Is HCI set for a Budget comeback?

A new version of the Home Computing Initiative (HCI) could be announced in the March Budget - precisely a year after the scheme was controversially scrapped. Industry sources have told PC Pro that a new scheme designed to provide cut-price computing equipment to those on low incomes could be announced in the Chancellor's Budget on 21 March. It comes just 12 months after Gordon Brown shocked the IT industry by pulling the plug on the popular HCI without warning - much to the anger of several PC makers who derived a large chunk of their income from the scheme. ...more

Hewlett-Packard to buy management consultancy

Hewlett-Packard is in talks with accountancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers to buy its consultancy arm for ?14 billion. The PwC has been looking to sell its consultancy business after conflicts with US regulators last year. The Securities and Exchange Commission has been pressing for the top five accountants to sell off their consultancy arms. ...more

Opera going public to fund expansion

Those of the Opera persuasion, when it comes to browsers, will be interested to hear that the Norwegian company is seeking to go public. 'After developing and refining the technology and commercial side for nine years, Opera Software is now ready for public listing,' said the chief executive officer, Jon S. von Tetzchner. ...more

Kenwood adopts Windows Media Audio

At the Streaming Media West 2000 show in San Jose, California, it's been announced that audio specialist Kenwood is teaming up with Microsoft. The company unveiled its new CD player, which can play up to 22 hours of CD-quality music on a CDR. The Kenwood DPC-MP727 is the first CD player to support Microsoft's Windows Media Audio format, a direct rival to MP3. ...more

Linux gets Apple Xgrid agent

Users of Apple's Xgrid technology cann now add Linux machines to their Mac clusters. Source code and details of how to manage interoperability are available at www.novajo. ...more