many a tale about Intel's 64-bit platform , formerly known as Merced but now re-christened The Itanic. Many of those stories have been about delays …

    Channel 20 Jul 2000, 10:44

  • Veritas slams UK government

    Taxation policy "out of touch with reality"

    The UK government's tax regime and approach to IT companies has been blamed for storage software company Veritas' scheme to halve its investment in the UK. Veritas is setting its European HQ in Reading, but because it is scaling back investment it says it will now create just half of the 4000 jobs it had planned. The jobs come …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 11:19

  • New UI types hidden in Windows Whistler preview code

    Here's a couple we decided not to unveil yet...

    The beginnings of two possible configurable new front ends for Windows are buried inside the preview edition of Whistler, the next version of Win2k due out next year. Options called "Start Panel" and "Start Page" can be enabled in the code, and used as alternatives to the standard Start menu. As the preview doesn't ship with …

    Software 20 Jul 2000, 11:28

  • RIP branded ‘zombie legislation’ as it passes Lords

    'Clinically dead from macabre wounds'

    The Lords forced a fresh set of concessions on the government yesterday before passing its email snooping bill. But industry figures are far from happy with the way the bill stands, saying it will still harm human rights and business confidence. Under last night's amendments, companies will have the right to sue law …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 11:31

  • ‘Transitional’ IBM faces growth slowdown

    Q2s display a curate's egg of a company

    IBM CEO Lou Gerstner recognised at the announcement of IBM's Q2 results last night that "In a portfolio of our size, we often have units in transition", and so it proved. IBM is in effect a conglomerate of companies, each with a different business cycle, so it is difficult for the company to do well as a whole unless the …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 11:33

  • Corel tells SEC 'we'll run out of cash next month'

    Unless investments sold and non-core units spun off, that is

    Corel has issued its second cash-flow warning in as many months. The software company yesterday admitted it will run out of money by the end of August if extreme measures are not taken. Only last week CEO Michael Cowpland told Canada's CBC that the company's financial worries were over. He told CBC that Corel had $25 million in …

    Software 20 Jul 2000, 11:45

  • Spot Register A weekly update

    Trading in drives, CPUs and memories

    Demand in the open market has recovered since last week. Anticipated shortages on certain items is forcing OEMs to build stock now for their September requirements, writes Marco Fumagalli, who can be contacted at Akros Italia. Memory Prices are slightly softening, since the demand is still somewhat erratic. Some brokers are …

    Spot Register 20 Jul 2000, 11:49

  • ThinkPads thin on the ground

    Can't get 'em for love nor money

    IBM has racked up a hefty backlog of orders for its new ThinkPad range, with 79 of the 108 configurations available through dealers backed-up until well into August. The company denies it is having any problems because of CD-RW shortages and is attributing the delays to its recent promotion of the new machines. The company …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 11:49

  • Letsbuyit.com float on again

    Prepared to brave a Letsnotbuyit market

    Letsbuyit.com looks like its finally going to take the plunge and float on the stock market tomorrow. The co-op online purchaser has had a chequered past, including two abandoned floats, a lost investor and some appallingly PR stunts, but is going for broke this time. It'll have to - as the money situation is getting …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 11:50

  • PowerGen stems flow to bloody nose

    Top exec with brains turns up just in time

    It was a massive cock-up and everyone knew it. Leaving customer credit card details and addresses outside the firewall, accessible to anyone with an Internet connection, was ineptitude of the highest order. It was bad enough shooting itself in the foot once, but then PowerGen proceeded to empty the entire clip into the mangled …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 12:08

  • Apple Cubed

    The rumours, the legal threats, the products...

