Editor's Blog: Public sector and PCs - not boring, official

I've been away for a week on holiday. I don't normally do the whole August time-off thing but a chance to combine two friends getting married in Umbria, Italy, with my first ever week on holiday in, well, Umbria, Italy, was too good to turn down. More on that next time - and not just to share holiday/wedding memories.

A couple of pieces of news caught my eye on my return. The first isn't perhaps the sexiest of subjects - the Independent Police Complaints Commission is in the midst of a wide-ranging (£50m) tech review.

But the story got me thinking and not only because it was a nice exclusive from our business editor, Julian Goldsmith (the editor here who looks after our coverage by key verticals, in this case public sector, among other things).

It got me thinking because one of the IPCC's main needs is mobility but, due to the nature of its work, security is paramount - dealing with crime, national security issues and the like.

Not only that but outsourcing is a factor in all this.

While there is always a lot of talk about public sector bodies getting IT wrong, when they get it right there is a case to be made for that expertise being shared.

We hear about the public sector sharing best practice within its own ranks - but how about it sharing the best of what it does with industry?

Does a police force dealing with a terrorist's details have more robust mobile security than a leading investment bank in Canary Wharf? I don't know. But I'm guessing they could learn from each other. And isn't there an argument that all tax-payer spend in the UK should go as far as possible?

As I returned to the UK I heard the sound of major deals being done in hardware, more precisely the rather staid PC industry seeing Taiwan's Acer announce its purchase of Gateway, with implications for the future of Packard Bell, which had been in the sights of Lenovo.

I remember when it seemed like the sky was the limit for the direct PC vendors. Dell led the pack with its then business focus, then came Gateway - or I should say Gateway 2000 - and there was even Idaho's Micron. Remember them?

A report from our colleagues over at CNET News.com quotes a Current Analysis analsyt as saying Gateway has "basically been up on eBay for the last couple years". Sounds harsh but sounds true.

So we're left with HP seemingly resurgent in personal tech, Dell the last of the direct big boys - and with its own set of problems now (what a difference three years makes) - and then, mainly, the anticipated rise of East Asia.

While all and sundry predicted Lenovo - augmented by IBM's PC business - taking on the top spot, with Toshiba and other Japanese companies still strong in PC laptops, it looks as if Acer is now sticking out its chest with ambition.

Like public sector IT, the PC industry still has the capacity to surprise.