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BATTLE ESCALATES IN MESSAGING WARS For the second time in as many weeks, America Online blocked Microsoft's competing messaging app. And in a one-two punch, the online giant also announced an alliance with Apple, giving Mac users the ability to exchange messages in real-time. Instant messaging programs allow Internet users to send (and receive) text messages that pop up immediately on the computer screens when the recipient is online. Market leader AOL says users of its Buddy List and AIM services send more than 430 million messages a day. Last week Microsoft launched its Messenger tool with the ability to exchange instant messages with AOL's IM users, but AOL altered its system to lock out competing apps. Microsoft has been updating its tool to get around the blocks, and AOL has created new blocks. Bottom line: It's a mess in need of a standard. But the one the EITE is working on is still months away. DOJ SEEKS ADVICE ON BREAKING UP MICROSOFT Admitting it approached investment banks for advice on the ramifications of a Microsoft breakup, a Justice Department spokesman insists the agency has not settled on a single remedy should it win its antitrust case against Microsoft. She also called discussion of possible remedies premature. Seems so; closing arguments are slated for September and a ruling isn't expected until November. The networking giant -- which supplies Internet gear for the cable industry -- is touting products that allow cable companies to slow or limit consumer access to Web sites, drawing the wrath of consumer advocates. The flap comes as the cable industry is spending billions to roll out high-speed Net service over cable lines and struggling against would-be regulators. So far the industry has mostly avoided regulation, in part by agreeing to allow customers access to any Web site, affiliated or not. But with the Cisco development, the Center for Media Education and other consumer groups sent a letter to the Federal Communications Commission calling for regulation of cable Internet services. Here, we review two of the first commercial machines to use these processors: the Compaq Prosignia Desktop 330 ($2,699 direct), based on the Pentium III/600, and the HP Brio BA400 ($1,330 street), built around the Celeron/500. Both are designed for small businesses, offering high-speed networking and several tools to facilitate e-commerce. During testing for an upcoming overview of the CPU market --which involved benchmark testing of different chips in similar high-end systems--the Pentium III/600 outperformed its 550-MHz sibling by roughly 4 percent under the Winstone 99 benchmark test program and close to 9 percent under the CPUmark 99 test. The Winstone score of the Prosignia Desktop 330 reviewed here was less than 1 percent higher than the average score in our recent roundup of 550-MHz Pentium III machines, but it significantly outperformed that roundup's Prosignia Desktop 330, a machine of comparable design. Previously available at up to 466 MHz, Celeron is Intel's low-cost desktop CPU and uses the same core as both the Pentium II and III. Unlike the Pentium III--which sits on a palm-size strip of substrate with a separate, half-speed L2 cache--Celeron uses an on-board, full-speed L2 cache, which runs clock for clock with the CPU. This cache is a quarter the size of the Pentium III's--128K rather than 512K--but what it lacks in size, it almost makes up for in speed. The 500-MHz Celeron scored only 7 percent lower under the Winstone 99 benchmark test program than the 500-MHz Pentium III--but only 3 percent higher than the Celeron/466. Using a low-cost Intel 810 chip set--rather the Intel 440BX chip set used for our CPU overview--the Celeron/500-based HP Brio BA400 fails to take of advantage of this potential performance boost. Though the Brio BA400 scored almost as well as our CPU overview's Celeron/500 system under CPUmark 99, it scored 20 percent lower under the Winstone program, which is graphics-dependent. The Brio BA400 was also unable to run our 3D WinMark 99 test at a color depth higher than 16 bits. Of course, the Brio BA400--a sub-$1,500 machine--is not meant for high-end 3-D applications. Like the Prosignia unit here, it's meant for office applications and business-related Internet tools. Fiorina new hp CEO Telecommunications background key Indeed, HP's future lies largely in the success of its massive
e-services initiative, which is dependent on a fast, reliable and
cheap communications infrastructure. Similarly, Fiorina's
successful tenure as services chief at Lucent -- the $20 billion
group is Lucent's biggest and fastest growing -- can only help HP
as it hones its services strategy.
"They're confirming the importance of services to the
organization," said Mark Specker, vice president at
Soundview Technology Group in San Francisco. Fiorina's
appointment "couples two strategic areas for HP -- services
and telecommunications," said Tony Iams, an analyst for DH
Brown Associates Inc. in Port Chester, N.Y. "These are key
points to success in Internet business and the recipe for what HP
is after."
Livermore 'disappointed' Fiorina "brings a sensibility for running the business as
a service business," said Nina Lytton, president of Open
Systems Advisors in Boston. "They're not pushing
boxes." At the same time, "the e-services initiative
has already had a big effect on the stock price" on
Livermore's watch, Lytton said. Livermore is still president and
CEO of the Enterprise Computer Group, the division responsible
for developing and selling e-services.
Most recently, Livermore said, HP has struck deals with
companies such as I2 Technoloiges and EAI to build portals that
establish what she calls "online trading communities"
for OEMs, distributors and service providers. In another
executive move, HP said that director Richard "Dick"
Hackborn will replace Platt as chairman, but in a non-executive
chairman role. Hackborn, a former HP executive, is credited with
getting HP into the printer business, which by some estimates
accounts for about half of the Palo Alto, Calif., company's
profits.
