17th August 2004 Archive

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IBM says SCO contract claims are an 'illusion'

Dismiss please

IBM last week stepped up its attack against SCO by filing a motion to dismiss SCO's contract claims with the US District Court in Salt Lake City, Utah. The 100 page document aims right at SCO's claims around the control of "derivative works" produced off of the Unix System V code base. SCO has long asserted that IBM did not …

Software 17 Aug 2004, 02:46
PalmOne offers Wi-Fi card...

...for just two PDAs

PalmOne will ship its eagerly anticipated Wi-Fi SD card next month, but Palm OS-based PDA users looking for a broad-ranging WLAN solution may be disappointed - the device is supported by just two handhelds. According to PalmOne, the card will work with the Zire 72 and the Tungsten T3 only. That's still one up on Sandisk. It's …

Mobile 17 Aug 2004, 08:31
Intel delays cheap hi-def TV tech

Liquid-crystal-on-silicon chips need more refinement

Intel has put back the release of its 'high-definition TVs for the rest of us' display technology. The system, dubbed 'liquid crystal on silicon' (LCOS), involves placing thousands of tiny LCD cells on a silicon wafer. Light shined onto the wafer is reflected (or not) depending on the state of each cell. The reflected light is …

Peripherals 17 Aug 2004, 08:50
CA buys PestPatrol

In brief Anti-spyware play

Computer Associates (CA) yesterday bought privately held anti-spyware firm PestPatrol for an undisclosed cash sum. CA will market PestPatrol's technology as eTrust PestPatrol and will incorporate it into its eTrust security software portfolio, alongside its existing anti-virus and anti-spam packages. CA said that PestPatrol's …

Enterprise Security 17 Aug 2004, 08:55
Second consortium unveils 'broadband Wi-Fi' proposal

Battle lines being drawn in fight for 802.11n

A rival coalition to the WWiSE group has submitted its own proposal to the IEEE's 802.11n taskforce in a bid to shape the future of broadband-speed wireless networking. TGn Sync comprises the likes of Intel, Atheros, Cisco, Nokia, Nortel, Sony, Philips, Samsung and Toshiba, among others. Their joint proposal not only defines Wi …

Wireless 17 Aug 2004, 09:33
Crack Fedora Core and Red Hat Enterprise Linux

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Site News 17 Aug 2004, 09:37
Merrill Lynch downgrades notebook makers

Cites falling margins, weakening demand

Merrill Lynch has further downgraded its performance expectations for the major Taiwanese notebook manufacturers, following indications that they are now anticipating a slowdown in demand for their portable products. Bearish (at least as far as tech stocks go), ML has lowered its ratings for Quanta, Compal and Wistron, the …

Channel 17 Aug 2004, 09:53
Gartner lowers PC forecasts

Weak USA

Gartner has lowered its forecast for global PC shipments amid weak consumer and business spending in the US. The analyst firm now expects global PC shipments to hit 185 million units in 2004 - 12.6 per cent more than in 2003. Previously it forecast unit growth of 13.4 per cent. One reason for the lower forecast has been weaker …

PCs 17 Aug 2004, 10:12
Footing the Big Brother webtap bill

CALEA snoops, you pay

On 9 August 2004, the US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) took a major step toward mandating the creation and implementation of new Internet Protocol standards to make all Internet communications less safe and less secure. What is even worse, the FCC's ruling will force ISP's and others to pay what may amount to billions …

Enterprise Security 17 Aug 2004, 10:13
VIA NET.WORKS buys PSINet Europe

...but not UK

PSINet UK is set to recruit new staff following the recent acquisition of the ISP's mainland Europe operations by VIA NET.WORKS Inc. The deal, which is expected to be completed by the end of week, will see VIA taking over PSINet Europe's operations in Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. PSINet Europe's …

Telecoms 17 Aug 2004, 10:17
IT managers prescribe holistic security

Reg Reader Studies But don't swallow own medicine

A Quocirca Reg Reader Study has found that while an overwhelming majority of IT managers believe that security measures should be managed centrally, just over half have actually begun to implement such a policy, and a paltry 18 per cent have actually completed deployment. Quocirca's research - sponsored by Computer Associates …

