27th December 2000 Archive

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Those Xmas draw results in full

A bulging sack of lucky readers

While you're tucking into the last of the turkey and mince pies, spare a thought for those who are less fortunate than yourselves - nurses, railtrack employees and the Vulture Central competitions department. More than 7000 of you entered our big Xmas draw. This enormous response meant that several Reg staff spent the whole of …

Bootnotes 27 Dec 2000, 04:01
MS to go all out with US Xbox rollout – Europe waits till 2002

Not shipping to meet customer needs. It's the way they tell them...

The Xbox won't make it to Europe until Q1 2002, Microsoft has announced, and although it will be rolled out in the US and Japan in fall 2001, it seems highly likely that the company will put the bulk of its manufacturing and marketing efforts into achieving a spectacular US rollout for the 2001 holiday season. Games Division …

Business 27 Dec 2000, 11:08
How Dubya can spring MS from the DoJ rap

The bad stuff goes on appeal, then they cut a painless deal, we reckon

America having now decided (sort of), a decision on the Microsoft matter now looms for President-elect Bush. According to yesterday's New York Times Dubya is tilting in the direction of easing up on Bill and his merry men, but we don't think this is the sound of the other shoe dropping we've been expecting for a while now. The …

Software 27 Dec 2000, 11:10
What PC should I buy next?

Buyer's Guide This is a very sticky, tricky wicket

On Yuleday, we had a call from a relative who also happens to be a Register reader. It's time for him to upgrade his Packard Bell PC, a machine which came with a stonking 16Mb of memory when he bought it a couple of years back for around one thousand nicker. And yesterday we noticed that august organ The Wall Street Journal was …

Business 27 Dec 2000, 11:16
Win2k for Alpha alive, well, and loose on the Web

Never say never...

Win2k for Alpha is alive, as well as can be expected under the circumstances, and escaped into the wild some time back. Despite our confident assertion yesterday that Windows 2000 Professional for Alpha build 2128 was firmly under lock and key, it appears to be available for download. These are, after all, Redmond locks and …

Software 27 Dec 2000, 12:07
Choc giant heavies ‘kinder’ charity

Ferrero snatches candy from baby

When chocolate giant Ferrero came up with the Kinder Surprise egg, they were on to a winner. The combination of cocoa powder and plastic toy is guaranteed to sent any child running uncontrollably around the living room with excitement. It's unsurprising, then, that Ferrero wants to protect its brand in cyberspace, as Austrian …

Music and Media 27 Dec 2000, 13:04
Internet.com buys up EarthWeb sites

100 jobs down virtual plughole

Internet.com has agreed to buy fellow New York dotcom EarthWeb's assorted collection of tech content Web sites. The online publishing house will take 14 Web sites, including Earthweb.com, which contains IT job ads and technology news, CodeGuru, Sysopt, and 18 email newsletters. The financial terms of the deal were not revealed …

Music and Media 27 Dec 2000, 23:51
US gets heavy with suspected eBay scamsters

Punters say they sent money, but never received goods

US authorities have arrested one man and indicted another suspected of fleecing customers on eBay. The two cases are unrelated - the first involves Californian George Arthur Cruz, who was arrested yesterday and charged with 13 counts of mail fraud and one count of money laundering. Cruz, also known as Richard Cortez, is accused …

Music and Media 27 Dec 2000, 23:52