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28th March 2001 Archive

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  • Highly destructive Linux worm mutating

    And we owe the FBI an apology

    The recently discovered Lion worm, which attacks Linux BIND (DNS) servers, is turning out to be one nasty little package which leaves infected victims with no choice but to re-format their entire systems and rebuild from scratch. We recently received a copy of a version which was released late last week, thanks to a Register …

    Security 28 Mar 2001, 06:12

  • UK has most expensive DSL access in the world

    And that is official

    The UK is the most expensive place in the world for fast Internet access, according to a comprehensive new report from Point Topic. The company's DSL Worldwide Directory lists and profiles DSL companies throughout the world and compares prices and the number of people on the service. Unfortunately, the report has told us …

    Telecoms 28 Mar 2001, 08:32

  • Handspring toys with Palm alternatives

    The ties that don't bind...

    Handspring has made its strongest declaration of independence yet, vowing to use non-Palm software in future products. Handspring founder Jeff Hawkins, creator of the original Palm, has been asked outright about his OS plans, and although his answers are couched in the language of the diplomacy, it's clear that he's leaving his …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 09:26

  • Sage buys ACT!

    Channel Flannel

    Sage, the UK accountancy software giant, is to buy Interact Commerce, the owners of SalesLogix, and ACT!,the mass-market contact manager, for $260m in cash. According to Interact, Sage's huge reseller channel, was a major factor in the decision to succumb to Sage's courtship. Sage estimates that less than 10 per cent of its …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 10:24

  • Palm to axe 250 jobs as it dips into the red

    Desperate cost cutting to offset zero sales growth

    Palm posted its latest financials last night, and while its revenues continue to grow - up 73 per cent year on year - they haven't kept its profits up - quite the reverse - or convinced the company that the outlook for the rest of the year is as rosy as it has been. Indeed, the PDA pioneer is sufficiently worried about growth …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 10:27

  • Net via radio for schools group overstates its case

    Can't bypass UK's broadband traffic jam just yet

    The consortium that's pitching digital radio to schools as a bypass around the UK's broadband traffic jam may be getting just a little ahead of itself. According to The Sunday Times, the Department of Education and Employment "is negotiating" with the MXR Consortium to bring Net access to schools using Psion's WaveFinder DAB ( …

    Telecoms 28 Mar 2001, 10:49

  • Microsoft's UK e-govt service unveiled

    Better late than never?

    Microsoft's e-government service for the UK was unveiled with great relish last night. For some ungodly reason, the official ceremony took place in Seattle - showing that Microsoft is now more important than the UK government. Civil servant E-bloke Andrew Pinder attended. The "government gateway" is the future, although …

    Music and Media 28 Mar 2001, 11:00

  • Napster blocks 275,000 tracks

    How successfully though?

    Napster has claimed it has prevented 275,000 songs, hidden behind over 1.6 million filenames - ie. nearly six filenames for each song - from being downloaded since it introduced its court-imposed filtering software earlier this month. The music-sharing software company made the claim in the latest round of its tit-for-tat …

    Music and Media 28 Mar 2001, 11:07

  • Nortel in the poo

    5,000 more jobs to go, forecasts slashed again

    The worst fears about the health of the networking market were realised last night when Nortel Networks further downgraded its first quarter sales forecasts and announced the loss of a further 5,000 jobs. The Canadian telecommunications equipment manufacturer now expects revenues in the range of $6.1 billion to $6.2 billion …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 11:14

  • Risks from hybrid Linux / Windows virus low

    Curiousity value of non infectious bug

    Security experts have downplayed the risk of what is reported to be the first virus that can infect both Windows- and Linux-based PCs. W32.Winux, which was discovered by anti-virus firm Central Command, is neither spreading nor particularly destructive. Its main points of interest are the techniques it uses. According to …

