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Select ROM pricing insight

By Chris Williams. Published: 9th Jan 2004, 13:48:54.

One dealer publishes price list

RISCOS Ltd.'s Select ROM release is due sometime in early 2004 and until now the pricing structure for it has been left to mild guesswork. RISCOS Ltd. did say the ROMs would start at around 150 quid but Select subscribers, who have already paid for a subscription to the OS upgrade scheme, would be entitled to some form of discounted price.

Select is, of course, RISCOS Ltd.'s subscription scheme that releases updated versions of the 26bit RISC OS 4 to end users through out the year. Softloaded OS releases are usually made available online and distributed on CD and the scheme has added so many new features to RISC OS 4, from filer thumbnailing to major OS bugfixes, from overhauled software like Configure and Paint to proper writeable icon cut'n'pasting.

German dealer a4 has this week published on their website [English] a Select ROM price list ahead of RISCOS Ltd.'s forthcoming announcement of the ROM's release details. Obviously, these are a4's own prices and not anything official from RISCOS Ltd., but we expect them to be close to the actual prices, when they're announced, as we're not expecting a RISC OS 4 price war.

Converting from Euros to GBP because we're still waiting for Gordon Brown to roll that double six so we can join the mainland currency, a4's Select ROM prices look like this (includes VAT and postage):

Upgrading from RISC OS 3.x to Select ROM	143 GBP
Upgrading from RISC OS 4.0x to Select ROM	129 GBP
Upgrading to Select ROM after being a Select subscriber for 1 year	108 GBP
Upgrading to Select ROM after being a Select subscriber for 2 years	97 GBP
Upgrading to Select ROM after being a Select subscriber for 3 years	87 GBP

So it would seem jumping from 3.7 to Select works out as around seven years of OS development for 143 quid. Naturally, there's still that little nagging issue of the OS 4 vs. OS 5 split, after Castle took command of Pace's 32bit RISC OS. When a RISCOS Ltd. spokesperson was pressed on the Select mailing list for there to be a single, united development path for RISC OS as an OS, the response from RISCOS Ltd. was: "One development path for RISC OS is highly unlikely as it has always been developed by a number of different teams for different purposes.

"If you mean one version of RISC OS to fit all models of desktop machines, then that would be great from a users point of view, but a hell of a lot of work for the developers."

a4 is currently suggesting that the Select ROM (aka RISC OS 4.39) will be available from February 2004.

Links
RISCOS Ltd.
a4 website
Select 3 in detail - current release of Select

Discussion

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I thought Drobe editors didn't like news items to be published prior to official announcements...

monkeyson on 9/1/04 4:30PM [ Reply | Report ]

Anyone got an email address for ROL so I can tell then to stop sending me begging letters (I don't even have a RISC PC anymore and have moved house!)? Amazingly, there is no email address on their website - or if there is it takes more than a little searching to find it.

robert79 on 9/1/04 4:40PM [ Reply | Report ]

I do like my OS in ROM, and I do love my Kinetic RiscPC. It's a difficult decision to decide whether to leave the money in the bank in the "Iyonix Fund" or upgrade what I've already got. I also have come to quite like Paint. Having the upgraded version is attractive. I wonder how much I could flog my RO 4.03 ROMs on ebay ? I've got a feeling they only work with kinetic, 4.02 being the StrongARM version. Why is life so complicated ?

martin on 9/1/04 4:51PM [ Reply | Report ]

martin:

No it isn't - buy iyonix

;-)

epistaxsis@work on 9/1/04 4:56PM [ Reply | Report ]

IIRC 4.03-Kinetic also works with ordinary StrongARMs.

JGZimmerle on 9/1/04 5:17PM [ Reply | Report ]

"but a hell of a lot of work for the developers." erm what do PC Mother Board people do for Windows?

saying that, i have an iyonix fund too.... so my RPC is going to have a long earned rest at some point when I earn enough after leaving uni! (When Pigs fly as the saying goes)

em2ac on 9/1/04 5:21PM [ Reply | Report ]

martin: Stash your cash in your IyonixPC fund. Going from my RPC to the Iyonix was as mindblowing as moving from my A3010 to the RPC. If you can afford to migrate really cannot see any point in staggering on with the RiscPC, it is time to move on.

JWCR on 9/1/04 5:46PM [ Reply | Report ]

em2ac: I fail to see the relevance of PC motherboards and a market with far more money. Looks a bit to me like you're getting too excited before you post again.

mrchocky on 9/1/04 6:07PM [ Reply | Report ]

JWDR:

same over here - true magic :-)

Save up! save up!

epistaxsis@work on 9/1/04 6:20PM [ Reply | Report ]

I hope we never do join "mainland" currency - whatever that means. I'm sorry but I don't like the sound of that word at all. The reason we're 'waiting' (and I don't personally regard it as inevitable or necessary) according to Mr.Brown is that it is not in the interests of the UK. I personally find the idea of European integration quite offensive in terms of loss of diversity and distinctiveness. The reasons I suspect driving the politicians who are primarily behind the drive I tend to think also are sinister.

