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13th December 2002 Archive

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  • Microsoft in spotlight over Borland swoop

    Wall Street speculation

    The acquisition spotlight fell on Microsoft Corp yesterday, as speculation swept Wall St that the company was moving against Borland Software Corp as well as Rational Software Corp to revive its application design and modeling offerings, writes Gavin Clarke. Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft was reported to be preparing …

    Business 13 Dec 2002, 09:53

  • Borland: Q2 03 for TogetherSoft, StarBase integration

    De-Duping

    .NET tools expected in the first half of next year from Borland Software Corp could see first steps towards tighter integration with offerings from TogetherSoft SA and StarBase Corp. Executives told financial analysts this week integration between the recently acquired TogetherSoft's and StarBase's products and Borland's …

    Software 13 Dec 2002, 09:53

  • VeriSign exits UK domain retail biz

    Amen to that

    VeriSign Inc is closing its retail domain name business in the UK with the loss of about a dozen jobs, ComputerWire has learned, writes Kevin Murphy The company, which has seen its share of the domain market steadily eroded over the last two years, has sold its 60,000-strong UK customer base to French-owned Amen Ltd, a …

    Media 13 Dec 2002, 09:54

  • CodeWeavers targets Citrix with CrossOver Server Edition

    Per-seat licensing

    CodeWeavers Inc, the major commercial backer of the Wine project to enable Microsoft applications to run on Linux and Unix operating systems, is taking aim at Citrix Systems Inc with the release of CrossOver Office Server Edition. The new product enables users to utilize the server-based computing model to host Microsoft's …

    Data Center 13 Dec 2002, 09:54

  • Psion says trading meets forecasts

    Sales projections

    Trading is in line with management expectations at Psion, with the company stressing that it has cash resources "more than sufficient to support investment in both Symbian and organic development at Psion Teklogix". In a trading statement issued today, the mobile company points to £22m in cash at the end of November 2002 (Nov …

    Mobile 13 Dec 2002, 10:39

  • BTw in new year ADSL promo

    2003 already...

    BT Wholesale is offering ISPs half price broadband connections as part of a limited promotion early next year. The activation charge for the bog standard BT IPStream Home product will be cut from £50 to £25. While the charge for business broadband services in the BT IPStream S range will also be halved from £260 to £130. The …

    Broadband 13 Dec 2002, 11:29

  • Peapod bought out of administration

    Phoenix from the flames

    IT consultancy/distie Peapod announced today that it has been bought out of administration by Communication Technology Investment Ltd (CTIL). Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. CTIL is part of Global Emerging Markets Ltd, a group which operates other IT and security-related businesses as well as firms involved in …

    Channel 13 Dec 2002, 12:48

  • Bulldog offers 2Mbps broadband for punters

    Central London only

    Bulldog Communications has unveiled an unbundled 2Mbps ADSL service aimed at home users. Available to some 400,000 punters in central London, the Primetime 2000 service costs £39.99 a month. Service activation costs £99 although punters can get it for £49 if they sign up for the service before the end of January. The service …

    Broadband 13 Dec 2002, 12:50

  • Hutchison 3G signs phones 4u

    And disties

    Hutchison 3G is getting the UK distribution ball rolling before launch, bagging major retailer phones 4 U as a supplier for its 3 mobile network. Last week Hutch signed up Carphone Warehouse. The UK's first 3G network to launch is also reaching out to independent retailers, through specialist disties Hugh Symons and Avenir …

    Mobile 13 Dec 2002, 13:21

  • E-fraud costs retailers millions

    At Xmas of all times too

    Internet fraud will cost US on-line retailers $500 million this Christmas, as fraudsters devise more sophisticated scams to obtain credit card information. Research firm Gartner said on Wednesday that an estimated $160 million will be lost this holiday season to fraud and approximately $315 million will be lost in sales due to …

