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2nd October 2002 Archive

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  • Network Appliance ends NAS-SAN war

    Wins over Microsoft

    The NAS-SAN wars were fully ended yesterday when even Network Appliance Inc crossed the divide, Tim Stammers writes. Yesterday it launched its first storage hardware that can handle both NAS-style file data transfer, and SAN- or DAS-style block data transfer, as well as the Fibre Channel protocol used in SANs. The move is …

    Storage 2 Oct 2002, 07:07

  • Sun misses Application server date, earmarks October

    The fight for third place

    Sun Microsystems Inc is promising an October delivery for its latest Java application server product, setting up a potential Autumn clash with IBM's rival application server offering, Gavin Clarke writes. Santa Clara, California-based Sun told ComputerWire the Sun ONE Application Server 7.0 Platform and Standard editions will …

    Hardware 2 Oct 2002, 07:20

  • Dell ups Q3 revenue target

    Its gain, whose pain?

    Dell Computer Corp raised its revenue outlook for the third quarter yesterday, but the Texas giant's good fortune likely means more pain for its rivals. On the eve of its analysts' day, the Austin-based direct seller said it expected revenues for the quarter ending November 1 to be $9.1bn, up 22% on the year, with earnings …

    Business 2 Oct 2002, 07:22

  • Sun preps for $2bn charge and adjusts Q4 books

    Asset impairment

    Sun Microsystems Inc says that it could face an acquisition-related charge of $2.2bn for its second quarter ending December 31 if it does not see a drastic improvement in its share price. The warning was given in the company's annual report for fiscal 2002, which also details an adjustment of its earnings for the fourth …

    Business 2 Oct 2002, 07:22

  • Gomez measures Last Mile with Porivo buy

    Core routers

    Waltham, Massachusetts-based Gomez Inc has bought rival Porivo Technologies Inc to broaden its suite of web site performance measurement services, the companies announced this week. Gomez tests whether its clients' site performance is up to scratch using a network of 50-odd nodes "located as close to the network service …

    Data Networking 2 Oct 2002, 07:28

  • Sage US is simply the Best

    Unified front against Microsoft

    Sage is to regroup its far-flung collection of US software companies under a single brand. No, it's not Sage - another firm owns the rights to that name in the US. The accountancy/small biz software specialist now wants to be known as Best Software in the US, a territory now responsible for more than half group sales. At the …

    Business 2 Oct 2002, 08:25

  • Intel confirms DRAM no-show

    Been there, fled that

    Last week, the Taiwanese press got awfully excited about Intel entering the DRAM market in tandem with local suppliers. Apparently, Intel was to build two 12in wafer plants in Taiwan and would start pumping out DRAM in three years, the Commercial Times said. Our content partner ComputerWire expressed doubts about the veracity …

    Channel 2 Oct 2002, 09:42

  • Channel fifth column awaits Dell

    Are they mad?

    European PC dealers and disties are willing to put their heads in the lion's den. Like lambs to the slaughter they will queue up to do business with Dell, the nemesis of the channel - if the terms are right. A survey of 107 senior representatives of PC-reselling businesses in EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa) reveals that …

    Channel 2 Oct 2002, 11:08

  • Virgin Mobile hits 2m punters

    Ouch

    Virgin Mobile has signed up more than two million punters to its mobile phone service in record time. During the three months to the end of September the mobile phone service attracted 232,300 new punters - up 36 per cent on the previous quarter - bringing the total number of subscribers to a smidge over two million. By …

    Mobile 2 Oct 2002, 11:12

  • First Look Mandrake 9.0 vs. Mandrake 8.2 for new Linux users

    This article concentrates on describing a basic Mandrake 9.0 installation and setup from a new user's viewpoint, using nothing but default settings all the way through. I've also tossed in a few notes on how Mandrake 9.0 differs from Mandrake 8.2 and other previous Mandrake releases. The test laptop is a ThinkPad T20, a …

    Software 2 Oct 2002, 11:31

  • Video games biz hits back at rip-off claims

    Fair Play or Foul

    "Videogames are a rip off", loudly proclaims the front of the FairPlay Campaign website, which is devoted to forcing publishers to reduce the price of games through a series of consumer pressure actions - including an all-out boycott of games purchasing in the first week of December. The site goes on to boldly claim that " …

    Personal 2 Oct 2002, 11:41

  • Satire site claims victory in ‘informal’ censorship battle

    Small steps and giant leaps

    The Metropolitan Police have backed down in a row over a satirical Web site which was shut down following complaints from members of the public. Police had requested that the hosts of Thinkofthechildren.co.uk shut down the site alleging that the content could "incite violence". However, it was reactivated earlier this week in …

    Music and Media 2 Oct 2002, 11:47

  • ARM crashes on Q3 warning

    'Visibility could be affected'

    The trouble with ARM Holdings is that it has to keep doing the spectacular numbers to justify a spectacular P/E ratio. One stumble and the share price, so geared to spectacular success, is hammered. So it proved today with ARM shares falling as much as as 64 per cent in morning trading following a trading update/sales warning …

    Channel 2 Oct 2002, 12:15

  • EDS faces SEC probe

    'Informal'

    The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)has begun an informal inquiry into the recent earnings warning from EDS and how it traded options on its common stock. The world's second largest outsourcing company has said it will "cooperate fully" with the SEC and is confident that the inquiry will confirm its actions were above …

