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4th February 2003 Archive

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  • The rise of the $99 ‘consumer’ Linux distribution

    And why it's a great deal

    $99, give or take $20, seems to be the new price point for full-featured, consumer-level Linux distributions. This is a great deal for non-technical users, since most of the new-wave consumer Linux products give users a much prettier and easier experience than traditional, all-GPL distributions tailored for a geeky user base. …

    Software 4 Feb 2003, 08:53

  • AMD ships Athlon MP 2600+

    More launches than Henley

    AMD today introduced the Athlon MP 2600+, available "immediately through 49 system builders worldwide. The list price is $273 in those OEM quantities of a thousand. The MP 2600+, AMD's fastest multiprocessor CPU to date, is pitched against Intel Xeon systems in the low-end server space. OK, so it's a small launch but at least …

    Servers 4 Feb 2003, 08:53

  • Why US gov reps mugged pro open source declaration

    And why there's a clash with developing countries brewing

    In the middle of last month a US delegation to an international conference clearly signalled US policy as regards open source by de-fanging a pro open source declaration. The conference, the Asian regional meeting of the World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) had been poised to "support" open source software in a closing …

    Software 4 Feb 2003, 08:57

  • HP subs server memory gig to Solectron

    Big Deal

    HP is consolidating its branded server memory modules budget into the open arms of Solectron. The lossmaking contract electronics manufacturer will assemble the modules for HP from its plant in Puerto Rico, where labour costs are cheap. It describes the deal as a "valuable business win", worth $1.4bn over five years. Solectron …

    Servers 4 Feb 2003, 09:57

  • Lawyers enter fray in spam blacklisting dispute

    Spews.org makes Island Networks sick

    Island Networks, the Channel Islands domain manager, is threatening anti-spam blacklisting service Spews.org with legal action following the blacklisting of its IP address. Spews.org blacklisted the block of domains 216.110.45.0 to 216.110.51.255 last month due to the activities of a group known as spammingbureau.com. Island …

    Music and Media 4 Feb 2003, 10:05

  • Sun plots critical path to post-SMP future

    It's how you draw the map, see

    Systems companies such as Sun Microsystems could do worse than draw on Buckminster Fuller for inspiration for their future. At an analyst briefing in Menlo Park last week, Greg Papadopoulos said that Sun's challenge was navigating a "post-SMP" era of computing, which is a bold statement from a company that mushroomed in size on …

    Hardware 4 Feb 2003, 10:07

  • PC support staff most in demand

    UK Survey

    PC Support staff are the most sought-after IT workers in the UK, according to a survey by recruitment outfit Elan. Its quarterly survey of the UK IT jobs market found PC Support and Senior PC Support staff were top of the list of jobs in most demand. Not that this shows in the wages on offer. The national average salary for PC …

    Business 4 Feb 2003, 10:27

  • Cyberterror! Project Gutenberg URL swiped for Saddam

    Bound to be a clear breach of security council resolution...

    A small hijacking will likely gladden the hearts of would-be cyberwarriors in the Pentagon. This morning, for reasons that are not entirely obvious, projectgutenberg.org seems to be pointing to the front page of the web site of the Mission of Iraq to the United Nations. Skulduggery by the Iraqi secret services, or fiendish …

    Music and Media 4 Feb 2003, 10:57

  • MS says how it will ship Sun Java for XP, Longhorn

    Should it have to, that is...

    Microsoft has explained how it proposes to distribute Sun's Java, should it lose its current appeal against a District Court order instructing it to do so. The company also yesterday was granted a stay of that order, pending the appeal, so it all remains up in the air. But still, we now have The Beast's script for how its own VM …

    Software 4 Feb 2003, 11:37

  • mm02 has good Q

    ARPUs up

    mm02, the UK's smallest mobile network operator, had a good Q3 on the subscriber front, gaining 791,000 customers in the three months to December 31, 2002. This is an increase of 4.3 per cent, taking subscribers to 19.1 million. Admittedly, many were pretty low-rent in the UK, where the lion's share of the growth came from. Of …

    Mobile 4 Feb 2003, 11:38

  • Symmetrix is back on top

    EMC plays leapfrog with IBM, HDS - who's turn is it next?