    Apple's Product Announcements Apple unveils Power Mac Cube PPC 500MHz limit forces Apple down dual-CPU route4 Pre-announcement annoucements ATI pre-announces Apple MacWorld unveiling Apple's Mac Cube: the iMac's replacement? Apple's cubic Mac rumour resurfaces Apple's Legal Action Apple gets heavy with third Mac Web site …

    Register Full Coverage 20 Jul 2000, 12:14

  • MS adds cookie detector to IE, grooms Privacy R US stance

    Former antagonists pounce to push it further onto path of righteousness

    Microsoft has acted to expunge its somewhat less than glorious record on privacy and security by offering users a cookie management feature. The new cookie manager, which is intended to tell users when Web sites offer them cookies, and to make it easier for them to delete and manage them, is being released to beta testers as a …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 13:27

  • Bertelsmann to buy CDNow for $117 million

    Web shakeout a gogo

    Hard-up Web music retailer CD Now has been snapped up by German media giant Bertelsmann for $117 million. CD Now will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Bertelsmann's e-commerce group, and will keep trading under its existing name. CD Now has succumbed to the German giant's offer at a time when its tough for dotcom's to get …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 13:41

  • ZDNet's Rosensweig promises ‘Global Empire’

    And all other opinions are worthless - official

    ZDNet Prez Dan Rosensweig promised "a real global empire" would be the result of his company's acquisition by CNET. He made his comments to ZDNet staff in San Francisco yesterday. CNET has agreed a takeover of ZDNet, creating an online tech behemoth which promises to rank in the top ten most popular sites in the US. Rosenweig …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 14:35

  • Job losses at Murdochs' e-empire

    Paper titles get their online editions back

    News Network Ltd - the new media arm of Rupert Murdoch media empire -- has axed 30 people in its London office as part of a massive shake-up at the company. Employees were told on Monday about the losses and the full extent of the re-organisation is still not known. According to sources close to Wapping, among the casualties …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 14:41

  • Inland Revenue joins Internet hall of shame

    Five million tax returns added to pathetic IT effort

    Luddites have been proved right yet again. Every week it seems there is another major organisation that seems incapable of dealing with computer technology. Even those people that are synonymous with studied efficiency are not immune. And so the Inland Revenue had added to its already poor record by losing over five million tax …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 15:38

  • Numeric domain name system launched

    Cyber-number squatters move in

    A bunch of Cambridge businessmen have launched a numeric-based domain name system. Their idea is to provide an alternative to URLs with Bango numbers, which they will rent out from around £20 a year. The system is aimed at WAP or mobile Internet users, as well as PC users who want to bypass complex Web addresses. The trio have …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 15:47

  • Disney puts boot into AOL/Time Warner deal

    And Alpha Telecom gets bought

    Walt Disney Corp is getting a bit twitchy about the impending AOL/Time Warner merger so is urging regulators to split it in two as soon as the deal is done. Disney's top lobbyist Preston Padden has been quoted by The Washington Post saying his company is going to present a detailed plan to the Federal Communications Commission …

    Business 20 Jul 2000, 16:01

  • RedHotAnt – quality customer service

    Updated This time it is sending out viruses...

    We can only assume that RedHotAnt is living by the adage "All publicity is good publicity." There can surely be no other explanation for the latest balls-up to emerge from the ISP, even if the balls-up is purely accidental. Responding to a query about a service issue, Bob Garrioch, an RHA director, sent his reply complete with …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 16:32

  • The ORBS/MAPS anti-spam battle revisited

    Six of one, half a dozen of the other?

    Since we posted a story repeating allegations made by ORBS anti-spammers that ISP Above.net was purposefully blocking ORBS traffic, apparently to clear the way for a commercial MAPS (also an anti-spammer service and run by Above.net creator Paul Vixie), we have had emails fighting into our inbox. It's no secret that ORBS and …

    Music and Media 20 Jul 2000, 17:04

  • Video games to blame for everything

    Of course they are

    USA Today, the world's largest circulation local paper, is a godsend for folks from the land of the free when they travel overseas. It's terribly reassuring when you find yourself in some backwoods place you've never heard of, like London, Paris or Munich, to be able to catch up on vital news from Redneck, Arizona or …

    Bootnotes 20 Jul 2000, 18:46

  • Transmeta chips to make air travel safer

    San Jose Gosh, we never thought of that

    Transmeta's forthcoming Crusoe low power chips could make transatlantic flights safer, says the company. Transmeta's aim of producing notebooks with an eight hour battery life will allow jet-setters to cross the Atlantic and work all the way. When The Reg pointed out that you could do that already by plugging your existing …

    Channel 20 Jul 2000, 20:53