    Business 2 Oct 2002, 12:42

  • BugBear – nasty email virus

    Trojan-dropping, keystroke-logging, mass-mailing

    Bugbear is the latest mass-mailing virus to target Windows users. And it's a baddie, able to compromise passwords on victims' machines. BugBear can propagate using the MIME MS01-020 vulnerability and is particularly difficult to spot. This is because it normally arrives in email with variable subject, text and attachment names …

    Malware 2 Oct 2002, 12:45

  • ATI accelerates playback on 9000, 9700

    The Real Deal

    ATI is to bundle Real Networks's RealOne Player, an "optimized" version, no less, with upmarket 9000 and 9700 series graphics cards. At the same time the graphics chip maker is to promote the RealOne SuperPass broadband content subscription service with its cards. The marketing deal, announced yesterday, was packaged alongside …

    Personal 2 Oct 2002, 13:06

  • VIA backs Bluetooth

    Signs up with Ericsson

    The short-range wireless technology got another boost yesterday, as Taiwanese processor and board maker VIA licensed Bluetooth intellectual properties from Ericsson, Matt Whipp writes. It remains unclear how VIA will deploy Bluetooth in its product range, although adding the technology to the chips it sells to manufacturers of …

    Channel 2 Oct 2002, 13:20

  • IF.com is not working today. Or yesterday. Or last Friday

    Technical problems

    Some 500,000 customers of the Halifax's Internet bank, IF, are unable to access their account via the Web today following a problem with the service. Customers have complained that they've been unable to access their accounts for the last five days. They're particularly annoyed at the lack of information coming out of IF. In …

    e-Business 2 Oct 2002, 13:24

  • mmO2 goes mobile messaging mad

    Image manipulation

    mmO2 yesterday detailed plans to launch the "most customer friendly and comprehensive" multimedia messaging (MMS) service to date. The service, called O2 media messaging, is to be available to both pre- and post- pay customers and offers immediate roaming across mmO2's four country networks (UK, Netherlands, Ireland and Germany …

    Mobile 2 Oct 2002, 13:28

  • Ballmer heads for Oz to staunch Telstra Windows defection

    Charm offensive? No, we can't see it either...

    Microsoft High Command has noticed Australia, and is unleashing Steve Ballmer on it in an effort to stop its biggest customer in the southern hemisphere, Telstra, from going MIA, according to a report in today's Australian IT. It is not immediately clear to us whether the Aussies get Steve because they're still deemed by the …

    Software 2 Oct 2002, 16:17

  • WMP users ‘wish’ for better DRM, wider takeup of WMA

    Well then, there's a surprise...

    In ExtremeTech, the redoubtable Mark Hachman has unearthed Microsoft's "Windows Media Wish," where apparently users' wishes for future versions of Windows Media Player come true. But seeing the list of successful wishes has been around since March 25th,* and anyway we think Mark either missed something or was too deeply ironic …

    Software 2 Oct 2002, 18:06

  • Prince Charles' denial fails to quash Raddick theory

    Letters Own up, big ears

    Despite the official denial from Prince Charles press office that we obtained yesterday, many readers are convinced that the letter-writing heir to the throne really is "Henry Raddick", Amazon.com's most famous guest reviewer. "Perhaps Raddick's Amazon.com name is a clue," Dale Thorn reminds us: "HR". Uncannily similar to "HRH …

    Bootnotes 2 Oct 2002, 19:05

  • Mitnick laptop for sale on eBay

    h4xOr heirloom

    Notorious computer hacker Kevin Mitnick has put the laptop seized during his 1995 arrest up for sale on eBay. The venerable Toshiba Satellite T1960CS, 486 laptop was one of two PCs allegedly used by Mitnick to hack into networks of major corporations, including Motorola and Sun Microsystems. It was seized when he was arrested …

    Music and Media 2 Oct 2002, 19:56

  • Tiscali culls half of Danish staff

    110 out of the door

    Tiscali has culled half its workforce in Denmark in a bid to cut its losses and end the year with positive earnings. Some 110 people out of 223 were laid off at the pan-European ISP last Friday following ten days of speculation that massive job cuts were imminent. The job losses came a week or so after CEO Peter Bredgaard left …

    Music and Media 2 Oct 2002, 19:57

  • Klez-H enjoying its final days on infamy?

    Top of the bugs

    The nasty BugBear worm made a race for infamy at the end of the month, but that old favourite Klez-H still made it to the top of the virus charts last month That's according to monthly statistics from managed services firm MessageLabs, which stopped 576,100 copies of the viruses in September. It's the fifth month in a row Klez- …

    Personal 2 Oct 2002, 19:59

  • Gartner slams MS security after latest flaw

    No improvement till 2004

    The latest flaw with a major Microsoft product shows Redmond is unlikely to have anything that approximates to secure software until 2004 at the earliest. That's the damning assessment of analysts Gartner in response to a serious, but little publicised, vulnerability with FrontPage Server Extensions that emerged last week. The …

    Software 2 Oct 2002, 20:02

  • Get CyberTooled up at Cash'n'Carrion

    Reg merchandise offers latest in IT multitool technology

    Those readers who like to start their Xmas shopping early might be interested in a piece of must-have IT kit available now at the Cash'n'Carrion Reg shop. The Victorinox CyberTool is a veritable mobile workshop featuring no less than 34 funtions, ranging from knives and corkscrew to hex bits and wire cutters. This magnificent …

    Site News 2 Oct 2002, 20:06