"They couldn't have picked a better candidate" for
chairman, said Specker. Wall Street appeared to like HP's
choices. The company's stock jumped more than two points in early
afternoon trading. The other closely watched CEO search, that of
Compaq Computer Corp., is proceeding apace. The company's board
of directors will meet this Thursday with its executive search
firm to discuss candidates. |
Online Retailing to Reach $36 Billion in 1999 The rapid growth of online retailing in North America continues, with revenues expected to top $36 billion by the end of the year and a projected growth rate of 145 percent in 1999, according to a study by Shop.org and The Boston Consulting Group. The study is based on data from 328 online retailers, 158 of which participated in a detailed survey. The study also found that total 1998 online revenues across all categories reached $14.9 billion, representing 0.5 percent of all retail sales. Online orders in 1998 were up 200 percent and the number of online shoppers was up 300 percent, according to the survey. "Most people think e-commerce is mainly being done by Web-only businesses, but 62 percent of the $14.9 billion of online revenues in 1998 were from retailers who had businesses that predated the Web. These catalog, call centers and brick-and-mortar retailers are a growing force behind the continued rapid growth of online retail," said David Pecaut, Senior Vice President of The Boston Consulting Group and leader of its E-Commerce Practice. The Shop.org/BCG study compares multichannel retailers -- those with brick-and-mortar, call center or catalog operations who also sell online -- with "pure-play" retailers who sell strictly online. A number of key differences are cited: Currently, pure-play retailers are dominant in the collectibles (person-to-person auctions), books, music/video and automotive categories. In categories such as financial brokerages, consumer electronics, apparel and computers, the majority of sales are from multichannel retailers. Because multichannel retailers have the advantage of an existing brand and infrastructure, they are more recognizable than online-only competitors in some areas. But online-only retailers have begun using aggressive online and off-line marketing and advertising campaigns to build their own recognizable brands, the survey found. The two channels work the Web differently, with online-only retailers generating 6 percent of revenues from affiliate sites, compared to only 1 percent for multichannel retailers. Pure-play retailers earned 12 percent of revenues from high-margin supplemental sources versus less than 1 percent earned by multichannel retailers, the study found. Customer acquisition costs for online-only retailers are $42 per customer, almost double that for multichannel retailers at $22 per customer. While multichannel retailers spend heavily on customer retention (16 percent of their marketing and advertising budget), online-only retailers spend only 3 percent on retention, devoting most of their resources to customer acquisition. Online-only retailers tend to outsource back-office functions such as managing inventories and filling orders, while multichannel retailers more often outsource Web site development and maintenance.
Counties will urge tax on Net sales Local governments want Congress to treat phone, mail and Web sales equally. By Reuters $5 billion lost sales cited 'Major impact'
NT 4.0 service pack 6
due shortly Microsoft Corp. will release this week a beta of Service Pack
6 for Windows NT 4.0 to technical beta sites of its premier
customers. The service pack will apply to the Workstation, Server
and Enterprise Edition of NT and should be available in general
release in approximately 60 days. According to a Microsoft
official, the content of the new pack is not complete. However,
some new fixes that will covered by SP6 include repairs for
memory leakages that occur during remote access; DNS problems at
startup; and a known blue-screen issue. The new service pack will
include all fixes covered by previous service packs. SP6 will not be a required upgrade and currently contains no
Year 2000 fixes. If any new Y2K issues in NT are discovered
before the release, the fixes will be included in the service
pack and be available on the Microsoft Y2K site for companies
that have locked down their desktop and servers from non-critical
software changes, according to Microsoft. Service Pack 6 comes on
the heels of Service Pack 5, which was released on May 18.
Microsoft has been completing service packs with greater
timeliness since it stopped introducing new features via the
packs. The new features often degraded NT's stability. In its SP6 announcement, Microsoft also telegraphed the end of
support for Windows NT 4.0, stating that the operating system
will be maintained through January 1, 2002 with compliance with
Service Pack 4 or later or compliance with "acceptable
deviations" (mainly Y2K fixes) on Service Pack 3. Microsoft
is scheduled to release NT 4.0's successor, Windows 2000, before
the end of this year. NETSTUDIO 2000 SPICES UP WEB GRAPHICS Time to spruce up the graphics on your Web site. NetStudio
2000 ($90) helps you create professional-quality buttons,
banners, logos, hover buttons and other Web graphics using an
interface closely resembling that of Microsoft Office 2000. The
package is strong on graphics and text effects, but lacks HTML
and JavaScript features that convert those graphics into
mouseover buttons and navigation bars. The interface? Simple.
Just an editing window next to a gallery of 51 graphics styles.
You can create a Web image by answering questions in a wizard, or
you can start with a blank window and create an image using
toolbar icons. The program's standout feature is the way it
applies effects to graphics and texts. For example, a click on a
toolbar icon adds a shadow to an object in one step.
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