Earlier this month we reported on RISCOS Ltd [ROL] possibly undertaking legal action against RISC OS Open Ltd [ROOL], with the latter being the shared source project started by Castle. This news came down pretty hard on the already small RISC OS community, but it did have a number of positive effects: representatives from both ROL and ROOL were quick to explain that there is absolutely no animosity between the two companies, and that the community has nothing to fear.
Aaron Timbrell, boss of VirtualAcorn, and a director at ROL, explained:
A lot of people have invested their time, their money and their hopes in ROOL. It is imperative that this investment gets its due return, for the good of everyone. In order to ensure this RISCOS Ltd has already written to the ROOL directors.This letter quite specifically states that RISCOS Ltd support what ROOL is doing, in particular RISCOS Ltd supports (quoting from the letter): The release of the source code by RISC OS Open Ltd either via the website or sold on a CD; RISC OS Open Ltd (releasing) RISC OS ROMs without having to pay a licence fee to RISCOS Ltd and RISC OS Open Ltd (offering) a commercial licence to potential RISC OS 5 users and to profit from such a licence.
ROOL’s Steve Revill also dispelled any hints at animosity. “RISC OS Open and RISCOS Ltd are not waving their fists at each other,” Rivell soothes, “We’ve enjoyed open and clear communications from the outset and are continuing to talk. Finding the best way for all parties to co-operate for the good of RISC OS has always been one of our aims.” According to ROL’s Paul Middleton, the company is only “maintaining [its] rights that were clearly set out in [its] licence [to develop and distribute RISC OS].”
Despite the kissing-and-making-up above, some questions are still left unanswered. Nobody speaks of the ownership claims made by ROL, which more or less come down to this: when ROL first signed a license deal with the then-owners of RISC OS Acorn/E14/Pace, code written by ROL had to be contributed back to Acorn/E14/Pace. Acorn/E14/Pace later sold the source code to Castle – including the contributions made by ROL. Because of this, according to ROL, they own all versions of RISC OS that came after – including the code released by ROOL.
In addition, it’s not being made clear by any of the statements if ROOL will be allowed to release a ROM built for RiscPCs, which was another important part of the original story. Questions, but no answers.
Drobe.co.uk, the source of all the news, has also made clear why they shone a light on his whole matter in the first place. Sensationalism? Hardly, Drobe writes.
It is amazing how fast problems are cured when they are illuminated by the public spotlight. Against a backdrop of fresh public assertions of OS ownership by ROL directors and other dirty linen being washed from the sidelines, there is a groundswell of interest in emulating RISC OS-compatible hardware. People are particularly looking forward to running RISC OS 5 for free using the free emulator RPCEmu on an entirely free platform, GNU/Linux – which would broadside the ROL-backed and Windows and Mac OS X-only VirtualRiscPC. If ROOL’s project was in danger of being put at risk, surely it is in the public’s interest to know the full reasons why?Plus with everyone’s cards now out on the table, this tedious long-running dispute should be in its final stages, thankfully. There should be no more threats, no more quiet grumblings and whispered briefings. Just cooperation, please.
The air is cleared for a while now, but the uncertain legal situation remains.
the no animosity between companies news is rather good. I am rather glad to hear that. I wish them the best in their upcomming endevors.
I cannot see any direction for RISC OS, it’s a shame as I can remember them from my school days.
For example:
http://www.thea6.info/
Surely this site is out of date or do they really want people to run an emulator for RISC OS?
They have avoided platforms such as x86_64 / amd64, how is this better?
I fail to understand why they don’t make their product easy to download or buy.
A6 (the company) make a tiny RISC OS machine called the A9. However, some people also want windows but cant buy 2 machines. That is where the A6 comes in. I beleive it is a x86 winxp box with a JIT app that lods the roms (in windows).
RISC OS Ltd (ROL) recently announced a £5 download of RISC OS 4 that you can run on an ammulator in linux, windows and mav via RPCemu or redsquireel. So you can download it now. 😀
Cheers
Bob
For the same kind of size Asus Eee Box and the Mac mini are both more powerful and less expensive while using less energy than your standard ATX / BTX PC.
Again we can either buy a A9 or run RISC OS via an emulator, why can’t RISC OS be updated to run on more platforms?
I like RISC OS but still cannot understand its direction.
Edited 2008-12-17 17:22 UTC
Yes the EEEPC is cheaper. I bought one in Nov2007 when they came out here. However, it is just a celeron and the new ones are Atom’s. There would have to be a HAL eating upa bit of that power.
The main problem with porting RISCOS (which I suggested in 1997/8) is the OS is a pig in a poke. It is nice, but it has lots of old chunks of BASIC and hard to rewrite assembler (ARM Assembler). That is probably wher the speed came from. I remember a home written Imaging app we used in 1992-1995 that was ARM Assembler with a BBC Basic front end running on an 8Mhz machine. It aws actually quite fast. 🙂 Anyway I digress…..
It would take a lot of time and effort to do this and there is no money (real money) in the OS to make it worth while.
Cheers
Bob
Am I the only one who was thinking Gene Simmons/Paul Stanley after reading the headline?