Reg Technology Panel 17 Aug 2004, 10:19
Real halves music prices, widens loss

But the labels are the real winners

Real Networks is getting desperate, it seems. In addition to offering free access to its service during the Olympics, the company today slashed the cost of tracks to just 49c (27p) and albums to $4.99 (£2.71). But the deal will see it take a big up-front hit and widen losses. Like the Olympics offer, the price cut announced …

Music and Media 17 Aug 2004, 10:28
Vote now to name BSA's antipiracy weasel

Poll The Mother of all Mustelid polls

The BSA's überplan to use innocent schoolkiddies to name its antipiracy ferret mascot met with scorn and derision from Reg readers, who demanded a poll to select a suitable moniker. Below, then, are ten options as offered by you - our beloved readers - and lovingly hand-picked by Vulture Central science guru Lucy Sherriff. …

Bootnotes 17 Aug 2004, 11:09
Small.biz left standing in ecommerce gold rush

There's riches in them thar stores

Despite the rapid increase of ecommerce the majority of retailers are neglecting to reap online benefits, a survey by Actinic Publishers has shown. The findings highlight the increased profitability of retail Web stores in the small to medium-sized business sector. However, the results reveal that a disproportionately low …

Small Biz 17 Aug 2004, 11:13
BOFH takes a hit from Cupid's arrow

Episode 26 Shall I compare thee to an OS2-free Intel box?

BOFH 2004 So the Boss wanders into the office with the yellow folder of doom. Ever since the Beancounters discovered the horrendous disappearance rate of our kit they've been getting us to do a six-monthly asset audit to track its movements. "I've just got a little job for you - in your free time," he burbles. "We don't have …

BOFH 17 Aug 2004, 11:36
Maxtor boosts SATA HDD cache to 16MB

New DiamondMax 10s sport dual processors too

Maxtor took its 7200rpm Serial ATA hard drive range to 300GB this week, rolling out two new models with big on-board cache buffers. Both new DiamondMax 10 drives sport 16MB of cache, and support native command queuing (NCQ) to boost data throughput. The extra cache ensures more data can be made ready for fast transmission to …

Storage 17 Aug 2004, 11:52
IBM buys Maersk Data

Fancy a Danish

IBM has splashed out an unspecified amount to acquire Danish computer services firm, Maersk Data, a subsidiary of the A.P. Møller-Maersk Group. It is also buying DM Data, an outsourcing business jointly owned by A.P. Møller-Maersk and WM Data. A.P. Møller-Maersk Group said that Maersk Data is its preferred IT supplier, but it …

Financial News 17 Aug 2004, 12:17
Summer spammers get raunchy

Porn spam up 350% since June

The sun seems to be having an inspiring effect on the world's spammers, with levels of pornographic spam rising in step with the temperature. According to Clearswift's monthly spam index, the amount of porn being sent to our unsuspecting inboxes has risen 350 per cent since June. The company's spam watchers also noticed a …

Spam 17 Aug 2004, 12:20
Email chancer claims copyright on @

Using @ regularly? Better cough up, then

Of all the tiresome little email scams which have crawled from the sewer inhabited by charlatans, chancers and out-and-out scumbags, the following - forwarded by reader Richard Panton - must rank among the most audacious. Step forward "Robert-Alan Lucht", who has been sending out invoices for use of @. That's right, and it's a …

Bootnotes 17 Aug 2004, 12:41
Single 419er faces Dutch porridge

52 cuffed, one conviction

Of the fifty 419ers arrested earlier this year during an extensive raid at 23 locations in Amsterdam, only one has finally been sentenced - to 12 months. Earlier this year 52 suspects, all of West African origin, were detained in a joint action involving Dutch cable operator UPC and the Ministry of Justice. The suspects had …

Music and Media 17 Aug 2004, 13:03
200 apps clash with XP SP2

Users brace for bumpy ride

Consumers will be offered a major upgrade of Windows XP after Microsoft releases Service Pack 2 through Windows Update later this week. The 272MB enterprise version of SP2 was released earlier this month and a smaller consumer version - weighing in at around 80MB - was due to be released via Windows Update yesterday (16 August …

Operating Systems 17 Aug 2004, 13:12
HP's Unix base offered Opteron carrot

HP World Come for a stroll in the Sun

Sun Microsystems has started Phase III of its HP Away program for shifting customers off the Tru64 and HP-UX operating systems and onto Solaris. This time round Sun has centered its attack on a new fleet of Opteron servers, which were finally delivered in July, instead of its traditional UltraSPARC-based gear. As in the past, …

Servers 17 Aug 2004, 13:18
Siemens faces outsource protest strike

National Savings jobs off to India?

