1st May 2002 Archive

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Sircam merger vote legal – Judge

Blasts the bankers

In a clear victory for Carly Fiorina, Judge Chandler has rejected Walter B Hewlett's case that the Sircam merger shareholder vote was improperly conducted. "Nothing in the record indicates that HP lied to or deliberately misled" shareholders, said the Judge. Hewlett Jr alleged that HP management failed to disclose facts about …

Business 1 May 2002, 01:11
Wife denies hitman plan on ex-Apple UK boss

Mr and Mrs Molyneux

The estranged wife of former Apple UK boss Jon Molyneux was in the Old Bailey yesterday, charged with attempting to hire three people to kill her husband. Shelley Molyneux, 41, denies three counts of soliciting to murder between December 21 and February 2002. Molyneux, a mother-of-four, was arrested at Gatwick Airport in …

Mac Channel 1 May 2002, 08:00
MS derails new trial evidence by pulling witness

Fadeout...

Earlier this week Microsoft pulled several of its witnesses from the States' antitrust trial, letting it be known that this was a sign of its confidence in its case. Yesterday, however, all became clear - it was an ambush. The critical removal from the witness list was Richard Fade, senior VP for the Microsoft OEM division. …

Software 1 May 2002, 08:06
Miracle cures Berkeley man of Itanic wickedness

Out, Jezebel!

Praise the Lord! A miracle has taken place in nearby Berkeley. A fortnight ago UCB grad student Nick Weaver explained to us in some detail the deficiencies of the IA-64 architecture. He's teaching some classes, and one caught our eye: entitled "Voyage of the Itanic". "Itanic describes the architecture very well," he told us. …

Channel 1 May 2002, 08:26
With Microsoft's quantum licensing, many parallel universes are possible

All at once

The Beast of Redmond could yet confound attempts to scrutinize its monopoly with an escape strategy of fiendish cunning. It's so cunning, in fact, that no regulator will be able to keep track. The following discrepancies in very recent Microsoft intellectual property disclaimers have come to our attention. Exhibit One: an …

Software 1 May 2002, 09:32
Kingston extends w/s memory anti-FUD campaign

Care Bears

Kingston Technology has extended its no quibbles workstation memory after sales support to all channel partners in EMEA. The company yesterday unwrapped its support scheme, called Kingston Care, for UK resellers. The programme, already launched in Germany and the Nordic region, will see Kingston supply free emergency cover for …

Channel 1 May 2002, 11:41
C2000 splits commercial director job in twain

And why not?

Computer 2000 has divvied up its commercial director role, with insider Gary Fowle joining incumbent Simon Hill at the helm. Fowle will look after the Tech Data sub's Apple, HP, PC systems and peripherals, PC components and Cisco units. Following Fowle's promotion, Russell Blackburn steps up into his old job as general manager …

Channel 1 May 2002, 11:41
ITV Digital RIP

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

ITV Digital pulled the plug on its pay TV channels this morning after administrators failed to find a buyer for the digital TV company. Some 1,500 jobs are set to go at two call centres and the company's headquarters in London. A notice on its screens reads: "We regret to advise that until further notice ITV Digital is unable …

Broadband 1 May 2002, 11:42
Put on your Red Hat with IT-minds

30 per cent off interactive Linux training course

Raise your hats to this week's discounted books from El Reg affiliate www.it-minds.com Leading the style parade is PTG Interactive's Training Course for Red Hat Linux: "If you're fed up with struggling with dense textbooks: watch, listen, and learn as Mark Komarinski, RHCE (currently Senior Systems Engineer at VA Linux Systems …

Site News 1 May 2002, 11:43
Are we set for a Web hosting reprise?

