Week in review: Show some ID
Though Intel announced a software patch allowing customers to disable the identification mechanism on the Pentium III chip, privacy groups say the patch isn't good enough.
They're demanding a recall of the chip, and threatening a boycott of Intel (Nasdaq:INTC) products.
It's an index! No, it's a portal! No, wait, it's a huge community of home pages and a portal!
That's what the theme is at Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), which announced it was taking over GeoCities (Nasdaq:GCTY) in a stock swap valued at $3.56 billion.
In Microsoft-DOJ trial land, meantime, the software giant was compelled to surrender a spreadsheet detailing how 1,903 files in the operating system are divvied up among Internet Explorer 98 and the rest of the Windows OS.
A key part of Microsoft's (Nasdaq:MSFT) defense states that IE and Windows cannot be separated, and thus cannot be viewed as two separate products. But that defense seems to be in danger.
Finally, there's a happy worm making its way around Europe -- the Happy99.exe, that is. It's a self-replicating virus that sends itself to e-mail and newsgroup postings, without the victim's knowledge.
Though it won't damage files on your computer, it could bring slow networks and crash corporate mail servers.
This week's headlines:
Privacy groups: Recall Pentium III
Intel blinks: ID tracker will be off initially
Yahoo! buys GeoCities, resets strategy
MS/DOJ special (Maritz testimony)
Connectix readies response to Sony suit
Victoria's Secret to invite Super Bowl fans to fashion show
Still waiting for Windows 2000
Y2K bug claims Prodigy service
Happy99.exe worm spreads on the Net
Jini aims to prove it can grant wishes
Sex springs abundant on the Web (coverage of the COPA hearing)
Hacked Rio to pose legal problems?