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8th October 2002 Archive

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  • Eternal copyright to be challenged in high court

    Mickey Mouse meets the Supremes

    The US Supreme Court is scheduled to hear arguments in Eldred v. Ashcroft this week, in which the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998 will be challenged. The legislation, which extended existing copyrights an additional twenty years, was originally conceived by talent powerhouse Sonny Bono and is coplloquially known by his …

    Music and Media 8 Oct 2002, 01:17

  • Trend Micro guarantees Virus Response

    Bold claim

    Trend Micro Inc is claiming to be the first anti-virus vendor to offer a virus response service level agreement to business customers. With the introduction of its SLA offering, the Tokyo, Japan-based company is offering a financial payment to customers if it fails to meet a two-hour deadline for virus detection. The Virus …

    Malware 8 Oct 2002, 09:09

  • Red-faced Apple fights .Mac brown-outs

    'We're very sorry you can't read this email. $end more money'

    "Remember your story about Mac users demanding worse service?", writes a frustrated Apple user and Register reader based in the United Kingdom. "Apple seem to be delivering." Indeed, after the .Mac service suffered major outages on Sunday, depriving users of their iTools disks and .mac email addresses, it does appear that Apple …

    Mac Channel 8 Oct 2002, 09:09

  • Oracle undercuts Microsoft with Collaboration Suite

    Outlook Grim

    Oracle Corp has announced the immediate availability of its new Collaboration Suite, claiming to undercut rival Microsoft Corp by two thirds. First announced by Redwood Shores, California-based Oracle's CEO Larry Ellison in July, Collaboration Suite is Oracle's attempt to tackle Microsoft's dominant position in email and …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2002, 09:11

  • Yahoo! pushes IM into the Enterprise

    Will drive Interoperability

    Yahoo! Inc yesterday unveiled its strategy to push instant messaging into the enterprise, saying its massive installed base will help it compete against established pure-play IM providers, and should ultimately force the three big IM players to interoperate, Kevin Murphy writes. Yahoo! Messenger Enterprise Edition will go …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2002, 09:11

  • Microsoft consolidates Server map

    Componentization

    Microsoft Corp is today expected to announce strategy and product details for its messaging and e-business servers focussed on increased security and reliability, simplified collaboration and web services development. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft executives will officially open the company's Exchange Conference (MEC …

    Hardware 8 Oct 2002, 09:11

  • Fujitsu and Siemens to 'extend PC pact to US, Asia'

    Last tick in the box

    Fujitsu Ltd and Siemens AG are set to expand their PC joint venture from Europe to North America and Asia, reports claimed yesterday. Japanese giant Fujitsu and German technology behemoth Siemens pooled their European computing operations in 1999. The joint venture's portfolio ranges from mainframes to notebooks. However, …

    Business 8 Oct 2002, 09:12

  • CMG, Logica confirm merger talks

    Outed by The Times

    CMG and Logica are mulling over merger opportunities. They were probably not ready to go public - the talks are in early stages - but a scoop in today's Times, left them with little choice. There are two big areas to concentrate on cost-savings and: messaging software for the mobile networks; and business services/outsourcing/ …

    Business 8 Oct 2002, 10:01

  • AOL UK slashes broadband charges

    Falls into line

    AOL UK has slashed the cost of it broadband service in a direct challenge to BT's no frills BT Broadband service. The cost of its service will fall from a whopping £34.99 a month to £27.99 a month with a one-off charge of £85 for the modem pack. Those who originally signed up to the £34.99 package will be given the opportunity …

    Telecoms 8 Oct 2002, 10:03

  • UK hits 1m broadband milestone

    No calls for celebration

    The UK has one million broadband connections, according to stats released by Oftel. Over the last six months the total number of broadband connections including xDSL and cable has risen from 500,000 to 1m, with new connections running at over 20,000 per week. Predictably, Oftel boss David Edmonds is trying to claim some of the …

    Telecoms 8 Oct 2002, 10:20

  • Mandrake Linux 9.0 distro for Xbox now available

    Installation just got a whole lot easier

    The Xbox Linux Project has released the first full Linux distribution for the Xbox, a single CD version of Mandrake 9.0, available here. The Project has already produced various howtos and tools for the installation of SuSE and Debian on the Xbox (you'll still need a modded one, of course), but the Mandrake distribution is …

    Software 8 Oct 2002, 10:23

  • Visual Basic's vileness haunts MS .NET

    Letters Verity Stob, readers tussle over soul of pointless computer language

    Our reference to Verity Stob's famous put-down of Microsoft Visual Basic has caused defenders of the language to rise up as one. Literally as one, in fact - as we received a solo, but passionate point-by-point rejection of Stob's ancient critique of the language. The fragrant Ms.Stob has graced us with her counter-response, …

    Letters 8 Oct 2002, 10:28

  • The world's most dangerous server room?

