We desperately need some new, or updated software. Can't we get some of the old ex-acorn companies to release their source code, or sell it on to what developers we do have?

[Edited by 123 at 14:38, 21/8/2000]

If you use some Microsoft office software, with an open mind rather than some people's blinkered "it's Micro$oft so it must be bad" (not that I'm saying you think that!), you'll find it's a hell of a lot better than it was a few years ago.

The problems with some elements of it I find daunting. The bits it does well are good, but sadly the bad bits are equally noteworthy.

Word, as an instance, has the following problems in my humble opinion:

Inconsistant application of text styles.

Problems with Super/Sub scripting (it often superscripts additional characters you have not selected when you press space at the end of the superscripted section).

Alignment seems a bit dodgy.

Tables can be dodgy (although not as bad as in Word6 where on my machine I got a GPF everytime I pressed a <Delete> at the end of a table column - neat that).

Autocorrection is a pain (and better turned off), to get alignment right sometimes you have to hit a RETURN to get to the next line and then you type and LO and behold it capitalises the first letter although you DON'T want that.

Probably the only piece of office I can't fault is Powerpoint (and paying the Office asking price for that seems a bit steep for what it offers don't you think ?)

Having said that Shane has identified an area (integrated business package) where there may be scope for development on the Acorn. That does not mean it needs to or should be a slavish copy of what is (essentially) an overbloated, bugridden, overpriced package. Bad software on any platform is still bad software.

Well lets look at what's available

Easiwriter
OHP
SiteWriter
Messenger Pro (or Pluto or whatever)

ok we're potentially lacking the speadsheet and database and EasiWriter can't do cross-referencing (yet - I understand Mike Glover and co are looking into it)

The problem here is that all these products are by different companies. Integration could probably be done through something like the PCA protocol but the companies themselves have to get something out of it. How many RISC OS users would be prepared to pay what would be a substantial price for a suite containing these items? I suspect that I'm in the minority in only having an outdated version of EasiWriter from that list (I don't see the point of OHP without a laptop - you can't take a desktop to a conference - which meant I had to go down the PC route). I guess quite a few people will already have a few of the above. Perhaps they could be offered a special upgrade price based on which apps they already have.

Why Easiwriter ? Why not say, Impression or Ovation ? Again, I've never used Easiwriter, so I couldn't say.

The thing that these programs lack though is a programming (rather than a basic scripting) language which is what makes Office so powerful, certainly as far as application development is concerned.

As for Squirrel and Pipedream I thought Squirrel was no longer being developed although I believe someone has picked up Pipedream again. I do wonder how suitable Pipedream would be though as I'm under the impression that it was far more than a speadsheet. Perhaps it would be good to resurrect Colton's Resultz or Eureka (I forget who did that).

Finally on the scripting language issue I can't say I've ever made use of VBScript so I don't know the power of it. However I would propose that javascript might be a reasonable alternative because it's an open standard and because if you could put the interpreter in a shared module it'd also benefit web browsers and anything else that used it (there is even a games development kit on Windows that uses javascript as its scripting language). However I would be interested in hearing how many Office users actually use the scripting capabilities. I suspect that the number is rather small compared to the number of units sold.

Now, I'm sure Fireworkz and Impression are very good (although I used Ovation back in the days when I used my Acorn for any serious work), but what about the other software ? One of the big reasons Microsoft has such a grip on the desktop market isn't because of Windows, it's because of MS Office, which, and I'm going to be crucified for saying this, but is a superb piece of software. Yes, you can go on about the bugs and the security holes, but at the end of the day it allows users to get tasks done. Word and Excel can produce just about any kind of document you can think of, and MS Access is a stunning RAD and a *very* powerful database package. And you can write complete applications using VBA in the three major apps, especially Access. What is there comparable for Risc OS, especially something with the power of VBA in it, not just a scripting language ?

Without investment, I doubt someone will come up a good equivalent office suite. Sadly, it's the old vicious cycle of users/applications again. I would love to see Risc OS become mainstream, but until or unless someone can produce office software of good quality, I doubt it will happen. Prove me wrong, please!

On another note, interconnectivity! I've just set up a Linux server at our company offices to supplement and eventually replace our NT servers...if Risc OS had suitable software at the right price, that is, a Windows compatible filesharing and printserve system a la Samba, and various network facilities at the right price, I'd do that instead.

Risc OS isn't going to storm the walls of Fortress Windows, so let's do it by infiltration instead.

Not a lot of users use VBA however, unless you count the "Record Macro" function in Word. It isn't designed as an end-user thing. The beauty of it is that it makes designing applications and integrated systems a doddle (well, comparatively ). I've written fully fledged telecoms billing systems, fleet management systems, EPOS and stock control systems in Access, which can automatically produce mail merge documents, e-mail out instructions to suppliers, control till drawers and receipt printers etc.

Now...if the Acorn had an office suite like this with this kind of power, I'd jump on it! The EPOS system I've written works very well, but it is subject to Windoze crashes, long startup times, the usual....

But I don't have the skills to program either the Risc OS WIMP or, come to that, Windows either. I use Access because it allows me to not worry about all of that.

Hats off to RiscStation Australia! EPOS terminals *are* an area where OS/hardware is irrelevant. Users don't have to be able to run word processing software or spreadsheets on EPOS terminals, and as long the computer does the specific job it's designed for well, and stably, it will be a winner! Now, how do we get some of those over here.....

Let's have some more of these killer apps!