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23rd April 2002 Archive

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  • Gates pitches Armageddon scenario to court

    And has some interesting things to say about bloat and copying

    If the Unsettling States have their way, Microsoft will either have to withdraw Windows or put out versions of the product that probably won't work, Bill Gates testified at the antitrust trial yesterday. Furthermore, if I Microsoft employee had an idea, they'd be in contempt of court if they didn't immediately pass it on to the …

    Software 23 Apr 2002, 08:16

  • Itanic: It's all academic now – Official

    UCB course explains the great 64bit misadventure

    The name Itanic, coined here several years ago by Mike Magee, for Intel's IA-64 processor has been formally adopted by academia. Nick Weaver, a 28-year old graduate student and researcher, teaches computer science classes at the University of California's Berkeley school, and as you can see from his "special topics" class, week …

    Hardware 23 Apr 2002, 08:47

  • Yahoo! settles! yodel! case!

    Yeeee-haaaa!

    Wylie Gustafson - the yodelling cowboy responsible for the distinctive sound of Yahoo! - has settled his case with the Internet giant. Details of the settlement have not been disclosed but Mr Gustafson is reportedly delighted with what's on the table. Indeed, one report claims Mr Gustafson let out an ecstatic "ya-hoooooooo!" …

    Music and Media 23 Apr 2002, 09:45

  • Overture expands United Online deal

    Mum on AOL

    Overture Services Inc has expanded its relationship with United Online Inc, the budget consumer ISP, to allow access to millions of new subscribers, the companies said yesterday. Overture, which already provides its advertising/search engine to NetZero, will, from May, provide its pay-per-performance text ads to Juno, …

    Music and Media 23 Apr 2002, 09:45

  • Japanese PC Sales fall 12th month in a row

    Going down

    Japan last month recorded its 12th straight decline in monthly PC sales, despite a 34.9% increase in unit shipments on March 2001. The month-on-month shipments data showed a 4.6% decline, and a 9.6% fall in sequential quarterly shipments. GfK Japan, which derives its monthly PC shipment data from a regular survey of 3,400 …

    Personal 23 Apr 2002, 09:45

  • EDGE will happen

    Mobile networks play hop, skip and jump

    Mobile phone technologies used to be mapped out clearly. GSM, HSCSD, GPRS, EDGE and UMTS, but most networks are playing hop, skip and jump. They've skipped HSCSD, will they jump over EDGE? Simon Rockman, publisher of What Mobile, thinks this would be a mistake. Like most mobile phone acronyms EDGE is as meaningless spelt out …

    Mobile 23 Apr 2002, 10:50

  • Microsoft accuses industry of Web services hype

    Oversold

    Days after postponing its flagship .NET My Services, Microsoft Corp has blamed industry hype for unleashing a potential backlash from customers angry that web services have been oversold, Gavin Clarke writes. Charles Fitzgerald, general manager of Microsoft's .NET platform strategies, is reported to have said Microsoft's …

    e-Business 23 Apr 2002, 10:51

  • WorldCom reduces revenue guidance

    Doubts grow

    WorldCom Inc revised its guidance downwards for 2002, knocking $1bn off previously given estimates, and increasing doubts about the company's long-term prospects. The Clinton, Mississippi-based said its core unit, WorldCom Group, would make full year revenue of between $21bn and $21.5bn, compared to its previous forecast …

    Business 23 Apr 2002, 10:52

  • Sheffield gets the e-vote

    Gr8

    People in Sheffield are to get the chance to vote electronically in the forthcoming city council elections in a move designed to combat voter apathy. Yesterday Sheffield City Council unveiled a new Web site, EvoteSheffield.com which it hopes will persuade young voters to vote online or via text message. The site is part of an …

    Music and Media 23 Apr 2002, 10:53

  • Feel My Pain! – mapping the mind of Chairman Bill

    Windows best of all possible worlds, claims Westphalian software chief

    Herb Caen once wrote that the sprawling night fog that fills the San Francisco Bay could be precisely mapped in the mind of the listener from the sound of a dozen foghorns, each one of which was tuned to a different pitch. You can build up a similar picture of the mind of Bill Gates from his epic written deposition. For here, in …

    Software 23 Apr 2002, 11:36

  • Telewest trials 1Mb broadband service

    Snap!

