28th November 2002 Archive

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EU frets over China's 3G plan

Home grown

Now it's the European Union's turn to worry about China's go-it-alone strategy for 3G. The Chinese have co-developed a third specification called TD-SCDMA, and are indicating their preference to use it instead of WCDMA(UMTS) or Qualcomm's technology. In this report the deputy head of the EU's mission in Beijing advises the PRC …

Mobile 28 Nov 2002, 08:31
Entertainment to drive MMS – report

Leapfrogs messaging

The lion's share of revenues from MMS will come from entertainment-based services rather than peer-to-peer messaging, according to Juniper Research. The UK firm has concluded from interviewing 40 industry leaders that MMS has the potential to generate revenues in excess of $8.3bn by 2004. Approximately $5.6 billion of that will …

Mobile 28 Nov 2002, 08:31
'Essential.NET' at 30 per cent off

Get inside.NET with with IT-minds.com

This week, Reg associate IT-minds.com is offering 3 new books that have been written and reviewed by the principal authorities and pioneering developers of the Microsoft .NET technologies, including the Microsoft .NET development team and DevelopMentor. Essential.NET provides everything developers need to take full advantage of …

Site News 28 Nov 2002, 08:36
‘Lawsuits in Motion’ name distasteful, ignorant

Letter Shame on us

Sometimes the replies we receive when following up your letters are far more illuminating than the original. And so is the case with this exchange. It helps to read the first before the second, but it's in the second where all the action is. (So to speak). From: Michael Andrew Goldsmith To: andrew.orlowski@theregister.co.uk …

Letters 28 Nov 2002, 09:50
Ground work laid for Open Source Java

Gets first outing with J2EE 1.4

Open source Java is on the horizon following support for changes to a Sun Microsystems-backed industry body overseeing development of the platform and programming language, writes Gavin Clarke. Java Community Process (JCP) members have voted to alter the community's structure, officially supporting open source …

Software 28 Nov 2002, 09:55
Server market stabilises (but competition is fierce)

Dell does well

The server market is stabilizing after two years of decline research firm IDC declared yesterday. However, competition remains fierce, with Unix-based machines losing ground to Linux and Windows-based boxes and Dell Computer the only company to increase revenues. IDC found that worldwide server revenues in the third …

Servers 28 Nov 2002, 09:55
Winevar worm sets sites on Symantec

By DDOS

Internet viruses have for some time targeted anti-virus tools with their destructive payloads, but Winevar, which is spreading in the wild this week, tries to execute a denial of service attack against Symantec Corp's web site, an anti-virus firm warned yesterday. Kaspersky Labs warned that Winevar attempts to remove all …

Security 28 Nov 2002, 10:21
Level 3 submits Genuity bail-out bid

Genuity in Chapter 11

Level 3 Communications Inc said it has agreed to pay up to $242m for most of rival Genuity Inc, the ailing data communications firm, in a deal that will require Genuity, laboring under almost $4bn of debt, to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, writes Kevin Murphy. While many key Genuity stakeholders have approved …

Business 28 Nov 2002, 10:22
JOLAP sees ‘light at end of tunnel’

No, it's not a near-death experience

Members of the long-winded Java Community Process (JCP) Expert Group for the Java OLAP Interface (JOLAP) are nearing completion of a formal industry specification for the management and exchange of multidimensional data between OLAP database servers and applications. This week the group has completed a 60-day public review …

Data Center 28 Nov 2002, 10:29
Nasty virus Winevar insults infected users

What a foolish thing you've done!

Winevar-A, the latest mass mailing virus, adds insult to injury for infected victims. As well as attempting to delete files and sending repeating HTTP requests to Symantec's Web site (an unsophisticated DDoS ploy), Winevar also displays a rude message. The virus normally arrives by email with an infected attachment. If Windows …

Security 28 Nov 2002, 10:29
China has 54.35 million on the Net

Which makes how many political prisoners?

