Wakefield 2001: RISCOS Ltd. announce plans for continued RISC OS support Published: 18th May 18:48:32 | Permalink | Printable In a press release from Paul Middleton, MD of RISCOS Ltd., the company has announced plans to allow users of RISC OS to receive a constant stream of updates, as they are made, for an annual membership fee. The scheme is to be known as RISC OS Select.
Development of the software is now being conducted by 'contract software engineers' rather than programmers working in house and the company hopes to be able to provide minor updates in a shorter timescale than at present.
Future updates will be made available via ROM images, which will be soft loaded to replace the physical ROMs, and individual modules that can be loaded as part of the Boot sequence.
The Costs of RISC OS Select | Exising users may:- Join the Select Scheme for one year for £105 (or £99 if they are members of the Foundation)
New users will be able to:- Join the RISC OS Select Scheme for £179/year
- Buy the current RISC OS 4.02 ROM and installation CD for the special new reduced price of £95
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According to the press release, 'all subscribers to RISC OS Select will receive up to 3 CDs per year i.e one CD approximately every 4 months. The CD will contain both Beta software and official release versions. It is anticipated that components which are issued as Beta on one CD will become official releases on the next CD. Interim components will also be available from a password protected area of the new RISC OS Select website.'
We think it sounds like an ambitious plan but it is based on a model which has worked well for individual programs and the company's press release appears upbeat. Drobe wonders just how many RISC OS users will subscribe, especially as the company will not be exhibiting at tomorrow's Wakefield 2001 Show. Freelance software engineers don't come cheap therefore RISCOS Ltd.'s customer relations machine will have to work overtime to drum up enough support for the scheme.
RISCOS Ltd. certainly aren't doing themselves any favours by not turning up tomorrow, especially with the excuse, 'many programmers are happier working in isolation'. Drobe thinks that the excuse 'with a distinct lack of programmers we can't make it look like we're doing anything useful to RISC OS so we'll hide away and miss our industry's most important trade fair of the year' would be more apt.
What do you think? Have your say in the Drobe Launch Pad Forums
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