2nd August 2000 Archive

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Linux distros revamp for summer

No one writes to the kernel

SuSE and RedHat are at it again: preparing to parachute a new drop of their distros. SuSE said yesterday it will release 7.0 this month, and RedHat has made a beta of what it calls the Pinstripe release of Red Hat Linux 7.0 available for download. SuSE has a thrice-yearly schedule, and RedHat updates every six months or so, and …

Software 2 Aug 2000, 10:08
SGI and Sony talk cubes

It could be the missing link

SGI and Sony are more likely to continue as partners than rivals, whatever Sony's plans are for its experimental multiprocessor machine, GScube. Or so says SGI. "We don't see this as competitive," Greg Estes SGI's VP of telecomms and media tells us. As demonstrated, GSCube is useless without some kind of big server behind it, …

Business 2 Aug 2000, 10:18
Ericsson and Red Hat team to build Linux challenge to MS .NET

There's a lot more than Linux appliances to this deal...

At first it may look like just another deal to put Linux onto a screenphone, but in reality this week's Red Hat-Ericsson alliance has far broader scope and implications. Ultimately it could turn out to have been one of the pivotal breakthroughs in the implemention of a Linux-based version of .NET. Although the first product of …

Software 2 Aug 2000, 10:21
Cobalt still mooting anti-Apple Cube lawsuit

Boot's on the other foot now, isn't it, Apple?

Cobalt Networks continues to mull over legal action against Apple for allegedly swiping the design of its own cube-shaped computer, the Qube. Right now, the company, which makes small-office oriented Internet access servers, appears to be investigating the ramifications of action against Apple. Cobalt said it's "concerned" that …

Mac Channel 2 Aug 2000, 11:15
Baltimore beats analysts with Q2 salesfest

Security scares prove good for business

Computer security firm Baltimore Technologies has surpassed Q2 expectations, with revenues of £16.3 million, against £14 million forecasts. Losses were also lower than anticipated, coming in at £13.4 million - far lower than the forecast range of £18.4-£21 million. The company said this was an encouraging sign it would perform …

Software 2 Aug 2000, 11:16
BT admits SurfTime billing fiasco

Well they had to, we had the proof

A week after BT denied it had cocked up the bills for some of its SurfTime customers, the telco has finally admitted that it made a mistake. A red-faced spokesman for the telco admitted this morning that there had been a "breakdown on internal billing procedures" and that steps were being taken to make sure it didn't happen …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 11:18
MS WinME ‘promotional’ deal is a disguised price hike

And not a particularly well disguised one, either...

Yesterday Microsoft revealed the price of the Windows ME upgrade, happily trumpeting that its "promotional" price of $59.95 "makes it affordable for Windows 98 and Windows 98 Second Edition customers to stay current with the latest consumer operating system." It's a great deal, said Microsoft, and by a remarkable coincidence …

Software 2 Aug 2000, 11:26
Redstone hunts ISP to get DSL skills

Our regular Internet cash thrash

Redstone Telecom has announced that it is in the market for an ISP, following its recent £40 million spend on data group Fastnet. The company said that an ISP would bring Internet skills to the company which it regards as essential for its planned DSL services. Graham Cove, the chief exec at Redstone said that it would not …

Business 2 Aug 2000, 11:44
Hardware chiller thriller round-up

We're drooling about cooling

There seems to a lot of cooling going on in hardware land, so today we bring you some of the reviews we found, as well as the usual mix of reviews and other stuff - the good the bad and the really ugly. Planet Hardware has been chilling out in a big way. First off it has reviewed the CAF12 card cooler. The installation was …

Hardware Roundup 2 Aug 2000, 11:49
Sony goes mobile crazy with DoCoMo

It'll change the world! When it happens. Maybe... Sort of...

That's right, folks, at some unknown time in the future you might be able to play cut-down versions of PlayStation games on a tiny screen on your mobile phone and pay through the teeth for the priviledge. Does life get any better? People seem pretty excited about it. It's certainly got a lot of coverage. Strange then that …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 12:55
MSN and Freeserve in numbers squabble

Ahhh, the sweet whiff of sour grapes

Freeserve has accused MSN of fiddling the figures in the latest batch of number crunchings from Net pollster MMXI Europe. The figures show that MSN is the most popular Web destination in Britain, jumping ahead of Yahoo! and pushing Freeswerve into third place. A spokesman for Freeserve claimed MSN had massaged its figures by …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 12:56
MS gives Republicans $1m, Republicans use Solaris anyway

Some people can't even bribe straight...