    Security 28 Mar 2001, 11:59

  • VIA talks to Intel about P4 licence…

    ...even though it already claims it has the rights to it

    VIA is going to produce a Pentium 4 chipset based on DDR SDRAM, whatever Intel thinks about it, the Taiwanese company admitted at CeBit last week. Interestingly, VIA is talking to Intel about its plans, according to Shane Dennison, one of its marketing managers, cited by eWeek. "Of course, we'd like to go the proper route," he …

    Channel 28 Mar 2001, 12:12

  • 1.7GHz P4 coming ‘very shortly’ – Gelsinger

    Couple of weeks or so off, we reckon

    Chipzilla's 1.7GHz Pentium 4 will be released "very shortly", the chip colossus' CTO, Pat 'Harry Potter' Gelsinger, told WinHEC attendees yesterday. Pat's comment tends to confirm our own expectation, derived from our internal Intel roadmaps, that the part will debut on or soon after 15 April, handsomely priced at $776 in units …

    Channel 28 Mar 2001, 12:35

  • This man must be the biggest luddite in history

    And unfortunately, he's a cabinet minister for IT

    The man you see pictured above may be the greatest luddite the world has ever seen, which is particularly ironic because he happens the be the minister for Communications, Information Technology and The Arts for the Australian government. Meet Senator Richard Kenneth Robert Alston. Rich is behind a number of proposals …

    Music and Media 28 Mar 2001, 13:00

  • Webcasting: The Two-Headed Beast

    Editorial and advertorial

    Should webcasting primarily be an extension of a publisher's editorial operations, or an extension of its marketing operations designed to please advertisers with targeted B-to-B messages? In ITworld.com's case it's both, which is why CEO Bill Reinstein and his team have embraced the biggest challenge of their careers: how to …

    e-Business 28 Mar 2001, 13:40

  • Australia to make online gambling illegal

    Loses its mind, not its shirt

    Not satisfied with nannying laws over Internet content, the luddites in the Australian federal government have set their sights on online gambling. There was widespread confusion earlier this month over proposed legislation that made it an offence for Australians to post anything unsuitable for kids on the Internet. Now an …

    Music and Media 28 Mar 2001, 13:45

  • Gates plans invisible, automatic updates for WinXP users

    Worried? No, we're not worried. Why do you ask?

    Most of the reporting of Bill Gates' WinHEC keynote on Monday has focussed on the Tablet PC announcement, but you'd also do well to take a look at what he had to say about Windows Update. In WinXP it's back, it's bigger than ever, and this time, maybe, resistance is futile. Bill says: "One of the key elements for us is Windows …

    Software 28 Mar 2001, 13:51

  • ATI sees red, buys FireGL

    Massive loss turned into tiny profit only by share sell-off

    Graphics chip maker ATI, which last week agreed to buy SonicBlue's last remaining graphics operation, found itself back in the red after only a single profitable quarter since its last loss-making period. ATI's revenues for the three months 28 February - the company's second quarter of the current fiscal year - fell 39 per cent …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 14:14

  • Tiny outsources sales call centre to Glasgow firm

    Free deep fried Mars bar with each PC

    Tiny Computers is outsourcing its direct sales call centre business to Glasgow based Coltas Contact Centres. Coltas takes over on 1 May, and is taking on 20 staff to handle Tiny's business. The 18 staff currently handling direct sales at Tiny's head office in Redhill face redeployment to 'local showroom and customer service …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 14:32

  • Apple at PowerPC makers' mercy – ex-exec

    Former head of Apple Europe speaks the unspoken truth

    Apple remains at the mercy of its key component suppliers - in particular its processor providers Motorola and IBM - the former head of the Mac maker's European operation has admitted. Of course, it's easy to say that once you're out of the organisation. Diego Piacentini, who now runs Amazon.com's non-US subsidiaries having …

    Mac Channel 28 Mar 2001, 15:53

  • MS nixes MSDN WinXP Beta 2 downloads

    And makes a complete horlicks of the Preview Program...

