In common with a lot of people who used to use RISCOS, I don't use it now and that is the focus of this article: Why don't I use it any more and what would it take to make me use it again? Of course, an article of this sort still has worth as there is bound to be some degree of correlation between my feelings, experiences and hopes in relation to the platform and those other people.Introduction
This article constitutes both an assessment of the current state of the RISC OS operating system in addition some speculation about its future. The article doesn't strive to maintain an objective view as, instead, I am documenting my personal relationship with the issue. Make no mistake, this is a 'me-centric' and partly speculative article.
Overview
Part 1 of the article contains an overview of RISCOS. It serves as both an introduction to some of the interesting features of the OS coupled with some exposition and opinion regarding the current issues affecting the OS.
Part 2 builds on this will some investigation into the issues that stop users such as myself from actually using RISCOS.
Part 3 Is the most fanciful section as I propose some possible, hypothetical solutions that would, for me, make the platform viable again.
Note About The RISCOS User Scene
This is largely an opinion piece and I welcome commentary, criticism and counter-opinion. The commentary for and against the points that I raise really are the thing that makes the effort of writing an article of this sort worthwhile. However, there exists amongst the RISCOS faithful a minority who can see no wrong in anything RISCOS related. I think that I can safely say that, if it were discovered that RISCOS gives you cancer, some RISCOS users would claim that they like having cancer.
I remember reading on a forum in the late 90's a RISCOS user telling people that he liked the 77 files per directory limit because it encouraged him to organise his files properly. I might add that the 77 files per directory limit no long afflicts RISCOS. Let's hope that user is still with the platform now that one of his favourite 'features' has been removed
Some of these people probably consider themselves part of a back-bone of loyal, patriotic, true supporters of the platform but I hold the opinion that if you are truly a fan of something, you can accept criticism of it. You don't have to be loyal to something that is genuinely good.
I remember some quarters of the Amiga-faithful of the late 90's telling everyone that they don't see the need for more 256 colours, greater than 8 bit sound or access to this new-fangled internet thingy. To me, these users who automatically preferred anything that they were given contributed to the decline of the platform.
Related Articles
Technology White Papers
"In the first episode of Microsoft's new film series 'On the Whiteboard', Editor Pamela Woon chats with two-time Oscar winner Randy Thom about the (often underestimated) importance of sound in human-technology interactions. Thom, the lead sound designer at Skywalker Ranch who worked on films such as The Incredibles, Castaway and Forrest Gump, says that people rarely consider the significance of those signature sounds that come from their trusty devices, whether it be a cell phone, a computer or a tablet."
1 
"Microsoft has sensationally abandoned its controversial plans to restrict the sharing of XBox One games, and has also removed daily online authentication requirements for its forthcoming console", reports The Guardian. They had no choice. Still a good move."A snippet of code in the Steam digital distribution platform has revealed that Valve may be planning to let users easily share their games with friends in the future. The Verge has verified the code's authenticity, which was originally spotted by a member of the NeoGAF gaming forum; the code references a 'shared game library' and a notification that would alert a user when their games are currently in use by a borrower." This would change the, uh, game.
Official Apple statement on PRISM and privacy: "Regardless of the circumstances, our Legal team conducts an evaluation of each request and, only if appropriate, we retrieve and deliver the narrowest possible set of information to the authorities. In fact, from time to time when we see inconsistencies or inaccuracies in a request, we will refuse to fulfill it." This is basically Apple re-publishing their earlier statement in a more official manner. You either believe it, or you don't.
The open source Contiki operating system and its commercial Thingsquare distribution are making strides towards the connected home. According to a Computerworld article, a new LED light bulb manufacturer is putting small computers into their light bulbs. Each computer runs the Contiki OS, which gives each bulb an IP address and allows them to be controlled with a smartphone application. To connect the bulbs to the application, the bulbs use both Wi-Fi and the much lower power IEEE 802.15.4 mesh technology.
"Google asked the secretive Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court on Tuesday to ease long-standing gag orders over data requests it makes, arguing that the company has a constitutional right to speak about information it's forced to give the government. The legal filing, which cites the First Amendment's guarantee of free speech, is the latest move by the California-based tech giant to protect its reputation in the aftermath of news reports about sweeping National Security Agency surveillance of Internet traffic." Draining the ditch after the cow has drowned in it."I can't find one person who has been using the Nexus 7 for an extended period of time, and hasn't seen a massive downgrade in performance. Just what kind of downgrade are we talking here? I cannot pick up my Nexus 7 without experiencing problems like a lag of ten seconds, or more, just to rotate the display; touches refusing to acknowledged; stuttering notification panel actions; and unresponsive apps." Fully and utterly agreed. My Nexus 7 was blazing-fast and awesome for a few months, and at some point, it just started sucking. Just like that. I've tried loads of ROMs, and nothing helps.A new release of the hobby operating system MenuetOS! The release notes are a bit non-descript, but you'll have to take what you can get: "updates and improvements (picview, httpc, ehci, ...)"."The Internet is one of the most transformative technologies of our lifetimes. But for 2 out of every 3 people on earth, a fast, affordable Internet connection is still out of reach. And this is far from being a solved problem. There are many terrestrial challenges to Internet connectivity - jungles, archipelagos, mountains. There are also major cost challenges. Right now, for example, in most of the countries in the southern hemisphere, the cost of an Internet connection is more than a month's income. Solving these problems isn't simply a question of time: it requires looking at the problem of access from new angles. So today we're unveiling our latest moonshot from Google[x]: balloon-powered Internet access." Insane."MineAssemble is a tiny bootable Minecraft clone written partly in x86 assembly. I made it first and foremost because a university assignment required me to implement a game in assembly for a computer systems course. Because I had never implemented anything more complex than a 'Hello World' bootloader before, I decided I wanted to learn about writing my own kernel code at the same time. Note that the goal of this project was not to write highly efficient hand-optimized assembly code, but rather to have fun and write code that balances readability and speed. This is primarily accomplished by proper commenting and consistent code structuring." Just cool.