eWeek articles from October 2004

eWeek archives from October 2004

Lawyers: Microsoft's FAT Patent Defeat 'Significant'.(file allocation table)
October 1, 2004... How significant is the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's initial rejection of Microsoft's FAT (file allocation table) file system patent claims? Is it, as a Microsoft representative describes it, "one step in a long process"? Or has the...

Microsoft Fears 'Irreparable Harm,' Changes Licensing Tune.
October 1, 2004... Microsoft Corp. offered to license server interface protocols as part of a proposed settlement with the European Commission, the software company said in court on Thursday--the same licensing regime that Microsoft now says would cause it...

Gartner: Retailers Embracing Item-Level RFID Faster Than Expected.(radio frequency identification)(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Retailers are moving to item-level RFID faster than many industry analysts predicted, according to new research. Research by analyst Gartner G2 says that within the next two years, 18 percent of large retailers in the U.S. and Europe are...

Automated Food Kiosks Move to the Gas Pump.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... A convenience store chain is targeting customers who are on the go with outdoor kiosks where they can order anything from espressos to sandwiches while they pump gas. Sheetz is putting the technology from Radiant Systems in place at new...

Retailers Crack Down on Returns.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... In order to cut down on fraudulent or excessive returns, some retailers are tracking customer return patterns with a database. The database, operated by the Return Exchange, combines information from retailers on customer returns. When a...

PeopleSoft Fires CEO Conway.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... In the wake of a 15-month-long battle for its life, PeopleSoft Inc.'s board of directors fired CEO Craig Conway Friday morning. The board cited "a loss of confidence" in Conway's ability to guide the company. The company's founder and...

EU Accuses Microsoft of Paternal View.
October 1, 2004... LUXEMBOURG (AP)--Microsoft Corp. said Friday that small companies and their customers would suffer most if it is forced to remove its digital media software from Windows, while the European Union accused it of being "paternalistic" in trying to...

EU Ploughs Money into Grid Projects.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... The European Union is funding 12 grid technology research projects from universities, researchers and companies across Europe. The projects include an initiative to develop grid-based tools to enhance product development and design for the...

Pay-Per-Use Computing: Will It Fly?
October 1, 2004... Back, somewhere before the dawn of time, when I first got involved with computers, computing resources were incredibly expensive. On the big iron machines that I first encountered, the cost of use was so high that users were allotted and...

Oracle Clears the Conway Hurdle.
October 1, 2004... With PeopleSoft CEO Craig Conway canned, Oracle has cleared one of its biggest hurdles to acquiring his former employer, some experts believe. Conway was ousted Friday morning from his post as PeopleSoft Inc.'s CEO, following 15 arduous...

IBM Enhances Transaction Monitoring Tool.
October 1, 2004... IBM will launch Friday a new version of its Tivoli transaction-performance monitoring product that greatly expands the range of application transactions it can track. IBM Tivoli Monitoring for Transaction Performance Version 5.3, in...

Hitachi, NEC Form Switch Venture.(Brief Article)
October 1, 2004... Hitachi Ltd. and NEC Corp. said Thursday that the two companies have established a joint venture specializing in the production of routers and switches. The joint venture, Alaxala Networks Corp., based in Kawasaki, Japan, specializes in...

New Phishing System Takes Advantage of JPEG Bug.
October 1, 2004... Symantec Corp.'s Threat Analyst Team has discovered an exploit in the wild that utilizes the recently announced JPEG vulnerability in Microsoft Corp.'s GDI+ library to install a new and sophisticated phishing system. eWEEK.com spoke with...

U.S. Cyber-Security Chief Calls It Quits.
October 1, 2004... Amit Yoran, the nation's top cyber-security official, has resigned from the Department of Homeland Security after just one year on the job. DHS officials confirmed his resignation but would not comment further on his reasons or the timing...

E-Cyclers Embrace Data Destruction.
October 1, 2004... A growing debate about the security of data has grown to include the computer recycling industry, which is now being asked to verifiably destroy data along with physical components. Merely donating old computers to schools, libraries or...

