Good times, bad times
Who has been basking in the sunshine and who has been stuck under a cloud over the last fortnight in the channel
Good times
Wearable tech
Attempts to mix technology and fashion have enjoyed mixed success in the past, as the calculator watch will attest.But it appears Dell has become the latest big name to embrace a wearable tech market rejuvenated by the launch of Google Glass and rumours that Apple is working on a snazzy watch that will use iOS. Speaking to the Guardian, Dell PC honcho Sam Burd confirmed the Texan vendor is "exploring ideas in the space". Hardly a shock given that Dell's core PC business is shrinking faster than a woolly jumper on a 60-degree wash. Although we're keen to stay on the fence on this one, we're struggling to imagine a world where someone wandering the streets looking like a character from Tron could be taken seriously.
Microsoft partners
Sometimes as a kid, you'd wait so long for Sunday lunch, by the time it was served up at 3pm, your tummy had stopped grumbling and you'd no longer be hungry.
We suspect that might be akin to how VARs feel about Microsoft's Surface device. Nearly a year after its launch, the vendor confirmed last week that the channel will finally be given access to its tablet device. But is it too little, too late? We imagine by now, some customers at least will have got fed up of waiting and gone with Apple or HP instead.
SBL
Reseller SBL and the Ministry of Defence (MoD) extended their long-standing partnership this month as the licensing specialist won a massive Microsoft contract worth an estimated £16m a year.
The deal covers a Defence Information Infrastructure estate comprising about 180,000 machines. Bidders for the project faced a nervous wait as the award came in about 10 days later than planned (in the public sector? Surely not!), but the project was finally green-lighted.
Bad times
Cash-strapped SMBs
The harsh economy may already have forced many SMBs to shop in Netto for their coffee and exercise an "if it's yellow, let it mellow" toilet policy. But the biscuit tin may have to be refilled even less often from now on, if figures from the Forum of Private Business are to be believed.
According to the lobby group, the average SMB is shelling out 8.5 per cent more on compliance costs than in 2011.
It fingered HMRC's real-time information payroll process as the chief culprit, estimating that its rollout will cost SMBs £311m - more than twice the £120m cost estimated by HMRC.
So you can forget about that annual game of softball in the park.
Big boys
The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) is to investigate whether or not the biggest ICT players are stifling competition in the government technology sector.
The non-ministerial department is appealing for both suppliers and government users to share their thoughts on their experiences of bidding for and undertaking projects. With the top 20 ICT suppliers winning a cumulative £10.4bn in business each year, the OFT wants to ascertain whether the top dogs deliberately limit interoperability with competitors' systems.
It looks like the big boys will shortly be quaking in their size 18 boots. Just as soon as a committee is chosen with a view to the creation of a panel to oversee the selection of a taskforce that will ultimately form a working group that will really get to the crux of the issue.
Rural internet users
The government's plans to roll out superfast broadband to the UK's more rustic areas are almost two years behind schedule and more than £200m over budget, according to the National Audit Office (NAO).
With BT effectively holding a monopoly over the 44 local contracts up for grabs, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has also been slammed for a lack of competition and price transparency during the process.
As a proudly insular, lifelong London-based publication, CRN was a little shocked to hear that they have computers in the countryside now. Can they get Channel 5 as well these days?