    Media 13 Dec 2002, 13:22

  • Yes, I am that West Saharan grandmother

    Letters And other odds and sods

    No over-riding theme in this postbag, just emails that took our fancy. Yes, I'm that West Saharan grandmother Dear Sir, following a couple of reg advisories on how to preserve privacy on the net, I've filled out your survey. Yes, I'm that West Saharan grandmother that controls the IT assets of a very large company with a …

    Letters 13 Dec 2002, 14:06

  • Final UK order deadline at Cash'n'Carrion

    Buy now for pre-Xmas delivery

    Midnight GMT tonight (Friday 13) is the final UK order deadline for pre-Xmas delivery at our Cash'n'Carrion Reg shop. It's your last chance to flash the plastic before we can all tuck into some well-deserved mince pies and sherry. Thanks and a very merry Xmas to all our Cash'n'Carrion customers. ®

    Site News 13 Dec 2002, 14:09

  • MS staffer accused of $9m software for Ferraris scam

    Stock options stink these days? So create your own opportunities...

    The Microsoft store, theoretically an employee-only operation, is a fabled source of improbably cheap goodies, small-time scams and handy licensing loopholes - but $9 million worth of software? For just one employee? Over nearly a year? Well, OK, it's not the Microsoft store as such Daniel Feussner has been accused of stealing …

    Software 13 Dec 2002, 14:21

  • Cobalt security patch creates new holes

    D'oh

    A security-hardening patch for Sun Cobalt appliances causes more problems than it solves, the company admits. Instal the SHP (Security Hardening Patch) on Cobalt RaQ 4 server applianc and you make it vulnerable to attacks from crackers who could run arbitrary code on the appliances with root privileges, Sun warns in a notice …

    Security 13 Dec 2002, 15:44

  • 120 jobs could go at Kingston as Tiscali pulls contract

    Sources

    120 people could lose their jobs after Tiscali UK ditched an outsourcing deal with call centre operation Kingston Incontact (KI). According to sources, staff at Hull-based KI - part of Kingston Communications PLC - were told yesterday that they would lose their jobs at the end of February. It's understood that the whole of …

    Business 13 Dec 2002, 17:04

  • T-Mobile withdraws Nokia 7210

    Crash, bang, wallop. What a buggy picture-phone

    T-Mobile has withdrawn Nokia's 7210 from sale just days after beginning sales of the much anticipated picture-messaging handset. In a fax sent by T-Mobile to dealers (a copy of which was forwarded to The Register) the mobile operator explains it is withdrawing the 7210 from sale because of "continued instability of the handset …

    Mobile 13 Dec 2002, 23:02

  • Senate Closes Accidental Anonymizer

    Open proxy server

    Never let it be said that the United States Senate has done nothing for Internet privacy. Network administrators for the U.S. government site www.senate.gov shut down an open proxy server last weekend that for months had turned the site into a free Web anonymizer that could have allowed savvy surfers to launder their Internet …

    Security 13 Dec 2002, 23:19

  • Telco kit sales get slumpier in 2003 – Alcatel

    War of attrition

    Alcatel SA has warned that a preliminary evaluation of 2003 market prospects "confirms the likelihood of a further deterioration from 2002 levels." In the chill economic climate, the Paris, France-based telecoms equipment supplier was forced to express its confidence that it could meet its financial obligations. "The …

    Data Networking 13 Dec 2002, 23:43

  • EDS seals $4.5bn gig with Bank of America

    Some good news at last

    Electronic Data Systems Corp made a major stride in its effort to restore its battered reputation yesterday by announcing a ten-year $4.5bn outsourcing deal with US financial giant Bank of America, writes Joe Fay. EDS believes the contract ranks amongst the top ten services transactions ever, and is the biggest deal to …

    Business 13 Dec 2002, 23:43

  • Big chem deploys DMCA to takedown parody site

    Yes Men strike again

    My, how the Digital Millennium Copyright Act, the DMCA, is turning out to be a fine and flexible friend. It extends across continents. It reaches into computers in Norway and Russia, which when we last looked, were sovereign nations and not US States. A fortnight ago it was used to protect price lists, claiming that these are …

    Media 13 Dec 2002, 23:57