Conway and the Good Fight.
October 1, 2004... In previous columns, I've expressed my admiration for PeopleSoft as one of the "good guys." So while it pains me to say it's over for PeopleSoft, it appears that Oracle's relentlessness seems to have paid off. With CEO Craig Conway gone,...

SIPphone's Suit Against Vonage Is Short on Merit.
October 1, 2004... The red-hot competition for the VOIP residential consumer's dollar got hotter on Thursday, when AT&T and Vonage both lowered their prices for consumer service. AT&T dropped CallVantage domestic, all-you-can eat service in the United States and...

Siebel Turns Spotlight on BI.(Business Intelligence)
October 1, 2004... The Mike Lawrie era at Siebel Systems Inc. is known around the company as Siebel 2.0, with Lawrie having replaced founding CEO Tom Siebel earlier this year. Lawrie presides over his first Siebel User Week in Los Angeles next week, and...

Mount St. Helens Erupts in Redmond's Back Yard.
October 1, 2004... MOUNT ST. HELENS, Wash. (AP)--Mount St. Helens, the volcano that blew its top with cataclysmic force in 1980, erupted for the first time in 18 years Friday, belching a huge column of white steam and ash after days of rumblings. "This is...

Health Industry Searches for Next Informaticians.
October 1, 2004... New graduate students have been arriving at informatics programs all across the country this week. The programs vary within and between schools, but most offer a doctoral track, a couple of flavors of master's programs, and a certificate...

DOJ Passes on Appeal of Oracle Verdict.
October 1, 2004... The U.S. Justice Department announced Friday that it would not appeal the recent U.S. District Court decision that Oracle Corp.'s $7.7 billion hostile buyout bid for PeopleSoft Inc. didn't violate federal antitrust law. In early...

Security-Threat Basics Shouldn't Be 'Premium'.
October 1, 2004... There's been a debate going on in the industry about whether it's right for companies to charge for "premium" security-threat information. Me, I've got my feet firmly planted on both sides of the issue, hoping they don't slide too far apart....

Understanding How to Use and Adopt IP Telephony.
October 1, 2004... Like a relentless tide of misfortune, the patients pour into the University of Kentucky Hospital Emergency Department complaining of everything from dehydration to gunshot wounds. Like every ER in the country, the U.K. Hospital is overused...

Say Hello to Your New Phone Company: You.
October 1, 2004... AT&T and MCI may think that Vonage, Skype and other Internet-based suppliers of telephone service are the outfits they must worry the most about, as the cost of a minute of calling plummets toward zero. The fact they won't want to face is...

Salesnet Seeks to Simplify SFA.(Sales Force Automation)
October 4, 2004... Salesnet Inc. is readying application services that are designed to make the company's hosted sales force automation applications more efficient and cost-effective. The new offerings, available soon under the "Customer Success Roadmap"...

Beefy Options for Thin Clients.
October 4, 2004... Wyse Technology Inc., Neoware Systems Inc. and Maxspeed Corp. are rolling out hardware and upgraded management software that the companies say will make it easier to deploy and administer thin clients. Wyse, at Citrix Systems Inc.'s iForum...

Visto Hones Wireless E-Mail Tool.
October 4, 2004... Visto Inc. this week will introduce the next version of its wireless e-mail access platform, which includes improved security and data transport features. Visto Mobile 5.0 supports two-way, IP-based push for e-mail, calendar and contact...

A New Act for Tape.
October 4, 2004... Enterprises are increasingly turning from tape-based storage devices to disk-based options as part of enterprise backup and archival operations to combat tighter backup windows. Tape vendors are responding with new and updated products that...

Building True Utility: Interview with Marc Andreessen.(Interview)
October 4, 2004... As Opsware Inc.--formerly Loudcloud Inc.--continues its transition from services company to software vendor, it is looking to stake a claim in the utility computing gold rush. The Sunnyvale, Calif., company now offers server provisioning...

