How about a RISC OS Education site, along the lines of the http://www.argosphere.co.uk/ and others. The National Grid For Learning is an opportunity which hasn't been exploited on RISC OS very much at all, mainly because we haven't had the technology to access a lot of such materials.

But if a RISC OS site was produced, we wouldn't need RealAudio, Flash, Shockwave players - we could use our own 'non-standard' technology. As well as Draw files, EasiWriter documents, and the like, we could write our own plug-ins - animated Draw files with a simple script language, even running executables or BASIC programs (although there would be security issues that would need to be resolved). In conjunction with application developers, there are more opportunities - how about a 'share with other schools' option in TechWriter which uploads to the site as HTML, without any complications?

The content would be targetted at the National Curriculum, with the emphasis probably on primary schools, since more of them still have RISC OS. In some Acorn User educational features there were tables of key stage targets, with ticks where they were met by the activities; enticing for teachers planning their work. A web site that covers most or all targets would be encouraging.

And - it would all be free.

What do people think?

*Wanders off looking for Larger Issue, shotgun in hand*

There are still teachers, parents and probably a few students that are more at home with RISC OS than Windows. Also, if the content is good enough, it may help rejuvinate the ROS market (as well as raising educational standards).

The only problem (the non-standard RISC OS file formats) is likely to piss off PC (and other users), there are two alternatives solutions (a line like "Requires a RISC OS compatible workstation" when they fail to handle the ROS files (a form of advertisement if you wish)).

Another possibility is to produce plug-ins for PCs to use the Acorn Standards !!! (now there's a twist).

If they caught on then some web developers might choose to purchase RISC OS gear to do !Drawfiles and the like.

Doesn't Xara output as Draw? Or is that import?

The original Xara for PC could import drawfiles (except text - had to be converted to paths), even though it wasn't on the import menu.

Couldn't output though - no menu option.

Dunno about the born-again one.

I wonder how many of them use Oregano, Fresco or Webster?

(Alright, alright, or Lynx?)