    Telewest is to trial a 1Mb cable Internet service in Scotland. Some 1,500 Telewest punters in Scotland are to be offered the chance to take part in the four-week trial. If successful, the cableco intends to make the service available nationwide sometime in the summer, although no date has yet been set for the launch. Neither …

    Telecoms 23 Apr 2002, 11:42

  • Siemens joins Symbian club

    Flash the cash

    A new member is joining the Symbian software club and is paying EUR22.8m for the privilege. Step forward Siemens, which gets a five per cent stake in Symbian for its money. Symbian makes the software for high-end mobile phones and PDAs - but there's not too many of them around right now. And Microsoft is gunning hard for the …

    Mobile 23 Apr 2002, 11:43

  • Carphone Warehouse resumes Nokia 8210 sales

    Short statement

    Carphone Warehouse's PR machine has creaked into gear, furnishing us today with the following statement: The Carphone Warehouse has resumed selling Nokia 8210s with effect from Saturday 20th April 2002. The recent issue with the product has now been resolved. On April 19 we reported the retail chain had suspended sales of this …

    Mobile 23 Apr 2002, 12:09

  • Police arrest 25 members of child porn ring

    10 Countries, serious abusers

    Police have arrested 25 members of a Net child porn ring in 10 countries. The haul includes proven real-life abusers as well as traffickers of pornography, which is very unusual, according to the Danish police who led the investigation. Thirty five children have also been identified, all of whom had been sexually abused. The …

    Music and Media 23 Apr 2002, 12:35

  • Hynix union comes out fighting

    Brothers hate Micron

    South Korea's unions are possibly the most ferocious in the developed world, and the brothers at Hynix are no exception. They hate the Micron deal, struck yesterday, which will see Hynix become a Micron sub for $3.4bn in shares, and they're threatening to go on strike - not because of the terms, but because they don't want …

    Channel 23 Apr 2002, 12:51

  • For sale: bust computer breaker

    Update PC knacker's yard knackered

    Our attention was drawn today by an ad in today's FT offering three related scrap businesses, all in administration, but only one for sale as a going concern. Of particular note is NECP (Computers) Ltd, a prominent computer breaker firm, operating at the grubby end of computer recycling. It's "not going forward", unlike the …

    Channel 23 Apr 2002, 13:59

  • BTo digs in for marketing push

    Heave Charlie mouse

    BTopenworld has signed up six companies to help push its broadband service to the masses. Rymans, Toys 'R' Us, Nationwide, Iceland, mmO2 and Northern Electric have all agreed to help distribute more than a quarter of a million broadband registration CDs. Today's announcement builds on a distribution deal already in place with …

    Telecoms 23 Apr 2002, 16:05

  • Gates testimony a PR jewel

    Slow-written over a hardwood fire to bring out the natural shine

    I hope that if I should ever turn to a life of crime and am eventually prosecuted for my wrongdoing and found guilty, I'll be allowed to dictate my punishment to the federal government, just like Microsoft. I hope as well that I'll be permitted to reject state-imposed punishments based on some irrelevant set of purely …

    Software 23 Apr 2002, 19:25

  • Symbian plays the source code card

    It's the developers, stupid...

    Symbian today announced it has broadened access to its source code, with the introduction of the Symbian Platinum Program. Platinum members will get the same access to Symbian source code as mobile phone manufacturers had previously; according to Symbian, this means "over 95 per cent" of the source. Platinum members also pay …

    Mobile 23 Apr 2002, 19:37

  • ITV Digital for sale – on eBay

    Barely used, slightly faulty

    We don't do digital TV - much. But we love fake auctions on eBay - kidneys, virginity, the national debt etc. So how could we resist today's appearance of ITV Digital, the tarnished TV company, which went bust the other day, and which is staying bust, following its failure to get its major creditor, the Football League, to …

    Bootnotes 23 Apr 2002, 20:53

  • Judge betraying pro-MS bias?

    Or is she about to blow Gates' mind?

    Since Chairman Bill Gates began testifying in court Monday against the non-settling states, US District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly has made a number of rulings which appear to favor Microsoft. Most significant, in our humble opinion, is the decision to allow Gates and other MS witnesses to give presentations in court. The …

    Software 23 Apr 2002, 21:44