Business Process Tools Emerge from Shadows.
October 4, 2004... How do you allocate your technology resources most efficiently? With a limited budget, limited expertise and a world of business demands standing outside your door, you need to know how to get the most bang for your IT dollar. When you follow a...

Sony Media Center PC Well-Suited for the Office.
October 4, 2004... When we heard that Sony was shipping a "liquid-cooled" PC, visions of pumps, hoses and thermal fluid danced in our heads. As it turns out, Sony's new VAIO RA-810G uses a more prosaic heat-pipe solution to cooling the 3.4GHz, Prescott-based...

Ballmer: iPod Music 'Mostly Stolen'.(Brief Article)
October 4, 2004... Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer used a gathering of press in London to further the company's claims to be a friend of the music industry - and, in the process, attack the iPod. Ballmer claimed that Windows Media's digital...

Blogger Boss to Leave Google.
October 5, 2004... The co-founder of Blogger, one of the original Weblogging services that is now owned by Google Inc., is leaving the company by the end of the week. Evan Williams, who started Pyra Labs in 1999 and later launched the Blogger service, wrote...

Avaya Agrees to Buy Germany's Tenovis.
October 5, 2004... BASKING RIDGE, N.J. (Ap)--Business communications software provider Avaya Inc. said Tuesday that it agreed to purchase Tenovis GmbH & Co., a German provider of voice and data communications systems for European small and mid-sized business...

Security Alert: DB2 Flaws Surface.(Brief Article)
October 5, 2004... Next Generation Security Software has reported multiple vulnerabilities in IBM DB2 Universal Database. Twenty vulnerabilities were reported and designated as "critical" by Next Generation Security Software Ltd. Most are buffer overflows,...

Kodak's Java Case Underscores Patent System Woes.
October 5, 2004... When Eastman Kodak Co. won the initial round of its Java lawsuit against Sun Microsystems Inc., it sent shock waves through not just Sun and the Java community, but in the legal community as well. On Oct. 1, the U.S. District Court of...

PeopleSoft Willing to Deal with Oracle, Director Says.
October 5, 2004... WILMINGTON, Del. (Dow Jones/AP)--PeopleSoft Inc., which has resisted hostile takeover advances from Oracle Corp. for 16 months, is willing to talk about a deal at the right price, a member of PeopleSoft's board said Tuesday. On the stand...

RealNetworks Fixes Security Holes.(Brief Article)
October 5, 2004... RealNetworks Inc. has patched security vulnerabilities in several versions of the RealPlayer client software. According to an advisory on the company's Web site, the patches address three vulnerabilities in RealPlayer and the RealOne...

AMD Offers Performance Details of New Dual-Core Opteron.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)
October 5, 2004... SAN JOSE, Calif.--Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Tuesday unveiled its dual-core architecture here at In Stat/MDR's Fall Processor Forum and provided the first estimates of the chip's performance. As the company previously stated, AMD's...

Laszlo Open-Sources App-Building Platform.
October 5, 2004... Laszlo Systems Inc., a rich client platform provider, Tuesday announced that it has open-sourced its Laszlo platform and has made it available under the Common Public License. The Laszlo platform is a presentation-layer system and...

Top IT Players Tout Their Tech at Vortex.
October 5, 2004... SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--Open-source Linux game over, Sun Microsystems president Jonathan Schwartz said Tuesday at the annual Vortex conference here. There are a thousand distros, but Red Hat has taken the dominant IT position. Schwartz...

PeopleSoft Running Short on Options, Credibility.
October 5, 2004... It's not every day that a corporate board member publicly declares under oath from a witness stand that his company is willing to negotiate a corporate buyout with an archrival. But that was exactly what PeopleSoft Inc. board member Steven...

MSN Search Preview Resurfaces.(Microsoft Network)
October 5, 2004... The public preview of MSN's upcoming search engine is back, this time with a Web index about five times fatter and reworked relevancy algorithms. Microsoft Corp.'s Internet division launched the second preview on Monday for the United...

