Acorn has breathed a little life into its hardware platform with the appointment of Suffolk reseller Castle Technology Ltd (CTL) as worldwide distributor. The contract could be seen as a holding operation, while Acorn continues its discussion with its Dutch company ( unnamed but widely assumed to be Begemann, the finance house that scooped Tulip out of the gutter earlier this year). CTL’s status following any Dutch takeover is unclear. But in the meantime, Acorn will continue to “produce its best selling range of computers (RISC PC, A7000+ & N/C network computer)”. One might quibble at the term “best seller”, but it seems that Acorn has made a sensible decision. Without this commitment, Acorn would have flushed its user base down the toilet. Not so wise when there is still some moolah to be extracted from its small but devoted clientele. “Further development and enhancement of this range will be announced at a later stage,” according to Castle. Does this mean Phoebe, the long awaited upgrade to the RISC PC. Word on the Acorn dealer street is that CTL will also offer RISC OS4 as upgrades for existing machines, a move described as “significant” by one. ®