China has 54.35 million Internet users at the end of September, the country's government declared this week. Just over 20.5 million computers in the country were connected to the Internet, an official at the country's Telecommunication Administration revealed at a conference, while the country had 81,907 websites. Despite …

Media 28 Nov 2002, 10:40
Wireless broadband trial brings hope for rural users

Steady

A new "long range" wireless broadband service could deliver fast and affordable Net access for people who live in areas currently not served by ADSL or cable if a trial in Essex proves successful. The trial is funded with a £200,000 grant from the East of England Development Agency (EEDA) and will provide broadband for the …

Broadband 28 Nov 2002, 11:15
MS, Intel backed outfit slams DoD OSS study and ‘viral’ GPL

Campaigning for choice, or against GPL?

A 'pro-choice' group with backing from Microsoft and Intel has mounted what can best be described as an eccentric attack on Mitre Corporation's recent report 'Use of Free and Open Source Software US Department of Defense,' which was itself commissioned by the DoD. The report, over 152 pages, surveyed use of FOSS (its own coinage …

Software 28 Nov 2002, 12:32
Ireland preps home-grown RIP Act

Four years data retention

Ireland is to extend the retention of personal data collected from "mobile calls, faxes, and e-mail and Internet usage" to up to four years, the Irish Times reports. A new Department of Justice Bill, modelled on the UK's highly controversial RIP Act, is in draft stage and could be enacted by Spring, the paper says. Expect …

Media 28 Nov 2002, 12:55
Computacenter returns to Germany

Buys GE Compunet

Computacenter is returning to Germany in style, by buying GE Compunet, the country's biggest reseller. As a bonus it gets a leading position in Austria too. The price is a steal, even in these depressed times for resellers. CC is splashing out £36m upfront for the GE CompuNet and GE Capital IT Solutions Austria businesses on …

Channel 28 Nov 2002, 12:56
4G services roll out ‘this time next year’

Oi! We haven't got threegee yet

4G is close on the heels of 3G, with "forward-thinking wireless operators who are now working ... to leapfrog expensive and ineffective third generation wireless strategies". And by this time next year fourth generation wireless services will start rolling out, US analyst firm Visant Strategies, argues. In a new study, 3G …

Mobile 28 Nov 2002, 13:56
Research questions broadband's speed appeal

A different perspective

New research has questioned whether the key benefits of broadband really do boil down to "speed" and "always-on" access to the Internet. Traditionally, these two points are considered as the main selling points for broadband. But research which looked at how exactly people use broadband in their homes and at work suggests that …

Broadband 28 Nov 2002, 13:59
Wrong scapegoat, 3G auction architect says

Why they remain a Good Thing

Almost three years on, the carpers and cavillers are still complaining about the huge sums extracted from the telcos in the European 3G spectrum auctions. It is blamed for all manner of things, including the telecoms industry crisis, shareholder misery, wife-beating and crop failure. At the time, some of us (OK, me) - at The …

Mobile 28 Nov 2002, 14:42
MS targets Linux defectors with ‘special’ price discounts

Licensing 6.1...

Savage discounts and easy payment terms available on Microsoft software, should you look like you're about to jump ship for Open Source? We all know that this kind of thing happens, but from what a Yankee Group analyst has been telling Newsfactor, this semi-ad hoc procedure has been formalised as part of a new 'Open Value' …

Software 28 Nov 2002, 14:45
BT hits 500k ADSL milestone

On target for 1m by end of the summer

BT is on target to get one million ADSL subscribers by the end of next summer. Confirmation that it's on course came today as BT Wholesale announced it had connected its 500,000th ADSL punter. With around 40 weeks to go until its summer deadline, coupled with word that ADSL connections are growing at around 16,000 a week, it …

Broadband 28 Nov 2002, 14:51
Orange's SPV MS smartphone – developer hostile bugfarm?

So it stands for Service Pack Vehicle, then?

A bizarre feature of Orange's SPV, the first Microsoft Stinger smartphone to hit the streets, means the contact book won't actually dial the number you've just looked up, according to disenchanted early adopter Simon Perry. This seems so utterly insane and bizarre to us that we really feel Orange should have an opportunity to …

Mobile 28 Nov 2002, 16:05