Yahoo Adding New Search Engine Tools.(Brief Article)
October 5, 2004... SUNNYVALE, Calif. (AP)--Following a recent industry trend, Internet giant Yahoo Inc. is adding new search engine tools that will enable users to create personal folders and share their favorite links with others. Sunnyvale-based Yahoo...

PalmOne, Microsoft Join on Mobile E-Mail.(Brief Article)
October 5, 2004... SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP)--Sometimes it pays to befriend an enemy. Longtime foes palmOne Inc. and Microsoft Corp. Tuesday announced a licensing deal that will allow the next generation of palmOne's Treo smart phones to work directly with...

Amazon Launches New Web Services.
October 5, 2004... New Web services technologies announced Monday will help developers build money-making applications and use existing mainframe technology to create and deploy new Web services. Amazon.com Inc., of Seattle, launched new Amazon Web Services...

Fruitful Utility Computing May Leave Support to ISVs.(Independent Software Vendor)
October 5, 2004... The Information Technology Solution Providers Alliance on Tuesday announced its predictions for the top technology trends that will have the greatest impact on the SMB (small to midsized business) space, helping to keep those businesses...

Toshiba Unveils Its First IP PBX.
October 5, 2004... Toshiba America Information Systems Inc.'s Digital Solutions Division has announced its first IP PBX, the Strata CIX. Previous telephone switches have been "IP enabled" through gateways; this is the first to actually switch calls between IP...

Microsoft Releases Virtual PC 7.
October 5, 2004... After a series of delays, Microsoft Corp. has started to ship a version of Virtual PC that is compatible with Apple Computer Inc.'s G5-based systems. Virtual PC 7 is a complete emulation of standard PC hardware, and is capable of running...

Xerox Takes Wraps Off Latest Multifunction Printers.
October 5, 2004... Xerox Corp. Tuesday at the TechXNY show will expand its arsenal of multifunction printers and roll out new software to help businesses manage document output. Aimed for enterprise users looking to consolidate output devices, the new...

Fellow Board Member Explains Conway's Ouster.
October 5, 2004... WILMINGTON, Del. (Dow Jones/AP)--PeopleSoft Inc.'s board fired Craig Conway as chief executive after hearing him explain why he deceived industry analysts about the business software maker's sale prospects while fighting rival Oracle Corp.'s...

Siebel Offers Narrowly Focused BI Apps.(Business Intelligence)
October 5, 2004... Enterprise software provider Siebel Systems announced this week that it has begun an initiative to provide global business intelligence to its enterprise clients. The initiative, which includes an alliance with Microsoft, is embodied in a...

Transmeta Eyes 64-Bit, Virtualization for Efficeon.
October 5, 2004... SAN JOSE, Calif.--Future enhancements of Transmeta Corp.'s Efficeon architecture will include 64-bit extensions and virtualization technology, officials said at In Stat/MDR's Fall Processor Forum here. Chief Technical Officer Dave Ditzel...

Some See PeopleSoft's End Drawing Near.
October 5, 2004... After 16 months of bloody warfare, PeopleSoft has finally voiced a willingness to sit down and discuss a deal with Oracle--a development that marks the beginning of the end for the company, according to some legal experts. PeopleSoft Inc....

Software Patents Gone Bad.
October 5, 2004... Open-source and proprietary developers have at least one enemy in common: software patents. This latest mess with Kodak and Sun is just one of many, many examples of software patents gone amok. In this most recent example, one of Kodak's...

CA to Acquire Netegrity for $430 Million.(Computer Associates)
October 6, 2004... In a suprising move designed to solidify its position in the lucrative identity management market, Computer Associates International Inc. on Wednesday agreed to acquire Netegrity Inc. for $430 million in cash. Netegrity is one of a handful...

Novell Releases Updated SuSE Linux.
October 6, 2004... At LinuxWorld Expo in London on Wednesday, Novell Inc. promised its desktop Linux software by the end of the year and launched the latest version of SuSE Linux Professional, including updated wireless networking technology. Hewlett-Packard...

