What do you want of MyRISC OS?

As an interested newcomer to MyRISCOS, this website seems to have considerable potential for development. Particularly in view of the fact that Drobe is undergoing a period of reflection, it's probably worth asking what do people want to see in terms of articles?

Reviews, opinion pieces, suggestions, ideas from other plaforms/possibilities (e.g. like the portable article a few months ago on Drobe) and tutorials? There was a tutorial on The Iconbar some time ago about !Draw features which was a useful reminder of how effective it can be as well as a couple of unused features. What about the same for other software from older but still available programs to the more modern packages like Artworks?

Knowing how to use a program to do your accounts, produce some charts with a relatively cheap piece of software encourages people to use the OS. Seeing powerful features in use could encourage people to buy software they might have thought they had no use for.

Only today, via Usenet we learn that David Pilling is willing to develop the already extremely powerful Ovation Pro desktop publishing package if only 14 users register their interest in a mere £50 upgrade. Imagine if that was feasible for other leading software creative or internet that the RISC OS platform enjoys (and often depends upon to no small degree). Meanwhile, a new site ostensibly set up as an interim to Drobes absence (www.riscoscode.com) features an advertisement for the web-design software "Webwonder", a piece of software originally reviewed in Qercus but having received little exposure since.

The point is good articles can serve as great advertisements for software by showing prospective buyers their capabilities and creating an air of capability for the platform itself. What other packages or projects are out there, untapped, under-played or under-rated? Software authors may have had their confidence knocked in the RISC OS community for one reason or another and so unlike, say MW Software and RComp, are reluctant to be proactive in advertising their product or requesting collaboration, assistance or donations. So again an article could serve more than one function.

Another piece on The Iconbar was a retrospective of what Acorn's RISC OS has contributed to the world and that didn't even mention the games. What can we draw attention to in the present or draw inspiration from out of our platform's past to start building for success right now? This short article was written and submitted via a simple form interface in Netsurf so there's really nothing to stop anybody from taking action now.

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