Is just a little care and foresight too much to ask from Microsoft's PR spinmeisters? Yesterday we reported that Microsoft had given $1 million worth of software and cash each to the Republican and Democrat conventions, and it's just the shortest step from there to checking to see what the conventions' Web sites are running on, …

Bootnotes 2 Aug 2000, 13:46
ISPA stalls on Line One decision

Oh, why are we way ting, wh-hi are we way ting, oh why..

It could be weeks before the Internet Service Providers Association (ISPA) rules on LineOne's decision to ditch unmetered access. Clare Gilbert, chair of ISPA, told The Register that a decision was unlikely to be forthcoming in the near future. She also refused to comment on the content of the letter from LineOne to the …

Business 2 Aug 2000, 13:54
EC raids German publishers in Net book boycott probe

Price fixing under threat

The European Commission has raided five German publishers, including mighty Bertelsmann, to see if they colluded in a boycott of Internet booksellers. And it's all Austria's fault. More than 30 German publishers and book wholesalers refused to supply Libro, an Austrian online book retailer, when it started offering from 1 July …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 15:04
Napster usage stats support RIAA claims

Download numbers highlight attempts to get as much stuff for free as possible before closure

The prospect that Napster might be shut down last week appears to have triggered a rash of last-minute downloads from the MP3 sharing service, according to data from Internet-oriented market researcher NetValue. The company's stats show that the volume of Napster downloads between 26 July and 28 July was four times higher than …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 15:13
Bacteria make themselves silicon jackets

Now there really will be a bug in the hardware

Researchers at the State University of New York may have taken an inadvertent first step towards workable bio-transistors, taking advantage of a bacterial strain's ability to convert light into electricity to create an optoelectronic switching element. While trying to rid their clean rooms of bacteria, the scientists discovered …

Channel 2 Aug 2000, 15:56
Mobile users in love with Win2K

It's all down to the reliability

US research outfit Sosinsky has published a report on laptop users' reactions to Windows 2000 Professional. And it all looks pretty positive for the folks at Redmond. There seems to be an overwhelming appreciation for Win2K Pro in terms of its reliability, plug & play, offline/online synchronisation and power management …

Software 2 Aug 2000, 15:59
Net exec takes lie detector test

The things people will do to get their name in print

An executive at the Mirror's ISP, ic24, has taken a lie detector test to prove that the service really is free. ic24's marketing director, Jill Playle, underwent the polygraph test to prove that the new "After Eight" campaign - providing free Net access between 8pm and midnight, Monday to Friday and 9am to 5pm at the weekend …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 16:08
Universal to launch digital music trial

You're only seven months or more late, guys...

Universal is finally set to follow Sony and EMI with the launch of a digital music download service of its own. The music company, one of the world's 'big five' recording operations, will launch its service, codenamed Bluematter, this week - more than seven months after it originally planned. This time last year, Universal …

Music and Media 2 Aug 2000, 16:17
MS starts Web hunt for pirates

Probably using a price checking search engine

Microsoft has gone into battle against software piracy armed with a new Web searching tool that scans sites for evidence of pirated goods being offered for sale. The new technology will be monitoring the Web 24 hours a day. By automating the routine and time-consuming parts of the job, Microsoft reckons that it will identify …

Business 2 Aug 2000, 16:28
How to save your ass. By the FT

Loopy London power outage story is turned around

Yesterday we ran a story pouring cold water over an FT piece suggesting that London was in line for an electricity blackout due to the construction of power-hungry data centers in the capital. We were therefore extremely impressed when the same journalist embarked on an arse-saving exercise with a follow-up story today. …

Bootnotes 2 Aug 2000, 16:48
Barclays crazy man loose in London

He's really gone - screaming, running between cars, the whole biz

While quietly munching on our lunch and observing the local wildlife (dontcha just love the summer?), we were extremely surprised to hear what sounded like a woman having a massive argument. Catching glimpses of a solitary person through the bushes in Hanover Square, London, we were further shocked when it became clear it wasn' …

Bootnotes 2 Aug 2000, 16:48
Caldera goes Unix with SCO acquisition

Fascinating double-act, or Unix revolves around Ray Noorda?

The long-trailed deal between Caldera Systems - the Linux part of Caldera, rather than Lineo, the separate but blood-related embedded Linux company - and SCO has happened. Caldera is acquiring SCO's Server Software and Professional Services divisions, leaving SCO with Tarantella and the revenue stream from SCO OpenServer. …

Software 2 Aug 2000, 17:39