Sun 'Panther' Chip Doubles Clock Speed.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... SAN JOSE, Calif.--Sun Microsystems Inc. officials disclosed Tuesday that the UltraSparc IV+ "Panther" chip will offer twice the performance of the UltraSparc IV. At the Fall Processor Forum here, Sun executives gave details of the last...

Merger a Boon for Both StorageTek, Storability.
October 6, 2004... Storage Technology Corp. and Storability Software Inc. will both emerge as winners from their merger announced last week, according industry analysts. Analysts largely agree that Storability's offerings dovetail well with StorageTek's...

Idealab Rethinks Web Search with Snap.
October 6, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO--Bill Gross, the man behind Overture Services and the Idealab incubator, wants to reinvent Web search. During the Web 2.0 conference here on Tuesday, Gross unveiled search-engine Snap, which has combined terabytes of...

Is RFID the Key to Supply-Chain Security?(Radio Frequency Identification)
October 6, 2004... Has RFID been overly hyped? Most speakers agreed that the answer is "yes" during a panel discussion Tuesday in New York City that looked at the roles government and private industry can play in protecting the global supply chain from terrorism...

Netline Refreshes Linux Groupware.
October 6, 2004... Netline Internet Service GmbH, of Olpe, Germany, will release the third version of its Open-Xchange Server later this week, which includes code, fixes, expertise and opinions contributed by the open-source community. Open-Xchange...

Startup Turns Wikis into Development Platform.
October 6, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO--The co-founders of early search engine and portal Excite.com are bringing a new concept to the Web: the wiki as an application development platform. JotSpot Inc., the brainchild of Joe Kraus and Graham Spencer, was unveiled...

Attachment Insecurity Revealed in Outlook Express.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... Outlook Express 6 includes a configuration setting awkwardly titled "Do not allow attachments to be saved or opened that could potentially be a virus." When this option is checked, OE blocks the user from opening a wide variety of attachment...

Microsoft's Looming VON Announcement: Not VOIP?(Voice on Net)
October 6, 2004... I'm damned if I can figure out what Microsoft Corp. is going to announce with the first, most prominent keynote of all at this month's Voice on the Net show, if not telephony links to its LCS (Live Communications Server). The keynoter is Anoop...

Do-It-Yourself Home Security.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... It's the do-it-yourself approach to home security: Why pay a company when you can install cameras yourself? The ones reviewed here let you view your home while you're away, to check in and get a little peace of mind. Networked...

Microsoft to Muscle Deeper into VOIP?(Voice over Internet Protocol)
October 6, 2004... While Microsoft's Live Communications Server (LCS) is first and foremost an enterprise instant-messaging server, Microsoft is expected to position its 2005 version as its entree into the telephony market. LCS 2005, code-named "Vienna,"...

Amicore Boasts New Electronic Medical Records System.
October 6, 2004... At a conference of heath care executives on Monday, the scion of IT and pharmaceutical giants showed off the latest version of its practice and clinical management system, specifically geared toward small physician offices. The...

Microsoft Fixes Vexing XP SP2 Incompatibility.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... Numerous applications, including some of Microsoft's own, have encountered compatibility problems with Windows XP SP2 (Service Pack 2). But one application in particular wreaked an inordinate amount of havoc until Microsoft created a removal...

PeopleSoft's Conway Admits 'Vilifying' Oracle Bid.
October 6, 2004... WILMINGTON, Del. (AP)--Ousted just last week as PeopleSoft's president and chief executive, Conway is expected to face tough questioning in the Delaware Chancery Court, where Oracle is challenging PeopleSoft's takeover defenses. Asked by...

Analysts: Microsoft's VOIP Move Is Only Natural.(Voice over Internet Protocol)
October 6, 2004... Microsoft is expected to release its latest enterprise instant messaging server, Live Communications Server 2005, later this month, and industry analysts suggest that its enhanced capabilities signal a concerted and not entirely surprising...

