RISCOS Ltd Press Release 3rd Feb 2006
RISCOS Ltd
PRESS RELEASE
3rd February 2006
For immediate release
RISCOS Ltd starts its 8th year of trading.
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RISCOS Ltd is proud to announce that it has just started its 8th year of
trading. Formed on 7th January 1999, the company has the widest range
of shareholders in the RISC OS market. It has continued to focus on the
development of RISC OS 4 for both 26 bit processors, and more recently
32 bit
processors.
On 8th March 1999 Element 14, a then wholly-owned subsidiary of Acorn
Group plc agreed an exclusive licensing deal with RISCOS Ltd to complete
the development of RISC OS 4 and bring it to market as an upgrade for
Risc PC and A7000 users and for new machines dedicated to the desktop
market.
Since the launch of RISC OS 4 in July 1999 there have been over 6,400
copies of RISC OS 4.02 sold, with upgrade copies alone generating over
£370,000 (exc VAT) sales over the last 6 years, until sales of RISC OS
4.02 were ceased in favour of the newer RISC OS 4.39 "Adjust" ROMs in
mid 2005. Over 1,900 copies of RISC OS 4 have been supplied for use in
new computers from Castle Technology, MicroDigital, RiscStation and
Advantage 6.
RISC OS 4.39 first went on sale in April 2004 and has recently sold its
500th copy. RISC OS 4 is now available on a wide range of platforms,
with users who have to use PC hardware still able to enjoy the RISC OS
experience via the Virtual Acorn platform. Sales of Virtual Acorn
products using RISC OS 3, 4.02 and 4.39 add several thousand more copies
to the total number of current RISC OS users.
The personalised special offer for RISC OS 3.X and RISC OS 4.0X users
who want to upgrade to RISC OS 4.39 is still available. RISC OS 4.39
ROMs are suitable for Risc PC, A7000/+, RiscStation R7500 and
MicroDigital Omega users. It is NOT suitable for MicroDigital Mico users
as those computers do not have the required ROM sockets.
RISCOS Ltd will shortly be acting on the decision taken at its 2004 AGM
to proceed with a further issue of 50,000 RISCOS Ltd Ordinary Shares.
Anyone interested in investing in RISCOS Ltd should write to the RISCOS
Ltd Share Offer, c/o The Company Secretary, RISCOS Ltd, 3 Clarendon
Road, Cardiff, CF23 9JD for further details.
The proceeds of the share issue will be used to fund further development
of RISC OS 4 beyond the limits of the cashflow generated by sales of
RISC OS "Select" subscriptions and RISC OS "Adjust" ROMs. It will also
be used to fund the development and acquisition of complimentary
technologies for RISC OS.
Managing Director, Paul Middleton went on to say that "subscribers to
the RISC OS Select scheme who have not yet renewed in the past year, are
particularly requested to renew their subscriptions as soon as possible.
The level of subscriptions is important, not only to provide funds for
the work to be undertaken, but also to give accurate figures of the
number of users who are actively interested in the work being done.
There is no point us spending £30,000 developing the next version of
RISC OS if there are only 150 people who are going to buy it." He
further explained that "the major reason for moving over to the 32 bit
neutral source for RISC OS 4 was to enable the production of a unified
source that could build versions for both Risc PC generation computers
and newer computers such as the A9 and Iyonix. The full launch of the
A9 computer, and then Select 4, are currently targetted for around May
this year and once completed attention can be focussed on the Iyonix.
However despite the encouraging level of interest shown on the Select
for Iyonix pledge group, the current level of pledges is insufficient to
cover the full amount of work needed. It is likely therefore that the
first stage will be a limited release of features to users who have
continued with their Select subscriptions and who pay a supplement. We
will be contacting those who have pledged and/or expressed their support
for Select for Iyonix setting out the options later this month."
--
Paul Middleton
Managing Director
RISCOS Ltd
Tel +44 (0)29 2046 4020 Direct, Fax +44 (0)29 2049 2326
Email: mailto:riscos@paulmidd.demon.co.uk Web http://www.riscos.com/
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