6th January 2006 Archive

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Microsoft backtracks on WMF patch

Releases early

Microsoft has yielded to pressure and released a patch for the latest Windows security vulnerability – breaking its regular once-a-month update schedule. The software giant has issued a software patch for the Windows Meta File (WMF) vulnerability that was uncovered on 27 December and confirmed on 28 December. Microsoft had …

Enterprise Security 6 Jan 2006, 00:22
NewSCO broadens case against Novell

Cries: 'no fair'

SCO Group is asking a US court to expand its slander case against Novell in a legal move aimed at Novell's SuSE business. The Linux pariah has accused Novell of copyright infringement through the company's continued distribution of its SuSE Linux, in alleged violation of its license. SCO Group's accusation is predicated on the …

Operating Systems 6 Jan 2006, 00:29
Dell ridicules Microsoft as a 'so called' high-end gamer

CES Fire-breathing Renegade burns Xbox 360

Dismissing Microsoft's Xbox 360 as "so called high-definition gaming," Michael Dell today unveiled a stunning new limited edition Dell gaming PC packed with four Nvidia graphics processors and a "factory over-clocked" 4.26GHz chip. Chairman Dell did the unveiling here at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) and managed to wow …

PCs 6 Jan 2006, 01:53
Intel recruits top Hollywood talent to make Viiv thrive

CES Hopefully, they know what Viiv is

Intel rolled out Tom Hanks, Morgan Freeman and Danny DeVito to help sell its Viiv technology here at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES). The star power, however, did little to convince us that this Viiv thing is more than a wishy-washy brand. Intel describes Viiv - which sounds like 'five' - as a hardware and software pairing …

PCs 6 Jan 2006, 02:36
CA swallows Wily

Application management here we come

Systems giant Computer Associates International (CA) has scored the year's first acquisition, snapping up application management specialist Wily Technology. CA said Tuesday it is buying privately held Wily in a $375m all-cash transaction that ramps up the competition against IBM and Hewlett Packard in systems management. John …

Software 6 Jan 2006, 09:33
Outsourcing as process driver

I really liked Geoffrey McCaleb's piece on outsourcing today. As he says, "It almost sounds too good to be true. Which, of course, means it is". But, of course, handled properly, outsourcing can be a valuable approach - as Geoffrey also says. I think that it's just that when IT projects fail it's usually because the project …

Developer 6 Jan 2006, 10:01
Google Talk accused of patent infringement

Search giant faces lawsuit

Google Talk, the internet telephony service currently being tested by Google, has become the subject of a new lawsuit alleging that the technology infringes two patents owned by holding company Rates Technology. Google Talk represents the search giant’s entry into the Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) sector – basically the …

VoIP 6 Jan 2006, 10:34
'Robot agents' to help settle disputes

Letsarbitrate Letsarbitrate Letsarbitrate

A new system which provides fast online arbitration, mediation and conciliation services to help organisations quickly resolve disputes has been launched. The e-Dispute system, which has already been successfully piloted at the European Court of Arbitration and the Emilia-Romagna Chamber of Commerce in Italy, is now being …

Music and Media 6 Jan 2006, 10:50
BT PC snafu leaves 3,000 families disappointed

Telco blames surge in demand

BT is shelling out more than £150,000 as a "goodwill gesture" after failing to deliver some 3,000 PCs to consumers in Scotland in time for Christmas. The UK's dominant fixed line telco blames the cock-up on a massive surge in orders for PCs as part of its BT Home Computing Scheme. Set up in Scotland for public sector workers …

Telecoms 6 Jan 2006, 11:39
Enta takes on LG

Onwards and upwards

Enta is now stocking LG’s line-up of optical disk drives. Umesh Moudgil, sales general manager for LG Electronics, says the Telford-based distie will develop sales to system builders. According to Enta, the new franchise confirms the company’s “continuing rise up the distribution league table in the UK”. ®

Channel Register 6 Jan 2006, 11:46
How to sue a British spammer

Biting back

Chartered engineer Nigel Roberts became the first person to win a court judgment over a company's breach of the UK's anti-spam law late last year. His success received widespread media coverage – and now he's encouraging others to do the same. Roberts sued Media Logistics (UK) Ltd, a marketing firm based in Falkirk, Scotland, …

Spam 6 Jan 2006, 11:49
IT Suppliers: Your perceptions

Reg Reader Studies You spoke, now they better listen

Back in December we asked you, our beloved readers, to give us your perceptions of the major IT vendors. While the rest of the world was enjoying the festive break, a team of highly trained, unusually numerate vultures were combing through your responses. Well, the results are in, and they show Sun was the company with the …

Reg Technology Panel 6 Jan 2006, 12:10
PC-WARE buys Danish dealer

Nordic push

PC-WARE, the big German-owned reseller, is buying Danish reseller Ravenholm Computing Group for an undisclosed sum. Copenhagen-based Ravenholm has annual sales of €70m and is the market leader in Scandinavia for software licensing, according to PC-WARE. It has 140 staff in Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland and Switzerland. The …

Channel Register 6 Jan 2006, 12:12
Medion issues profit warning

Shares plummet

Shares in Medion AG, the German-based consumer electronics and PC maker, fell 22 per cent today, after the company issued a profit warning to the Frankfurt stock exchange. The company which sells through large retailers across Europe, says that profits for fiscal 2005 will be “significantly lower” than anticipated by analysts. …

Channel Register 6 Jan 2006, 12:34
BOFH: 17 minutes of goodwill

Episode 1 Happy New Year

The good thing about the New Year is that past differences are put behind oneself and the year's started with a clean slate. Everything's that little bit nicer and you get the feeling that in some small way you're contributing to the ongoing goodwill of the workplace. True, my attempts and maintaining a positive outlook in …

