Computers and software should be as readily available “as library books in the last century”, the Chancellor said. The total cost of the Budget’s technology measures comes to pounds 500m; the aim is to equip “the whole of Britain for the information age”.The Government is also expanding its scheme to provide school teachers with laptop computers for use at home. The exact details of the scheme have not been announced, but some of the new centres will be in conventional locations, such as schools and libraries. The Government is proposing to set up a network of a thousand computer learning centres, “one for every community in Britain”, according to Mr Brown.

The Chancellor announced a series of measures that should boost investment in technology- led firms, increase access to IT training and skills, and improve the climate for e-commerce in the UK. The Government’s new Small Business Service will, the Chancellor said, provide advice and assistance to small firms on e-commerce. Plans for wider employee share ownership, and tax breaks for entrepreneurs and for venture capitalists who invest in smaller firms, are also designed with the technology sector in mind. Mr Brown’s team was clearly inspired by the US experience, where small start-ups in the computing and technology sectors have gone on to become household names.
The Budget’s greatest impact, though, should be on computer skills and the take-up of technology in schools and homes. Time for another tutorial, I think.cg gulker . GORDON BROWN’S new 10p income tax rate has dominated the headlines, but last week’s Budget was good news for the IT industry too.

Who ever heard of a profitable Internet start- up? No one will touch her stock offering if she’s profitable. In the future, all Web content may be in XML, and the browser will be presented with the story, a style sheet written in XSL, or Extensible Style Language, and that will be it Instant publishing!”The spouse falls silent for a while. “I’m still thinking of starting a business-to-business company.”Well, so much for currying favour, not to mention my tutorial. That morning she had me apply for the domain name for her new enterprise. By 2pm she had her first client and was booking revenue before the domain name came through.This could be real trouble. In NML, the idea is to mark things up for what they are, such as “headline”, rather than how they should look. That way a simple tag translator could automatically convert, say, a news story from one website to the style of a different publisher, without having to involve a human to insert formatting tags.”So the story could go into print as easily as on the Web, since computer layout programs use tags to mark text, too.

So, using my LML example, I could write Linda .”In an XML application, the reader might just see the name Linda, perhaps with some small icons or other indications that there are tags attached. But I could also tell the software to display hearts when the “lover” tag appears, or add a smiling graphic for “friend”.”So what’s it good for?” asks the ever-practical Linda.”Well, two incompatible systems could each export records, like invoices or purchase orders, to a common XML format that defined things like part number, price and shipping address. Systems like that can already export to each other’s formats, but it’s a one-off deal, as every company configures systems a little differently. With a common format, it makes it easy to connect as vendors come and go, and software changes.”"Is anyone actually using it?” she asks.”Well, there are things like MathML, or Math Markup Language, and CML, Chemistry Markup Language.”Of course, I’m interested in ICE, for Internet Content Exchange, and NML, or News Markup Language, two other specs that are knocking around. Fortunately, we pretty much have Menlo Park to ourselves.”XML works the same way, substituting my self-defined tags. The spouse is looking on with amusement, as I’m cutting a ridiculous figure.