AW on 9/1/04 6:34PM [ Reply | Report ]

robert79: Could try the 'Contact details' link at the bottom of their home page

Overett2 on 9/1/04 6:40PM [ Reply | Report ]

I started a 'Pheobe' fund some years ago. Fortunately, I kept it going so there was enough to buy the Iyonix.

Spending more on the RiscPC just can't be justified now the Iyo is available.

Eddie on 9/1/04 6:54PM [ Reply | Report ]

Eddie, that's exactl;y what I did. I understand I was the 20th person to buy an Iyonix on the open market. I have never regretted it. It is a superb machine. I would advise antyone who likes RISC OS to go for it, It is pricey compared to a PC, but worth the money.

mrtd on 9/1/04 11:29PM [ Reply | Report ]

My post is there twice. How did that happen? Must be a cosequence of the rather nice malt whisky I'm sampling.

Martin

mrtd on 9/1/04 11:35PM [ Reply | Report ]

As numerous others have said, the only reason for struggling on with an obsolete Risc PC system is that you don't have enough money to upgrade to Iyonix.

Obviously a great many people are unhappy with that (who can blame them), but reality will gradually catch up with the RISC OS market over time.

It's very obvious what ordinary users think of the Iyonix once they pluck up the courage to buy one.

dgs

dgs on 9/1/04 11:53PM [ Reply | Report ]

It didn't take much courage on my part. I badly needed a replacement for my Arcimedes A420/1. I went to the Midlands show, saw the Iyonix, and was hooked. I had been saving for a Phoebe anyway, so the money was there, I had even tried to order an Omega at one point, but my email was ignored. I'm glad about that, the Iyonix was defineitely the right choice IMO. There is no way I could have bought a PC. I use Windows at work and detest it. I might have reluctantly bought a Mac (not knowing much about them, but anything is better than Windows) if the Iyonix hadn't come along. But it did and I am grateful to the folk at Castle that made it happen.

Martin

mrtd on 10/1/04 12:05AM [ Reply | Report ]

Now if only there was the serious and up-to-date equivalent of Photoshop and XaraX on RISC OS, then I'd have a Kinetic (or maybe even Iyonix) in front of me now, instead of this WindowsXP box. Anyway, I would say that it's far better to save money for an IyonixPC than throw more at a machine that's had it's day. RiscPCs are cool and still capable machines, but vital chips are no longer available and they lack modern speed and connections. Time to move on, pref. to Iyonix!!

arenaman on 10/1/04 1:16AM [ Reply | Report ]

Do we have to send RO3/4 roms back when we upgrade? What about if we have one Select machine and one RO3.6 machine, do we get both at the Select subscription price? I'd hope so, but you never know!

john on 10/1/04 2:03AM [ Reply | Report ]

DGS: I would disagree with your comments about people using RiscPCs because they can't afford the Iyonix.

With the finance offers available from certain dealers most (not all, but most) people could afford an Iyonix if they wanted one enough.

The Doctor on 10/1/04 11:24AM [ Reply | Report ]

To dgs: will Aemulor run Rhapsody 4? If not, I need a computer that will. As I don't want 3 on my desk (current occupants, a VF Kinetic and a laptop PC) any RO replacement machine must run ALL important s/ware.

To arenaman: have you looked at Artworks 2?

To The Doctor: I agree. Apart from the first point above, my VF Kinetic does everything an Iyonix does, apart from burn CDs and USB. The latter IS 2-4x faster, but to upgrade the Kinetic to USB will cost £380, whereas to buy a top-spec Iyonix + USB scanner and ZIP drive to replace the SCSI items I have already + Aemulor + all other required bits and pieces is £1850. Hmmm...

George

bucksboy on 10/1/04 11:44AM [ Reply | Report ]

bucksboy: ArtWorks 2 is nice, but it's still not really a touch on the likes of Xara X, Corel Draw, etc.

dgs: Perhaps some people don't see the need to buy a new machine if their current one does what they want it to? I know somebody who until very recently used an A540 running RISC iX as their main machine at home. It did everything he wanted. Why upgrade?

nunfetishist on 10/1/04 1:26PM [ Reply | Report ]

The Doctor:

I would disagree with your comments that most people could afford and Iyonix if they wanted one. The definition of 'afford' is tricky - most people have over 1300 pounds of debt, so ought really to pay that off, rather than buy an Iyonix. :indiff:

I don't have an Iyonix. I'd like one, but can't justify its purchase. I'd far rather have a laptop - that I can justify and afford, since they cost half an Iyonix, or two for the price of an Iyonix. That way my fiance would be happy. :razzgirl:

harmsy on 10/1/04 1:28PM [ Reply | Report ]

nunfetishist: very true. What MW has done with ArtWorks is amazing, but it still doesn't stand up to Illustrator or XaraX. And comparing Photodesk to Photoshop is simply embarrassing. I feel with the IyonixPC out and Castle obviously dedicated to further RISC OS development, it's time software devolopers took a bit more risk and overhauled these dated products. Castle had to take risks to give us the IyonixPC and thus secure a future market for themselves, so there is no reason why software developers shouldn't do the same. I'll keep watching with interest - I'd love to have a good reason to join the fold again :-)

arenaman on 10/1/04 11:57PM [ Reply | Report ]

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