RE: Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App

["Silas Denyer" <silas@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Unfortunately, all of this is what the Govt intended, not as it has had
to be implemented - it is actually a bit of a minefield of tax / NI to
make it all work.
=20
The gist, however, is as follows:
=20
- original plan was for employers to be generous and provide PCs FOC,
with no tax/NI liability accruing to anyone
=20
- employers didn't buy this, so scheme evolved into a PC in lieu of
salary, with no personal tax / NI liability on the value of the loan,
and no employers NI
=20
- scheme was not well publicised, buried in tax legislation, and wasn't
always as tax-free as intended; in particular, it started being seen as
a lease or loan for the purposes of tax, and needed an awful lot of
Consumer Credit Act compliance (essentially it turned into a CCA hire
agreement with an employee option to terminate after 18 months, which
option could remove the tax break!)
=20
- scheme has now been relaunched, with employers giving the PCs on a
consumer hire agreement to the employees
=20
- as a result, a group Consumer Credit licence has had to be negotiated
to cover all companies in the scheme!
=20
So, it might now be worth doing with the group licence, but it can still
be a compliance problem in terms of the paperwork required - pretty
standard UK Govt performance, not thinking things through!
=20
A bit more info here:
http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=3Dtaxbenefitsforhom1074253158
<http://www.out-law.com/php/page.php?page_id=3Dtaxbenefitsforhom1074253158
&area=3Dnews> &area=3Dnews
=20
Regards
=20
Silas
=20
=20
-----Original Message-----
From: White, Peter [mailto:peter.white@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 30 November 2004 15:03
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App


Read all about it here....

http://tinyurl.com/6mha5 <http://tinyurl.com/6mha5>=20

Very popular in other Euro countries, but until lately the government
has
stuffed up the publicity of the HCI, so take-up in the UK was very poor,
and, ironically, generally taken up by those 'in-the-know', i.e. people
who
don't really need a subsidised PC in the first place.  It's now being
pushed
a lot harder, the theory being that families that wouldn't normally be
able
to afford a PC can get one with a hefty discount.  I still think that
those
of us that pay 40% tax still benefit more than those that don't.

All the big OEMs are now spending lots of money in having teams
dedicated to
HCI sales.

Pete

_____=20=20

From: JT @ Home [mailto:Jonathan@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 30 November 2004 14:09
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App


"Home Computing initiative" ... what on earth??????????

Could someone enlighten me?
Jonathan.

-----Original Message-----
From: Don McAllister [mailto:donmc@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 30 November 2004 11:18
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App

I just signed up for a new PC as part of the Home Computing initiative.
It's
a Fujistu-Siemens Scaleo T ix with 3.4Ghz Pentium 4, 1GB RAM, 250GB SATA
disk and 256MB ATi Radion 9600 XT-4. Oh, and a 19" TFT.

It came with XP Home on it - (spit).

I didn't aim to run MCE on it as it's meant to be my main desktop
machine
but as MCE is basically XP Pro with SP2, I thought I'd give it a go.=20

Be interesting to see how the extender technology works when it's
available
in the UK but when I get my hi-Def tele next year, I'll probably get
another
PC just to act as a Media Center PC.

PS the HiDef clips available from MS look stunning!

Regards
Don

-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Smith [mailto:ukha@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 30 November 2004 11:06
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App


Hi Don,

What spec machine are you using? Specifically the graphics card.


Regards,

Paul


-----Original Message-----
From: Don McAllister [mailto:donmc@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 30 November 2004 10:49
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App


Seriously considering it now. I see Hauppague(?) have just launched a
MCE
edition of a PCI Freeview PVR card for about =A360

Once that's available I might go for that.

One Tivo is proving to be a bit limiting at the moment!

Cheers
Don



-----Original Message-----
From: Mark McCall [mailto:lists@xxxxxxx]=20
Sent: 30 November 2004 10:44
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Windows Media Center Edition - 2005 - Killer App


> DVD collection stored on-line in ISO format created with daemon tools.
I
> know that there have been several homebrew solutions around daemon and
> various frontends but this implementation seems spot on.

Good to hear Don, thanks for that.

Are you planning to try the PVR side?

M.