    EMC has vaulted past rivals IBM and HDS to regain its crown as storage's King of Big-Iron. Its sixth generation Symmetrix DMX incorporates a new non-blocking direct matrix architecture, with up to 128 point-to-point connections between cache memory and the front-end and back-end controllers. The company claims DMX is three to …

    Storage 4 Feb 2003, 11:49

  • Blue Coat clamps down on rogue IM use

    Handcuffs

    Security outfit Blue Coat Systems yesterday announced technology designed to guard against the misuse of AOL, MSN and Yahoo! IM applications on corporate networks. Blue Coat's IM Traffic Control technology will ship in the Spring, as an additional feature of Web security appliances. These appliances are designed to combat the …

    Security 4 Feb 2003, 11:58

  • Dell Axims come to Europe

    Five languages

    Dell today started selling the Axim PDA, its first own-brand handheld, in Europe. The Axim X5 comes in two flavours, costing £229 and £169 EX-VAT, respectively, and five languages: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish. Dell launched the Axim X5 in the US in November, kicking off with a $50 mail-in rebate offer. If it's …

    Personal 4 Feb 2003, 12:07

  • Xbox losses double

    Component suppliers see orders cut

    The true cost of Microsoft's determined assault on the console market is becoming apparent, with new figures filed by the company with the Securities and Exchange Commission in the USA revealing that in the three months leading up to the end of December, it lost $348 million on its Xbox division, on revenues of $1.28 billion. …

    Personal 4 Feb 2003, 12:19

  • Geoworks flees UK

    Death by a thousand cuts

    Geoworks, the moribund wireless software designer, is ceasing operations in the UK with immediate effect. Teleca Ltd, the Swedish company which had offered to buy the UK business for approx. $1.8m last year, is taking on all Geowork UK staff and will do business with Geowork's customers. It is paying $500,000 for this right. It …

    Mobile 4 Feb 2003, 13:04

  • MPs barred from reading their own emails

    Spam filter goes Mad

    There's crass and there's unbelievable stupidity, a category into which tumbles the person who installed a new email filtering package at the House of Commons. Designed to stop spam, the app has gone censorware-crazy, with MPs complaining that the system is 'stifling political debate'. Paul Tyler, Lib Dem MP, told the BBC that …

    Music and Media 4 Feb 2003, 13:34

  • Korean Net users blame MS for Slammer carnage

    Is Redmond culpable?

    Korean Net users are threatening Microsoft with legal action over the damage inflicted on the country's broadband infrastructure by the Slammer worm. Korea Times reports that the splendidly named People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) group is considering filing a class action suit against the software giant. …

    Malware 4 Feb 2003, 13:37

  • Reg readers are generous PC-donating bunch

    But others are even better

    ComputerAid International wants to say a big thank-you to Register Readers, for their generosity in last year's PC donation campaign. A press blitz last year gained the UK charity coverage in 29 UK media outlets and, more to the point, 5,000 end-of-life PCs for refurbishment and reuse in the Third World. The vast bulk of …

    Business 4 Feb 2003, 14:39

  • BT smarts at £1.35m compensation payout

    Denies e-gov project 'near to collapse'

    BT has reacted angrily to reports that its £150m contract to bring e-government services to Edinburgh is "close to collapse". The Herald reported that the Smart City scheme - which is designed to provide a single point of contact for all local government services - is behind schedule. The technical glitches and delays are so …

    Hardware 4 Feb 2003, 14:44

  • Phantom of the Opera

    Five vulns, three serious in Opera 7

    Opera is racing to fix five vulnerabilities, three of which are said to be serious, involving the latest version of its popular Web browsing software. Israeli security outfit GreyMagic Software today published five security advisories, largely related to Opera 7's JavaScript Console feature. The three most severe …

    Security 4 Feb 2003, 14:49

  • BBC sends Archers fans computer virus

    Dum di dum di dum di... doh!

    Only a couple of weeks after its networks became infected with the ExploreZip virus, the BBC has managed to mail a copy of the Sobig worm to fans of the long-running Radio 4 show, The Archers. The worm was "erroneously" sent to recipients of the Archer's mailing list last Wednesday night (January 29), according to a BBC …

    Malware 4 Feb 2003, 17:06

  • Be wary of cut-price telcos, warns research

    Do your sums first

    Punters are being warned to do their research before signing up to telcos that claim to offer cheaper phone calls. Independent IT outfit Jupiter Information Technology, claims that its research found that calls to one discount telco were actually more expensive than BT. Analysing 199 calls made via the company during January, …

    Music and Media 4 Feb 2003, 17:07