BOFH 6 Jan 2006, 12:40
HP gives CSC the eye

Sniffing about

Potential buyers are sniffing around Computer Sciences Corp after taking a festive break, according to reports. Blackstone Group, the same private investor that was involved in Lockheed's abortive bid for the services giant in November, is at it again. This time it appears that HP has been roped in to lead the bid. Or it may …

Financial News 6 Jan 2006, 13:06
Cheerleading not fatal: official

Letters Plus eBay, strip clubs and giant apes

Our piece earlier this week about the possible health risks of cheerleading (death being the most noteworthy, hence the shamelessly sensationalist headline), provoked the following immediate response: I just finished reading your article 'Cheerleading can kill: official'. It is growing leaps and bounds in your country and does …

Letters 6 Jan 2006, 13:24
Cellco staff muddled by own tariffs

8m UK punters 'unhappy' with providers

If you're confused by the complexity of mobile phone tariffs, you're not alone. According to research just published staff working for the cellcos are just as muddled. Online comparison web site onecompare.com found that one in four customer service staff it quizzed were unable to answer basic questions about their cellco's …

Mobile 6 Jan 2006, 13:36
Data sharing tops UK banks' anti-fraud agenda

High Street Watch

Data sharing and co-ordination top the agenda of UK banks in the fight against financial fraud, according to an exit poll at a recent financial crime conference. The survey - conducted by data integrity firm Datanomic after a conference organized by the British Bankers Association (BBA) - found data sharing was a key concern for …

ID 6 Jan 2006, 13:48
EMC 'rebalancing' workers

So they can stand up straight in unemployment line?

Storage giant EMC said today that it will “rebalance” its work force to the tune of 1,000 positions even as it revealed it will beat its own expectations for the fourth quarter. In a somewhat opaque statement, said that on December 30 it approved a plan which would result in “increased focus on new product development and the …

Storage 6 Jan 2006, 14:38
IBM shatters the American dream

Golden Pond drained

IBM, the bastion of capitalist surety, has downgraded its employee pension plan again. The last Big Blue pension retreat applied only to new employees and employees below a certain age, as though recognizing that though society is in a state of flux, only the younger generation need get used to the idea of an uncertain future …

Financial News 6 Jan 2006, 14:50
Scientists moot gravity-busting hyperdrive

Mars in three hours - theoretically

The US military is considering testing the principle behind a type of space drive which holds the promise of reaching Mars in just three hours. The problem is, as New Scientist explains, it's entirely theoretical and many physicists admit they don't understand the science behind it. Nonetheless, the so-called "hyperdrive" …

Science 6 Jan 2006, 15:03
Talks hint at Futurama revival

Good news everyone

Futurama - the animated TV series from Simpsons creator Matt Groening - may be resurrected two years after the show was axed by Fox. Reruns on the Cartoon Network and Comedy Central combined with strong DVD sales have kept the series alive. This interest has sparked discussions between 20th Century Fox TV and series creators …

Bootnotes 6 Jan 2006, 15:15
Cash'n'Carrion switches on to PayPal

Site news Shop 'til you drop

Cash'n'Carrion, The Register's mighty retail emporium, has fallen to PayPal. Yes, dear readers, we are now accepting payment by PayPal for our range of t-shirts, books and cool stuff, catering for the inner geek in all of us. We love credit cards too, and accept payments in sterling, euros and US dollars. UK readers: we take …

Site News 6 Jan 2006, 15:21
Blu-ray Disc developers complete specification

CES Tech ready for licensing as backers unveil players

The Blu-ray Disc specification has been completed, the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA) announced last night, just three days after dotting the i's and crossing the t's on the format. Given the announcements of BD players and content made at the Consumer Electronics Show here in Las Vegas this week, we'd certainly hope it had …

Peripherals 6 Jan 2006, 17:09
300 Scottish jobs to go at ex-IBM plant

'Disappointing news for the area'

Some 300 jobs are to be axed in Scotland after US-based Sanmina-SCI told staff that it was closing its computer plant in Greenock. The electronics firm is now entering a 90 day consultation period with workers before the plant - which manufactures servers among other things - is finally shut down. A spokesman for the company …

IT Director 6 Jan 2006, 17:12
Asus revs Lamborghini laptops

CES Vroom, vroom...

Asus has signed a deal with Italian automobile maker Lamborghini to produce a line of notebooks that sport the car company's logo. The Lamborghini laptop line-up will include glossy black and yellow machines which, Asus claims, "with the look alone, exude power, speed, strength and beauty". Apparently. Actually, the look quite …

PCs 6 Jan 2006, 18:00
Cowon previews 4GB 0.85in HDD MP3 player

CES It's got a tiny OLED screen too

South Korea's Cowon this week demo'd at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas what it claims is the world's first micro media player based on a 0.85in hard disk drive. The iAudio 6 contains a 4GB HDD - presumably the Toshiba drive that has just begun shipping - on which users can store WMA (including DRM-protected songs), …

Peripherals 6 Jan 2006, 19:21
Handheld PC runs two OSes on two CPUs

CES Windows Mobile and XP ticking over simultaneously

DualCor will ship its dual-CPU PDA-PC combo in March, the privately held start-up revealed at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas today. The company's cPC combines a Windows Mobile 5.0 system running on a 400MHz Intel PXA263 with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition running on a 1.5GHz VIA C7-M processor. Both processors take …

Mobile 6 Jan 2006, 22:47
DBA as Service?

I got to meet Will Edward, VP EMEA at Embarcadero, this week. I was a DBA once so I always have a soft spot for DBA tools vendors like Embarcadero (and Quest, BMC etc) - I only wish we'd had such tools when I was doing the job. But Will told me of a change of direction - like many tools vendors, Embarcadero is going after …

Developer 6 Jan 2006, 23:41