Castle Technology have today sent out a press release that confirms the future of our favourite Operating System. At the conclusion of talks last evening, a new licence has been agreed between Castle Technology Ltd. and RISCOS Ltd. [4]
The press release states that RISC OS [5] 4 and 5 will be merged "as soon as practically possible and that clear areas of responsibility have been established ensuring that duplication of effort is minimised."
This is excellent news and although this may take a while to actually merge the two streams of RISC OS, it ensures that everything begins to move in that direction. It would probably be useful to RISC OS users to understand the clear areas of responsibility at some point soon, but we expect the merge will likely be a gradual phased approach.
The full press release is quoted here:
RISCOS Ltd and Castle Technology Ltd announce new co-operative Agreement on future RISC OS Development
Castle Technology Ltd and RISCOS Ltd are delighted to announce that late on Friday 15th October they concluded negotiations on a new Licence Agreement that ensures a bright future for all areas of RISC OS development.
The new licence ensures that both RISC OS 4 and RISC OS 5 will be merged together, as soon as practically possible and that clear areas of responsibility have been established ensuring that duplication of effort is minimised.
Paul Middleton Managing Director of RISC OS Ltd said "I'm sure that all the RISC OS users who have waited for the availability of the Select Desktop experience will be delighted to know that they can expect to enjoy it on many more platforms, such as the IYONIX pc, next year."
Jack Lillingston Managing Director of Castle said "This is fantastic news for all parties concerned and I know that this sets sound foundations for a bright new future of RISC OS. Castle will continue with the IYONIX pc and other desktop products, whilst Tematic (a trading division of Castle) will focus its activities on the embedded sector. This means that more and more devices using RISC OS will become available around the world."
John Ballance, Technical Director of Castle Technology explained that "merging the two versions of RISC OS together makes very good sense. This means a set of standard APIs for RISC OS and this will be of great benefit to RISC OS developers."
Mike Glover of Icon Technology, who chaired the discussions, pointed out that "this solution ensures that RISC OS 4 will continue to be available for the foreseeable future and that all RISC OS hardware and software developers will continue to supply their products."
All RISC OS users are warmly invited to attend the Guildford RISC OS Show on Saturday 23rd October in order to talk to everyone concerned with this fantastic new development.
More information from:
Paul Middleton
RISCOS Ltd
Tel: 02920 464020
Jack Lillingston
Castle Technology Ltd
Tel: 01728 723200
