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Letters Page

There isn't as much post, but we like it just as....most (what?-ED)

Normally we get more and more letters every issue, but this time the postbag has been rather empty, does this mean there is nothing to complain about? So in order to help the letters page keep waddling along we have come up with some suggested topics for you to write to us about.

The RISC OS Select scheme is good value because.....
Why don't you have any articles about.....
Why don't you feature this product on the CD....
Why isn't there any more RISC OS development.....
I think VirtualAcorn is....
RISCWorld is a load of old rubbish because...

There are a few ideas, and remember (puts on mid Atlantic patronising voice) "RISC World is your magazine, you help make it what it is, we need your input. Send your donations, made payable to cash, to Hugh Jampton, and you will be doing the Lords work!".

G'Day
The last e-mail I sent to you I forgot to thank you for the prize of the MasterClips 202,000. Lets get back to asking my question, so I can get outside and enjoy the last hour of the evening sun and 18c temperature. The CD inlays sent on the CD are for Ovation Pro, unfortunately I am caught in a time warp and have not progressed past Impression Publisher. Can these files be converted?
Bye
Alan Shooter

Does someone fancy converting all the RISC World inlays into another format? Drawfiles would seem to be the best format for most people as almost any package can read them. Well when I say any package !Paint wont, come to think of it neither will !Maestro, or !Calc, or !Alarm. On the whole though drawfiles would be nice.

Dear Sir
Am I alone in my concern for the way RISC OS is heading down the CD-ROM "softload" route? The whole point of RISC OS is the fact that it comes on chips and is therefore (virtually) in-coruptable and stable and doesn't use valuable RAM space.
Leaving aside the "lets screw our audience for more money by selling them an annual upgrade in several parts (assuming, as you point out that they can actually supply something new each quarter) for nearly the same price as a full copy of RISC OS 4" issue; what happens if either your CD-ROM fails or there is a fatal bug on the CD-ROM when it's bought? Do we then have to get a technician to come visit us (not for free I'll bet!) or, worse still, send the base unit back to whence it came? Because if there is a failure to load all the bits and pieces from the CD-ROM, then !Boot will probably hang-up half loaded.
No thanks, RISC people. I'm not buying it; certainly not for the silly little things mentioned in the press lately (some of which I hadn't even noticed were a problem to date!) If I had wanted a disc based operating system I would have bought a PC with Windoze at half the price.
Think again RISC OS
T. Shevels

Well, I do feel I ought to correct a couple of points here. Firstly although the OS needs to be copied from the CD to the hard disc drive, once this has been done if the CD-ROM drive went down it wouldn't matter. You could then argue about what happens if your hard disc drive fails. Well you will lose your work, but will still be able to run the original ROM based RISC OS 4. Select also gives you the option to uninstall if you have problems. It is also worth taking note of the lengthy beta test period of Select, after all have you seen a Select CD yet? Having said all this you could also argue that the Select upgrade is a cynical cashing in on work that was done almost two years ago.....

Dear Sir
Many thanks for my prize from the previous issue. Just a quick question, other magazines often tell you what articles will be coming next month, why doesn't RISC World do the same?
Yours
S. Morton

We did think about having a "coming next" section on each RISCWorld. Still in the fast paced RISC OS world sometimes things just don't happen in time. So if we have announced that there would be a review of something in this issue, and it wasn't here you might quite rightly feel a bit miffed. Besides which it makes each issue more interesting, after all as a reader you never quite know what you are going to get! (I feel that way myself -ED)

And on another subject Alan Shooter is back again.

G'Day
Me again! Enclosed with the latest copy of the Risc World CD was a leaflet a magazine called RiscDomain. I tried to go to the web site, but all I get is a bit nothingness.
Bye
Alan

Well of course we couldn't possibly comment on another magazines website could we? After all that would be a very slippery slope indeed. I did have a quick word with David Bradforth who said that the website has been delayed, and will be announced to RISC Domain subscribers when it is available.

Well that is it for this issues rather short letters page. I am now off to run Impression Publisher on my PC using VirtualA5000, see you next issue!

Hugh Jampton