Three out of five British and Irish businesses don't know the difference between a Net PC and Oracle and Sun's NC or network computer, according to research published by AST Computer. The findings are "hardly surprising", says AST's marketing director Con Mallon. "There has been a lot of talk over the last year about the Net PC and NC and this has led to some confusion over the business benefits being offered."
Domain Name Case: Six British companies including Virgin, British Telecom and Marks & Spencer have taken a case against Richard Conway and Julian Nicholson (both aged 23) and their One In A Million Ltd. consulting firm. They want the duo to relinquish registered domain names such as virgin.org and bt.org and are seeking £10,000 sterling in damages.
Explorer Problems: Microsoft says it hasn't heard any widespread reports of bugs in Internet Explorer 4.0, but online newsgroups are beginning to buzz with other headaches - particularly the Active Desktop integration. Problems arise when installing the final release of Explorer 4.0 over "preview" versions, with disasters when users try to remove Explorer 4.0. Microsoft recommends you uninstall beta versions before installing IE 4.0.
Music Trawler: Music licensing agency BMI has developed a Web robot to ensure copyright holders are compensated for music played on the Web. Its "Musicbot" will trawl the Web to identify sites that use music and to count the number of people who visit them.
Seagate Update: Priority Data Systems has started distributing the latest upgrade to Seagate Software's Desktop Management Suite (DMS) on the Irish market. Version 3.0 adds a software metering module, which allows user applications to be installed at any location (not just on a file server).
Teacher Training: The University of Limerick's College of Education has launched a "module-based" postgraduate programme for in-service teacher training in technology applications. The first teachers started the course last Friday at Colaiste Choilm in Ballincollig, Co Cork. - info: http://inset.ul.ie
Latest Results: Intel had record unit shipments of microprocessors in its latest quarter, and revenue for the quarter at $6.2 billion was up 20 per cent on the same period in 1996. But its earnings per share fell short of market expectations. It blamed the dip on a weaker than expected flash memory market. Compaq had a net income of $517 million, up 41 per cent on the same quarter a year ago. Apple had a fourth quarter loss of $161 million - compared with net income of $25 million in the same period last year. Digital turned a net loss of $66 million in its first quarter last year to a net income of $25 million.
McAfee Merger: McAfee Associates and Network General Company are to combine in a stock-for-stock merger worth over $1.3 billion. The new company, Network Associates Inc, will be the world's largest network security software company, and the tenth largest independent software developer.
In Brief...student Iain Campion from UCD won this year's Hewlett-Packard Award - he used vibration analysis to determine the amount of beer remaining in a keg for stock-taking. . . IBM's new Travelstar hard drive for notebook computers shatters existing storage records - it's no bigger than a music cassette tape but holds 8.1 gigabytes of information. . . Gumpei Yokoi (56), the Nintendo Game Boy designer, has been killed in a car accident. . . a 54-year-old man in Pennsylvania was sentenced to 71/2 to 15 years in prison last week for murdering his wife in a fit of jealousy over her online flirtations with a TV sports personality. . . Burhaneddin Rabbani's ousted Afghan government is setting up an "online embassy" after the US authorities closed Afghanistan's Washington embassy. . . the Amsterdam bourse is to offer real-time share and options online to private investors. . . Sun has opened its Strategic European Software Centre in Dublin's East Point Business Park. . . the Financial Times says British cabinet ministers' red boxes, traditionally used for carrying government documents, could soon be replaced by laptop computers. . . Dublin-based software manufacturer FMS (www.fms.ie) has formed a strategic alliance with Oasys Software. . . The European Commission is probing a complaint about Microsoft's licensing practices. . . Following its merger with US Robotics, 3Com Ireland has appointed Sharptext to distribute USR products in Ireland. . .
Health Care: The Web address for the Irish Medical Directory given in last week's Computimes should have read http://ireland.iol.ie/imd (and not www.ireland.io.ie/imd).MicrofileAmount of companies using intranetsalmost 60% of US and 38% of European firms Amount of poster ads with Web addresses at Boston's Government Center subway station2: 10% No. of adverts in first 16 pages of the Irish Times Business This Week supplement last Fridays3: 101 No. giving email and/or Web addresses: 41 Of the Top 100 Web sites (as identified by PC Magazine Online)4:41% use JavaScript 16% use Java applets none uses ActiveX controls
Sources: 1 International Data Corp; 2 Win Treese/Internet Index; 3 The Irish Times; 4 Intracept Inc (www.intracept.com/info)
Modem Worldwww.iol.ie/ednet/netdays Ireland On-Line's education theme week, part of the European Commission's "Netd@ys" initiative for schools. www.iol.ie/comedycellar/
The Comedy Cellar club - upcoming gigs, a satirical zine and the official site for the comedy film Separation Anxiety, filmed in Dublin last year (but the site uses frames, which are no joke!) www.worldmedia.fr/fashion/index2.html Daily coverage of this week's Paris fashion shows.
http://www2.ulst.ac.uk/services/comp/MAGEE/eolaire/ From experts in Magee College, Derry and UCD, a useful new directory of available Irish-language teaching/learning materials suitable for adult learners. www.topflight.ie Winter ski tour operator Topflight's site, with resort details and daily snow reports from its featured resorts (and snowboarding reports too).
www.vietnamonline.net As Vietnam prepares to gain widespread Internet access, the Hanoi-based Vietnam Online has become its first major content provider.
www.museum-london.org.uk The Museum of London's site has just added the 750-year history of Bedlam (the hospital).
Textbites"Local authorities have a poor public image which could be transformed by embracing new technology. But this is unlikely to happen under the present centralised funding of information technology for local authorities." - Oracle Ireland's general manager, Kevin Jones, addressing public representatives attending the annual La Touche Legacy Seminar in Greystones, Co Wicklow. "The public view is that local authorities are in the Dark Ages and not sufficiently customer focused. There is a need to move with the times, be more commercial and proactive. IT can help change the poor image of local authorities." - ditto.
Diary November 5th: Free seminar in Conrad Hotel, Dublin, demonstrating Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus for Lotus Domino and for MS Exchange. - bookings: tel Sandra Reape, 01-2845600 or email info@prioritydata.ie. November: Wonderware Factory Suite demonstrations, all at10 a.m. - includes Hayfield Manor Hotel, Cork (4th); Castletroy Park Hotel, Limerick (5th); Ardilaun Hotel, Galway (6th); Europa Hotel, Belfast (7th). - info: 0044-161-428-8506, or email sales@pantek.co.uk
Computimes is edited by Michael Cunningham. Email only (no faxes please) to computimes@irish-times.ie (private correspondence should be marked NOT FOR PUBLICATION)