    Microsoft seems to have made a total pig's ear of WinXP beta access for MSDN subscribers, and has compounded this by inflicting another one of those online foul-ups it's so good at on would-be Preview Program buyers. Due credit to Paul Thurrott of WinInfo for digging this one out - Register Preview Program subscriber William H …

    Software 28 Mar 2001, 15:55

  • Oftel tells BT to stop whingeing

    Not fair, not fair, not fair

    BT may be in serious trouble at the moment but don't think its attitude to controlling UK telecoms has changed. Oftel decided in February that the company was still making an unnecessary profit from household phone lines and so it would extend its price capping system. Up until today, BT has simply argued that this isn't the …

    Business 28 Mar 2001, 16:24

  • BOFH: A book is born

    Site news In disk space nobody can hear your files scream

    The legendary Bastard Operator from Hell, as featured in your runaway Reg has been immortalised in print by publishers Plan Nine. Weighing in at a mighty 160 pages, this compendium of computing capers is guaranteed fun for all the family. The must-have tome is illustrated by Sluggy Freelance's Pete Abrams. The book is released …

    Bootnotes 28 Mar 2001, 16:26

  • Cisco and MS team on wireless security

    Yeah, verily laptop shall speak unto laptop, securely

    Cisco has announced what it says is the first implementation of a draft security standard for wireless networking. The networking giant collaborated with Microsoft to develop, deliver and deploy the first enterprise authentication and security architecture based on the draft IEEE 802.1x and Extensible Authentication Protocol ( …

    Security 28 Mar 2001, 16:40

  • Online auction leaves Lennon's car in the lock-up

    Reg reader Mick Fleetwood not happy bunny

    Mick Fleetwood's online auction site had a bit of a set-back yesterday at the Hard Rock Café in London when the 1970 Mercedes owned by John Lennon failed to reach the reserve price of £200,000. A John Lennon piano also came up short of the £1 million expected - fetching "just" £750,000. The auction was run live on Mick's - you …

    e-Business 28 Mar 2001, 16:47

  • Fatal Attraction revenge on the Net

    Texas man posts bunny boiler's rantings online

    What do you do when your ex-love turns into a bunny boiler? How about posting their rantings on the Net? That's what one Dallas man decided to do after he dumped his girlfriend of eight months. He claims that the woman called him incessantly (50 voicemail calls on his mobile phone, with 25 in just one night), so he registered …

    Music and Media 28 Mar 2001, 17:16

  • Police in mobile phone theft SMS blitz

    Noriega treatment, Amsterdam-style

    Amsterdam police have launched a scheme to bombard mobile phone thieves with text messages. As soon as a phone is reported stolen an SMS message stating: "This device is pinched. Purchase or sale is an offence - the police", will pop up on its screen. This same message will be sent every three minutes. "The idea is to drive …

    Data Networking 28 Mar 2001, 19:53

  • Give us all your money – or we shoot 100k DSL customers

    Unreasonable amounts

    Around 100,000 US DSL users face losing their service next week after the collapse of talks between NorthPoint and its former DSL ISPs. Telco monster AT&T last week struck a deal to buy most of the assets, including the equipment and network, of bankrupt DSL carrier NorthPoint. It decided not to buy the customer base. Since …

    Telecoms 28 Mar 2001, 22:10

  • They call me Anti-Spam Bill

    Winging its way through Congress

    A US Congressional Committee unanimously approved a bill today aimed at banning spam. The bill, approved by the House Energy and Commerce Committee, would allow surfers or ISPs to block unwanted emails, while forcing spammers to include a return e-mail and physical address in their messages. Users would also be able to demand …

    Music and Media 28 Mar 2001, 22:45

  • Zelerate goes titsup.com

    Open source trailblazer bites the dust

    San Mateo-based open source pioneer Zelerate - formerly OpenSales - is closing its door today according to a number of reliable but unconfirmed sources. The company shed half of its staff on Friday, leaving a skeleton two dozen or so manning the pumps this week. Zelerate (formerly OpenSales) sells consultancy and services …

    Software 28 Mar 2001, 23:58