I would like to point out an inaccuracy in Volume 2 Issue 7. You say that the 'Archimedes Visuals' is a carbon atom animation. You also state, correctly, that the animation shows 12 electrons moving round its nucleus. However, a carbon atom only has 6 electrons. Carbon has a total of 12 nucleons (6 neutrons and 6 protons). As it has 6 protons and is not ionised (as it is an atom) it follows that it must also have 6 electrons. The element with 12 electrons, which the animation actually shows, is magnesium.
David Miller
Mr Miller was not the only RISC User member whose sharp eyes spotted this. Clearly our knowledge of chemistry (or is it physics) is not to the same standard as our computing. Our apologies for any confusion which this mis-labelling caused.
As a non-educational user, I am surprised and disappointed that in your June review (Volume 2 Issue 7) you dismiss the A3000 as not being a business machine. Surely, if a hard disc (or even a second floppy) can easily be added, why should it not be a full-blown business machine? Software firms considering supporting the A3000 for business applications will surely be put off by such attitudes.
The line between home, business and even education uses for micros is narrowing fast. Retaining these artificial divisions is now becoming outdated and inappropriate.
S.Morris
I do not believe we 'dismissed the A3000 as not a business machine' but stated what I believe to be true, namely that Acorn was targetting the A3000 towards the lower end of the educational market and to the home user, in competition with the Atari ST for example. That does not make it any the less of a business machine, but we would still recommend business users to go for a 400/1 series machine, where a hard disc or second floppy can be mounted internally, and any machine in the range can be enhanced to 4MBytes of memory.
I agree entirely with Simon Coulthurst (Postbag, RISC User Volume 2 Issue 7) regarding the form of copy protection used by Minerva. I use System Delta Plus, and have corresponded with Minerva about their policy on this, receiving the same unsatisfactory answer.
Many people must be deterred from buying, or making full use of System Delta Plus because of the way copy protection is applied. First of all, the resultant disc swapping is very annoying, but more important are the issues concerned with long term security and the accessibility of one's data; what happens, for example, if Minerva should unfortunately cease to trade? And it goes against the grain to fork out another £25 for a spare disc, or £199 for a copyable version when one simply wishes to continue as a single user.
One asks oneself what the value of a relatively weak method of copy protection can be. The accomplished 'hackers' will have little difficulty in making copies. Hence the protection only prevents small-scale trading in copies, by those with less skill; the cost to Minerva in annoying the user, and in lost sales, must surely outweigh this?
David Casey
Copy protection is a subject that seems to arouse strong feelings in a number of users, and in some software houses as well. Clearly users, particularly those who make frequent use of some application and maybe depend upon it in some way, feel more vulnerable to possible corruption of software, and a greater need to have a full backup facility. Software houses are equally concerned about software piracy. The world of microcomputers as a whole seems to be heading towards non-protected but maybe personalised software, which may in turn reflect a greater maturity by the computing community as a whole. If anyone (user or supplier) would like to argue for some form of copy protection then we would be pleased to consider their views for publication on this page.