In an historic announcement, issued jointly this evening by RISCOS Ltd., Castle, Advantage 6, MicroDigital and VirtualAcorn, it would very much appear that the past on-going disputes surrounding RISC OS have been settled. Take a deep breath, then wait for this.The aforementioned developers have decided on a "new initiative", following talks chaired by Icon's Mike Glover, that were held on Wednesday earlier this week. This undertaking is hoped to "ensure that the RISC OS hardware and software developers can continue with the development and sales of their respective products."
Today's statement also carried further news that will appeal to many users: "relevant" RISC OS Select features will be available to Iyonix users via the Merlin project, as RISCOS Ltd. and Castle announced that from now on they'll be working together. Castle's engineering arm, Tematic, will focus on "core operating system technologies", and also work with RISCOS Ltd. to ensure "future development of key features of the RISC OS desktop environment".
Yesterday morning, RISCOS Ltd. shareholders were informed that today's news should signal "a major new era of co-operation along the lines first suggested at the RISCOS Ltd AGM last year".
When the dispute between Castle, RISCOS Ltd. and the other developers spilled into the public eye, users felt the market plunging into uncertainty. It now appears that this week has been a week of some much needed discussion, whereby finally a common ground was found.
Hopefully now, there will be further developments waiting for us, the end users of desktop RISC OS, towards the end of the year, in time for the two Autumn RISC OS shows.
Links
RISCOS Ltd. website
Castle website
The joint press release