The extension of a Government outsourcing contract with Siemens Business Services could lead to industrial action if plans to outsource some of the jobs to India goes ahead. In 1999, National Savings and Investments (NS&I) - the Government-backed savings outfit - and Siemens agreed a ten-year contract for business process …

IT Director 17 Aug 2004, 14:13
Gov.UK and MS upgrade licensing deal

Polishing memorandum of understanding

The Office of Government Commerce (OGC) is putting the finishing touches on a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Microsoft. The new MOU should not significantly change the commercial terms of the previous agreement, but will be expanded to include "more features than are in the existing MOU". The FT reports that …

Public Sector 17 Aug 2004, 14:33
IP telephony tests go global

VoIP a-go-go, come October

BT's Adastral Park has been selected as the European test site for a set of global IP telephony interoperability tests. The exercise, organised by the Multiservice Switching Forum (MSF), is designed to demonstrate the commercial readiness of next generation IP services and technology. The Global MSF Interoperability (GMI) 2004 …

Data Networking 17 Aug 2004, 14:42
Veritas opens China shop

New corporate entity and development center

Like many of the major IT players, Veritas has stepped up its presence in China courtesy of a separate corporate entity in the country and a new development center. Veritas has followed the 2003 creation of a Singapore-based trading company by opening up VERITAS Software (Beijing) Co., Ltd. (VSBC). This wholly foreign-owned …

Storage 17 Aug 2004, 14:48
Microsoft is right, and so are ID cards

Letters Blimey

More concerns about ID cards this week, sparked by comments made by the UK's information commissioner who warned that Britain should not sleepwalk into a surveillance society. This is always an emotive one, so we'll skip the chit-chat and get straight to it: Whilst I agree with the general thrust of the concerns, the …

Letters 17 Aug 2004, 15:48
Illinois seeks overseas Internet drug network

While Big Pharma predicts mass poisonings

Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich is seeking to break Big Pharma's ironclad grip on US drug prices by establishing an online network to provide residents with access to distributors in Canada, Ireland and the UK, the Associated Press reports. The scheme, which may be up and running within a month's time, will enable Illinois …

Financial News 17 Aug 2004, 16:52
Canadian police back snooping tax

Surveillance surcharge

Canadians may soon be faced with a 25 cent surcharge on their monthly telephone and Internet bills to cover the growing cost of telephone taps. The snooping tax has been proposed by at least one police chief as a way of settling a row between police and telcos over who should pay for electronic surveillance. Canadian cops say …

Telecoms 17 Aug 2004, 18:01
BSkyB sues EDS for breach of contract

Claims 'deceit, negligent misrepresentation' over CRM deal

BSkyB has begun legal action against EDS, the giant IT services outfit, accusing it of "deceit, negligent misrepresentation and breach of contract" following the termination of a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) contract with the digital TV outfit. The Rupert Murdoch-backed company filed a claim in the High Court today for …

Hardware 17 Aug 2004, 18:04
HP's order system chaos to continue throughout August

HP World SAP hell lingers

HP's product ordering system that contributed to a massive shortfall in third quarter revenue is still in disarray and looks set to affect fourth quarter results. "From a structural perspective, we are well beyond identifying what the issues were and are now moving to complete the necessary fixes," said Joe Nadler, a director …

Servers 17 Aug 2004, 20:13
HP's Fiorina stood up by Argentina's President

HP World Belly bands and three-legged stools

Our first HP tidbit comes not from the HP World conference being held here this week but from a couple of South American papers. This information is a tad stale, but was missed entirely by US and European tech press corps and so deserves a mention a now. It turns out that during a recent visit to South America, HP's CEO Carly …

Bootnotes 17 Aug 2004, 21:12
BBC boffins trial Olympics by multicast

Broadband treat

The BBC's crown jewel, its Kingswood Warren research lab, is broadcasting the Olympics by multicast and inviting ISPs to take part. Multicasting, or one to many broadcasting, alleviates the problem of bandwidth-clogging overload which makes popular streams so expensive to host. It isn't new - the BBC first experimented with the …

Data Networking 17 Aug 2004, 22:40