IBM Beefs Up WebSphere App Server Platform.
October 6, 2004... IBM Corp. Wednesday announced a new version of its WebSphere application server platform, citing enhancements such as high-availability, new capabilities for building service oriented architectures (SOA), and better resource utilization and...

SAP Customers Find Refuge from ERP Market Turmoil.(Enterprise Resource Planning)
October 6, 2004... SAN DIEGO--SAP's TechEd conference here is proving to be an oasis of calm for corporate customers in an ERP (enterprise resource planning) software market that has been roiled by Oracle's prolonged efforts to buy out PeopleSoft. TechEd...

Diebold Debacle Signals Need for a Paper Trail.
October 6, 2004... It's probably safe to say that very few of the precedents being set by voting-machine maker Diebold are going the way the company intended. Last week's ruling--that Diebold overstepped its ability to invoke the Digital Millennium Copyright...

Notebook: Enterprise Execs Reveal More at Vortex.
October 6, 2004... SANTA BARBARA, Calif.--Another day, another set of new buzzwords, as the parade of top IT execs continued. The most interesting vision came from SAP AG, which laid out a very clear strategy, differentiated from other top IT vendors. ...

Google Expands New Book-Search Feature.(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO (AP)--Online search leader Google Inc. is becoming more bookish. Expanding a program introduced last year, Google is inviting publishers to include entire books in its index, enabling people to peak at the contents before...

Is This the Golden Age of Storage?(Brief Article)
October 6, 2004... Some time ago I predicted the demise of the 3.5 inch floppy disk. Now others seem to have gotten on the bandwagon and are declaring 3.5-inch floppy disks and drives obsolete. I know many of us still have old 3.5-inch floppy disks lying around,...

U.S. House Passes Anti-Spyware Bill.
October 7, 2004... WASHINGTON--The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday overwhelmingly passed a bill that would make spyware illegal--and provide stiff sanctions for anyone found breaking that law. The bipartisan Internet Spyware (I-SPY) Prevention Act...

Kodak, Sun Settle Java Lawsuit.(Eastman Kodak Co.)(Sun Microsystems Inc.)
October 7, 2004... Eastman Kodak Co. and Sun Microsystems Inc. have settled their lawsuit over Sun's infringement of Kodak's patents in the creation of the Java platform. The two sides came to an out-of-court agreement Wednesday night, before they would...

Yahoo Readies Ads for RSS.(Yahoo! Inc.)(Really Simple Syndication)
October 7, 2004... SAN FRANCISCO--Yahoo Inc. wants to join the advertising market for XML syndication feeds, a top company executive said here on Wednesday, raising the prospect for a greater adoption of sponsored links within news feeds. During a...

AOL Readies Standalone Browser.(America Online Inc.)
October 7, 2004... As the hubbub of alternative Web browsers keeps growing--from speculation over a so-called "Gbrowser" from search-engine leader Google Inc. to the many advances in the open-source Mozilla project--in the background, America Online Inc. has been...

Server Sales Drive Profits at AMD.(Advanced Micro Devices Inc.)
October 7, 2004... Advanced Micro Devices Inc. on Thursday reported lower revenues than in the previous quarter, although profits climbed on increased 64-bit sales into the server market. The company also said it would phase out its 32-bit AthlonXP processor...

ClearSpeed Moves to 64-Bit Generation.(ClearSpeed Technology Ltd.)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... SAN JOSE, Calif.--ClearSpeed, a specialized chip co-processor company designed to drastically accelerate applications used in supercomputer environments, has announced a shift to the 64-bit generation. ClearSpeed announced the CSX600...

WebMD Adds Health Records System to Its Offerings.(WebMD Corp.)(Brief Article)
October 7, 2004... Aiming to be a one-stop shop for physicians' technology needs, WebMD displayed its electronic health records system at the Medical Group Management Association meeting in San Francisco this week. Though planning to push sales in mid-size and...