Yesterday, STD withdrew from sale its RISC OS 4 ARM7 powered A75 and VirtualRiscPC employing A6 Windows PC, citing third party legal wranglings. And now, today, VirtualAcorn, have halted VirtualRiscPC deliveries, explaining, "although we can still accept orders for both VirtualRPC-SE and VirtualRPC Adjust, we will be unable to supply a delivery date and that all orders will only be accepted on that basis."
VirtualRiscPC is the popular RiscPC emulation software that allows users to run RISC OS 4, Select and Adjust (as developed by RISCOS Ltd.) on PCs running Windows. VirtualRiscPC is currently the only way to run a modern RISC OS on a portable computer.
Aaron Timbrell, of VirtualAcorn, commented: "As various RISC OS users may know there is a third party dispute which has caused supply problems in the RISC OS market. We are in the process of taking legal advice on the matter with regard to how we proceed."
STD also refered to two particular third parties who were locked in a "legal dispute", but at the time of writing hadn't commented on who they are. The knock on effects of VirtualAcorn's decision, in terms of what happens to the RISC OS dealers and developers who build PCs and bundle them with VirtualRiscPC, is unclear at the moment but we're inquiring.
Described by some as a "crisis", how far this undisclosed legal dispute will burrow into the RISC OS platform is totally unknown at the moment. Who will be next to withdraw is also open to wild speculation, as is the names of the companies involved. With the Expo 2004 show arriving this Saturday, hopefully we'll find some answers. For your information, Aaron's announcement is included below:
Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 10:49:59 EDT
From: ATimbrell@aol.com
To: News organisations
Subject: 15/6/2004 - Press release from VirtualAcorn
As various RISC OS users may know there is a third party dispute which has caused supply problems in the RISC OS market. We are in the process of taking legal advice on the matter with regard to how we proceed.
In the meantime we have been advised that although we can still accept orders for both VirtualRPC-SE and VirtualRPC-Adjust we will be unable to supply a delivery date and that all orders will only be accepted on that basis.
This also means that regretfully we are highly unlikely to have any representation at the RISC OS Expo 2004 this weekend.
We wish to assure customers that our tech support service remains open and that we will do our best to maintain our dedication in the RISC OS market.
Aaron (VirtualAcorn)
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