    Don't touch that switch

    A reader in North America, who must remain nameless, sends us the following photograph of his company's IT nerve center. "I thought you might like to see our company's server room," he writes. Uh-huh. "Those two big buckets are to catch the water from the air conditioner. Notice they balance right above our company servers. …

    Bootnotes 8 Oct 2002, 11:12

  • Cisco beefs up storage play, cosies up to Veritas

    Spreading wings

    Check out The Register's Enterprise Storage Channel Cisco has alighted upon data storage as a growth area for the company. In August it bought Andiamo, a storage networking company, for an undisclosed sum. This will mark its entry into the Fibre Channel SAN (storage area networking) switching market And yesterday, CEO John …

    Storage 8 Oct 2002, 11:47

  • Evesham bundles Lindows on £249 PC

    First European deal for Lindows.com

    Evesham is bundle the open source Lindows OS on a new bargain basement PC knocked out at £249 inc.VAT. Evesham's E-scape Li PC comes with Lindows preloaded, features a VIA C3 processor and the VIA Apollo PLE133 integrated chipset, 40Gb Hard disk, 256MB DRAM, CD drive, modem and mouse. Monitors, speakers and other peripherals …

    Personal 8 Oct 2002, 11:57

  • Intel 'back in the driver's seat'

    AMD needs Hammer

    It's not been a good year for CPU makers, but for AMD it has been particularly poor, losing market share in 2002 to the traditional leader Intel. This year, Intel will account for 81 per cent of desktop processor sales, an "overwhelming lead" which it will maintain through to 2003, In-Stat/MDR forecasts. Worse, for AMD, Athlon …

    Channel 8 Oct 2002, 13:02

  • Broadband Sat service for £14.99

    Interesting

    A Hampshire-based ISP is offering a one-way broadband satellite service for £14.99 a month. SatDrive, based in Overton near Basingstoke, soft-launched the service a month or so ago. It's designed for business users and those who work from home. According to SatDrive, the product is proving popular especially with hacked-off …

    Telecoms 8 Oct 2002, 13:04

  • Red Hat 8.0's bid for the simple, easy to use Linux desktop

    Review We like it, but we're easily impressed

    Desktop Linux and I go way back. By this, however, I mean I've spent an awful lot of time over the past couple of years trying and failing to get an acceptably working Linux installation onto the machine I use most often, which is an IBM ThinkPad. I have successfully achieved Linux installations on desktop machines, which is now …

    Software 8 Oct 2002, 13:11

  • 3Com upgrades Firewall Cards

    Adds protection for notebook and remote users

    3Com has launched a rack of new embedded Firewall Cards. The range includes a new 3Com Firewall PC Card, as well as a revamp of existing Firewall Desktop PCI Cards, 3Com Firewall Server PCI Cards and 3Com Embedded Firewall Policy Server. Designed to secure vulnerable notebooks and remote PCs, the products provide hardware …

    Security 8 Oct 2002, 14:24

  • Cablecos responsible for Broadband Britain -NTL

    BT must be watched 'like a hawk'

    NTL - which boasts four in ten of all broadband connections in the UK - claims cablecos are responsible for the "success" of Broadband Britain. Commenting on news that the UK now has one million broadband connections Stephen Carter, MD of NTL said: "The foundations of Broadband Britain have been built of cable not copper, but …

    Telecoms 8 Oct 2002, 14:29

  • McData Q3 update is curate's egg

    Sales down, profits up

    Check out The Register's Enterprise Storage Channel McData has furnished the world with new guidance for Q3 revenues and earnings per share. And a mixed bag it is too, with sales at the SAN switching firm now expected to come in at $80-$81m - $2m-$4m less than previously anticipated. But it expects a better pro-forma EPS - …

    Storage 8 Oct 2002, 14:50

  • Review: Palm Zire m150

    Rewriting the PDA rules

    VERDICT: It may not have much built-in memory or the fastest processor, but this is a well-built, light and stylish PDA. An absolute bargain at £77. Sony, HP and Handspring had better take note - Palm has just re-written the PDA rules. Just in time for Christmas, it's unleashed a stylish, lightweight and fully-featured PDA that …

    Personal 8 Oct 2002, 15:17

  • Maxtor promises ‘OneTouch’ back up

    Magic button on new external drive family

    Maxtor today makes the bold claim that it has revolutionised the external hard drive - thanks to a magic button. OK, we added the magic bit, but the gist is that Maxtor has added a "OneTouch" button on its new Personal Storage 5000 family of external hard drives. Press it for instant copying and/or back up. Sounds like a neat …

    Personal 8 Oct 2002, 16:33

  • Microsoft marries RSA Security to Windows

    SecurID on Pocket PC and much, much more

    Microsoft has signed a wide-ranging deal to incorporate RSA encryption technology into its applications and services. The agreement, announced today (without financial details, is pitched as a key component in Microsoft's Trustworthy computing push. The first initiatives will centre on Microsoft's licensing of RSA SecurID two- …

    Security 8 Oct 2002, 20:14

  • Google explains new page rankings

    Pigeons now more bomb resistant

    Some sanity returned to Google 's page rankings last week, and the only damage incurred appears to be a few bruised egos. So we were surprised when Wired adopted a note of faux outrage (hey! that's our job) in its coverage of the new index. "Geeks Aghast"! reported Paul Boutin: "The inevitable backlash finally appears to have …

    Music and Media 8 Oct 2002, 20:31