Late News (26 March)

• Compuserve CEO Frank Salizzoni has admitted the company is considering takeover bids, after holding a shareholders? meeting last week.
• Intel and Oracle are working together on a network computer strategy. Sources claimed Intel is lobbying PC vendors on Oracle?s behalf, to persuade Intel OEMs to build NCs based on Intel?s Pentium 133 processor.
• Conservative MP David Atkinson has admitted that his bill, which proposes enforcing year 2000 compliance for all companies, is unlikely to get its crucial third reading before parliament disbands at the end of this week.
• 3Com has announced a jump in profit to $87.6 million and an increase in turnover to $786.8 million, a 30 per cent rise on the same period a year ago in its Q3, ended 28 February.
• Microvitec?s shares fell last week following the company?s announcement that pre-tax profit had fallen 49 per cent to #500,000, although sales were up 18 per cent at #65.2 million in the year, ended 31 December 1996.
• Microsoft has admitted that Windows 97 will not be developed until 1998 at the earliest. MS has told its OEM partners to expect no new OS releases this year.
• According to market research firm NOP, one in 10 people in the UK used the internet last year. The number of home internet users rose from 420,000 in December 1995 to over a million a year later.