Softease confirmed with us this week that they have no plans for developing RISC OS versions of future products, which include
Textease and
Timelines. We contacted their support team, who said they had "spoken to the people concerned with the Acorn Development and unfortunately we are not planning any future releases for RISC OS. Support will continue for this platform and as far as I'm aware, any patches for existing versions will be released if required."
Paul Vigay was alerted to this at the BETT educational technology show. "A couple of people told me there that Softease has stopped RISC OS development so I wandered around to the stand myself. Spotting a big banner at the back stating that TextEase was for "Windows and Mac OS", I asked them why they hadn't added RISC OS to it."
The BETT show didn't look good for RISC OS users. Paul told us "I didn't see any [RISC OS presence] at all, which was a big shame! There were lots of ex-RISC OS companies there; Softease, TAG, Sherston, Atomwide, Cumana/Canon Computing, Surftec etc, but none had any RISC OS stuff on display. Bit depressing all round really. Looks like RISC OS is finally out of the classroom".
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Softease stop RISC OS development |
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fwibbler (15:44 14/1/2004)
monkeyson2 (17:28 14/1/2004)
Sven (19:48 14/1/2004)
harmsy (16:39 16/1/2004)
Gulli (11:55 17/1/2004)
dominionspy (19:20 19/1/2004)
gast (17:32 23/1/2004)
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fwibbler |
Message #92727, posted by fwibbler at 15:44, 14/1/2004 |
Posts: 320
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This is a real shame. I've always considered Textease to be much easier to use than Ovation Pro or Impression.
Cheers! |
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Phil Mellor |
Message #92728, posted by monkeyson2 at 17:28, 14/1/2004, in reply to message #92727 |
 Please don't let them make me be a monkey butler
Posts: 12380
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It seems silly that RISC OS is losing out needlessly. My old primary school (in Leeds) now has a cluster of Windows PCs. They mainly use Textease and Dazzle, which could have been run on RISC OS. There's little point shelling out on Virtual Acorn (or ARM hardware) now, just to run the same software with a different GUI. Obviously the old school A3000s don't cut the mustard any more, and I worry they're what the Acorn name is associated with. A room full of Iyonixes would never meet the hardware budget, and R7500s and A7000s are a bit old hat now. Maybe MicroDigital, rather than pushing the Omega in its current form to compete with the top end Iyonix, should concentrate on their Yellow project. http://foundation.riscos.com/html/features/10/omega/alpha.htm |
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Sven |
Message #92729, posted at 19:48, 14/1/2004, in reply to message #92728 |
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Well, then. That's settled, don't blame the companies ceasing to support our wild platform. Personally, I think it's about time we moved out of the classrooms. |
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harmsy |
Message #92730, posted at 16:39, 16/1/2004, in reply to message #92729 |
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Hey - don't force us to stop using RISC OS boxes! As I've said elsewhere, we've lots in the physics and chemistry departments. Almost daily use. APH |
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Gunnlaugur Jonsson |
Message #92731, posted by Gulli at 11:55, 17/1/2004, in reply to message #92730 |
Member
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Maybe MicroDigital, rather than pushing the Omega in its current form to compete with the top end Iyonix, should concentrate on their Yellow project. http://foundation.riscos.com/html/features/10/omega/alpha.htm Surely they have upgraded that spec by now and are developing this around an XScale or another processor with a future.
But this project does sound like feasible computer, simply skipping the PCI and going direct to USB. |
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dominionspy |
Message #92732, posted at 19:20, 19/1/2004, in reply to message #92731 |
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I was working on one of the stands at BETT (The Interactive Whiteboard Company, if anyone wants to know) and when I took a couple of walks around the show I wasn't even expecting to see anything to do with RISC OS. I think it's such a shame that it's so completely out of mainstream education. When I was at school we had all Acorns. Now my old school probably has nothing but Windows-running PCs. |
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gast |
Message #92733, posted at 17:32, 23/1/2004, in reply to message #92732 |
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Hi. I'm a BeOS User and we BeOS Users have the same problem. But I can tell you what this is all about: it's about money. If you are a developer (not in your sparetime, I mean fulltime) then you have to live by something. And if you want to live, you need money. And if a developer needs money, he needs to sell programs. And if the platform he supports doesn't offer any money, then he won't have any money. It's hard to say that, but if a developer can't sell anything he will stop all efforts. It's ugly but that's the reality. If a developer wants to make money he should write for Windows (or maybe for the Macintosh). All other platforms doesn't provide enough customers or at least enough customers who want to pay for software. |
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