Get your kit off

As everyone rushed to get an online presence, the web hosting industry looked a safe bet. With the Internet developing rapidly the demand for server space was predicted to increase exponentially and anyone with operational experience of IT set up Internet Hotels in an attempt to take a share of this booming market. The problem …

e-Business 1 May 2002, 12:14
Easynet flies LLU flag

Pinch, punch...white rabbit...Jefferson Airplane

Easynet reckons it's in a good position to capitalise on the growth in business broadband services in the UK. Speaking today at the company's AGM chairman Keith Todd reaffirmed his commitment to local loop unbundling (LLU) and reckons the company is in a "strong position and well placed to succeed in this rapidly developing …

Broadband 1 May 2002, 12:46
Is the Domain industry correcting, or just VeriSign?

Shrinkage

Is the reported death of the domain name registration industry a little premature, Kevin Murphy writes? Despite the terrible results from market leader VeriSign Inc last week, which wiped out almost half its market capitalization, some folks would have us believe the market overall is still healthy. New York-based Register.com …

Media 1 May 2002, 14:59
WorldCom ejects Ebbers

Ebbing aways

Debt-ridden carrier WorldCom Inc has bowed to the inevitable and fired its CEO Bernie Ebbers following months of turmoil during which his position became untenable. Ebbers founded the company and took it on a spending spree that saw its market capitalization rise to $180bn, but the debt he loaded it with to fund its …

Media 1 May 2002, 15:00
Dell hints at plans for AMD's Opteron

And slams DRAM makers

Michael Dell gave a boost to Advanced Micro Devices Inc yesterday when he said he did not see vendors having to make an "either or" choice between the chip vendor's hybrid Opteron processor and Intel's expected Yamhill counterpart, Joe Fay writes. The statement, made at the Merrill Lynch Hardware Heaven conference in San …

Channel 1 May 2002, 15:00
The NTK Festival of Inappropriate Technology

Date for the diary

NTK, our No.2 favourite tech web site, does the community/hang-out/networking thing so much better than us. It does gigs and stuff and now, hurrah!, a one-day festival, in London. Called Extreme Computing, the NTK Festival of Inappropriate Technology, is held at the Camden Centre on Sunday 9th June. There's disabled access, …

Site News 1 May 2002, 16:41
OpenOffice suite goes 1.0

OpenOffice.org instantly /.ed

OpenOffice.org 1.0 was released today, and is largely unavailable for free download, openoffice.org itself apparently being under some severe pressure right now. Give it a couple of days until the crowds die down. OpenOffice is the open source implementation of Sun's StarOffice, sharing the same code base as StarOffice 6.0. It …

Software 1 May 2002, 16:47
IBM wants UK workers to walk the plank

Voluntary separation

IBM is asking an unspecified number of UK employees to accept a voluntary redundancy package. An IBM spokeswoman confirmed the offer of "voluntary separation", made across IBM's business last week, but was reluctant to be drawn on details. She said that IBM had no plans to make enforced redundancies. According to our sources, …

Business 1 May 2002, 16:54
Melissa virus author jailed for 20 months

Long time coming

The author of the infamous Melissa virus was sentenced today to 20 months in Federal prison for causing millions of dollars of damage through its release into the wild in March 1999. David L Smith, 33, pleaded guilty to creating the virus in December 1999 - the delay in his sentencing has created consternation in the security …

Security 1 May 2002, 17:19
Zander to quit Sun in July

Torment ends

Sun's longstanding president and chief operating officer, Ed Zander, has announced plans to retire. Zander plans to hang up his hat on July 1, the beginning of Sun's financial year. His eventual destination remains unclear. Scott McNealy, Sun's founder and chief executive, will take over Zander's duties from then and then are …

Business 1 May 2002, 23:19
Sun Linux boss quits

Keep moving - please don't block the exit

In the wake of Ed Zander's departure, confirmed earlier today, the management changes continue a pace at Sun Microsystems. Stephen DeWitt, who joined with the Cobalt acquisition, has left the company. He was responsible for Sun's Linux strategy, and is the seventh senior executive to leave in the past week. Earlier today the …

Business 1 May 2002, 23:19