9th July 2002 Archive

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ROI faulty as measurement of IT success – survey

Sums don't always add up properly

Return on investment (ROI) is no longer seen as a key indicator of what does and what does not make technology investments work, a poll of 400 IT and financial directors in the UK has shown. The Unisys-sponsored research showed that there is still a significant job to be done in business to first identify and then …

Business 9 Jul 2002, 07:41
HP releases Itanium 2 benchmark data

Timp goes mad on benchmarks...

Intel Corp duly rolled out its "McKinley" Itanium 2 processors yesterday, and as results of the first industry standard benchmark tests run on the machines were finally available, IT vendors and their customers can get a grip on how well or poorly the Itanium 2 machines compare to RISC/Unix, IA-32, and other alternatives …

Hardware 9 Jul 2002, 07:46
Buffet and friends sub Level 3 $500m for acquisitions

Chap 11 to predator in 60 seconds...

Level 3 Communications Inc sees itself as the company best placed to carry out a wide-ranging consolidation among global carriers after raising $500m in bonds from a group of corporate investors including Berkshire Hathaway, which is chaired by Warren Buffet. This gives the Broomfield, Colorado-based company $1.5bn to …

Business 9 Jul 2002, 07:49
HP roadmaps Itanium futures as McKinley debuts

HP goes mad on mountain themes...

Hewlett Packard Co, perhaps the biggest supporter of the Itanium architecture aside from Intel Corp, took the launch of the "McKinley" Itanium 2 processor from Intel yesterday as an opportunity to elaborate on its immediate and long-term plans to incorporate the Itanium 2 processors as well as future generations of IA-64 …

Channel 9 Jul 2002, 07:51
MS poised to announce .NET Server RC1?

The entrails look promising...

Windows .NET Server is poised to reach the Release Candidate 1 milestone, claims Steven Bink of WindowsXP.nu. This would likely put RTM (Release to Manufacture) somewhere in Q4, so the server version would be out a year in arrears of XP's rollout. Still, it means Microsoft will have something to shout about in November. Steven …

Software 9 Jul 2002, 09:02
P45s for Porn Surfers

Net 'misuse' sackings on the rise

A quarter of UK companies have dismissed employees for Internet misconduct with the majority of sackings for online porn, according to a survey released today by Websens, the Internet censorware outfit. The survey - conducted among 544 human resources (HR) managers and officers from some of Britain's largest corporations, …

Music and Media 9 Jul 2002, 09:12
Broadband users called to protest against BT

People power to take on 'crap service'

A Kent businessman is calling on people to join him in a protest about BT's poor broadband service. Paul King, the MD of Tonbridge-based consultancy Concise Contact Management Ltd, has been using ADSL from BTOpenworld for the last 18 months. But the service has been so bad, he says that he is often left without broadband …

Telecoms 9 Jul 2002, 09:24
EU report calls for widespread open source adoption

The only way for governments to share software and save money, it says

A European Commission funded report into the pooling of software across the EU's administrations has recommended that governments share and adapt software via the Open Source model. The study, conducted by (arf arf) sometime Microsoft buddies Unisys, calls for a development program lasting six years, starting with a clearing …

Software 9 Jul 2002, 10:15
WorldCom takes the Fifth

They'll need it

WorldCom's former CEO, Bernard Ebbers, and former CFO, Scott Sullivan, sat like a pair of sock puppets in front of the House Committee on Financial Services, repeatedly chirping a single rehearsed answer to each question during a hearing on the company's dirty dealings in Washington Monday. Sullivan had the sense to keep his …

Music and Media 9 Jul 2002, 13:18
Sun shines on Scots job market

StarCat production transferred to Silicon Glen

Sun is to transfer some production of its flagship enterprise server from the US to its plant at Linlithgow, Scotland. The server giant is to build a £25.8m extension to its Scottish factory in order to manufacture its Sun Fire 15000 servers in Europe. Scottish workers will go to the US to get up to speed in Sun's latest …

Business 9 Jul 2002, 13:46
Here Comes the Sun, da da da da

It-minds hot cup of Java beats the summertime blues

If you're currently sitting looking out of the office window over the rain-washed car park of a red-brick technology park in the home counties wondering what to do this weekend now that the company softball match has been cancelled, why not use the time to brush up on your Java skills? Reg associate IT-minds.com is offering 30 …

Site News 9 Jul 2002, 13:46
Web site censored over pictures of traffic wardens

Meter maids 'harassed, alarmed and distressed'

Traffic wardens in Canterbury, Kent say they have been "harassed, alarmed and distressed" by a Web site lampooning their activities. Local residents set up the site Canterbury Parking Clowns to protest at the parking policies of Canterbury City Council and its "over zealous [traffic] wardens". They claim high parking fees and …

Music and Media 9 Jul 2002, 13:48
Europe unhappy over local loops

Legal action looming

The EU Competition Commissioner has said the unbundling of local loops in Europe remains slow, once again suggesting that legal action may be on the horizon. Although he has made similar comments in the past, EU Competition Commissioner Mario Monti once again warned incumbent telecoms and member states that any failure to …

Telecoms 9 Jul 2002, 13:53
Why Microsoft C# is ‘paralysed or dead’

Letters The C Octothorpe Blues

Our recent etymological diversion Why Microsoft makes a complete hash out of C# prompted a huge response, more than 200 emails. As you recall, reader John Timaeus attacked Microsoft's appropriation of #, the 'hash' or 'octothorpe' symbol for its software dev tool C#, pronounced C Sharp after the musical notation. Also …

Bootnotes 9 Jul 2002, 14:25
BT Retail to flog 24/7 Net access

All Together now...

BT Retail is to flog 24/7 unmetered dial-up Net access direct to its punters as part of an extension of its BT Together range of products. The service will be introduced from August 1 and costs £17.00 a month. This fee is on top of the cost of the BT Together service (which provides various unlimited call packages for a fixed …

Music and Media 9 Jul 2002, 15:02
Mitel cuts staff hours to pare payroll

10% less work, 10% less pay

Mitel Networks is reducing staff working hours - and cutting their pay by 10 per cent - in a move to cut the wage bill over the summer months. On July 1, Mitel introduced a 10 per cent reduction in working hours for its entire permanent staff worldwide in a "short term move". The scheme is designed to help financial performance …

Data Networking 9 Jul 2002, 16:32
Celebrity Apple cronies silent on community expulsions

Pass the cake

Apple's wealthiest and most prominent celebrity cheerleaders have yet to break their silence on the company's culling of its grassroots publishers. A ham-fisted public relations decision by IDG last week saw MacWorld Expo media accreditation withdrawn from a multimedia publication - which covers the arts, the Internet, and …

Mac Channel 9 Jul 2002, 20:31
The Bastard Vending Machine

Episode 15 Nasty Cola

BOFH 2002: Episode 15 I'm a little tired and, I'll admit, cranky after a hefty night with a Slave Trader who was trying to get me to outsource our IT. Admittedly, he for some reason (i.e. The PFY told him) thought I was the HR Manager for the Company, AND didn't realise that we outsourced most IT staff anyway. But the truth …

BOFH 9 Jul 2002, 20:35