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When will Virtual RPC be available?

[quote="Alan"]When will Virtual RPC be available? Sooner the better, I believe it will be a be a huge step forward and will help regain some of the lost school market."

Couldn't agree more.

Recently read that the new Alpha portable from Microdigital is essentially a PC laptop running virtualRPC - don't know if that's true, but if it is then it seems an INSANE business strategy - why force people that want to run RiscOS beyond 3.1 on a PC to buy the hardware too? This is the mistake Acorn made all those years ago. I'd want to choose the specifications of laptop I was going to buy - and different users will have different needs.
Why not simply sell virtualRPC as commercial software @ a commercial price?

Seems to me people that want to run RiscOS will either want to do so on dedicated hardware (and will probably buy the Iyonix) or will want to run the OS on harware that matches their other needs. I'd rather pay more for the laptop I want, plus more for virtualRPC than be forced to buy the laptop the Microdigital have dictated I must have.

Virtual RPC was released first on the Alpha because of commercial realities. Virtual RPC needs a licenced copy of RISC OS which the licensors, for their own commericial reasons, were unable to license to us in any other form. With much work going on behind the scenes everyone managed to cooperate (believe me this is quite an achievement) to bring the Alpha to market. OK, it may not be the ideal solution for everyone but it's a starting point and it is helping to prove the concept to all the parties involved.

If you are keen to get your hands on a Virtual RPC, please tell RISC OS Ltd. The more potential sales there are, the more potential profit for them, and therefore the greater the incentive to get things moving quickly.

Graeme

Understood - although my "Insane" remark was a little extreme, and was aimed more at Microdogital. Obviously the licensing of the OS is the limiting factor - I guess it depends on who the Alpha is aimed at, which was my last point. I think most RiscOS users who want a laptop have given up and switched to PC or Mac. These users are (imo) unlikely to want to have their choice of laptop dictated by Microdigital. The specs on their website seem good for the price, but I for one wouldn't go back to having my choice of hardware limited to a single manufacturer.

I wonder was the option of shipping virtualRPC at a price that covered microdigital's licencing costs & profit considered? Perhaps I just doubt the profitability of the Alpha - I can see it appealing only to a small sector of the RiscOS community, those not wedded to RiscOS dedicated hardware who want a laptop that doesn't run the latest version of the OS (thinking about Castle's RiscOS5 and future developments) - so probably as a second computer. I don't see it appealing to any other sector.

The question is probably "who else wants RiscOS?" - I'd have thought that a virtualRPC, properly licenced and priced accordingly, would appeal to the RiscOS users that also use PCs, and potentially to institutions who block-buy PCs at a discount rate - although I have no idea what level of uptake there would be in schools, for example: has it been too long, or are educators still interested in running RiscOS software?

I think I'm frustrated knowing that a virtualRPC exists - it'd be easier if I was still in ignorance!

Does anyone have an email address for Risc OS Ltd. - can't see one listed on their website...

admin@riscos.com seems to be about the only option I can fond which is likely to work.

Oh, and I have just rung RiscOS Ltd on 029 2049 2324 and expressed my interest - I think I spoke to Paul Middleton, who seemed to listen appreciatively to my explanation of why I was interested.

Basically, I already have a suitable laptop, and want to use Risc OS on the move, both for my own needs and to demonstrate Risc OS to other interested parties, mainly at the multi-platform computer club I belong to.

Why not set up a petition on the frontpage of the VirtualAcorn website? You know how many people visit your site, and I would guess a good many of them would greatly appreciate an opportunity to buy such a product.

I used to Acorn computers, from the BBC Model 'B' (at school), to the A310M (Yes, I paid for the PC emulator), the A5000 and the RiscPC (with StrongARM when available, and I joined the Acorn Clan). These days my work requires that I used Wintel computers and I just don't have the space to accomodate an Iyonix PC. However, if a VirtualRiscPC were available then I would definitely purchase it.