RISC OS machines are very nice and there are some exciting things happening with this little-known computing platform. Firstly, computer hardware and the OS is still being actively developed. There's been a bit of "forking" with the OS, one of which is a major effort to open source the operating system (run by RISC OS Open Ltd). Firefox 2 has recently been ported (but don't even think of running that on an a4000
and there's a native, beautiful and very actively developed browser called Netsurf with CSS etc. It's great because there's a new release every day or so. Then there's a the killer apps such as Artworks, Techwriter and Sibellius which mean the machine is still very useful for productivity work. Games aren't too great but that's why I keep an a1200 under the bed. If you're wanting to use modern software and the internet on a RISC OS box, you'll need at least a StrongARM powered RiscPC, or better still get hold of a new IyonixPC or A9Home machine.
A couple of articles have been written in recent years comparing the RISC OS scene with that of the Amiga...
http://www.drobe.co.uk/riscos/artifact1777.htmlhttp://www.drobe.co.uk/features/artifact1038.html
