Acorn cross-platform compatibility is a matter of survival, because we speak a minority language, and therefore have to be multilingual. However, new converts are only won on the attractions intrinsic to the Acorn platform.
As a research consultancy and publisher of academic books and books on educational strategy for the University, FE and schools markets, we chose Acorn precisely because of its ability to handle files in native format from authors and consultants who use PC, Mac and Acorn machines. Such is the versatility of the Acorn platform that a Mac-based graphic designer who does occasional design work for us now uses us to undertake file conversion for him, which he is not able to undertake on the Mac. This versatility is also enabling us to produce a CD-ROM of information for the University market which includes statistics from SPSS, text from Word 6, graphics from the designer on the Mac, all compiled and authored on a RiscPC.
However, this versatility is not enough to win converts, even with the strength of packages such as EasiWriter. There is a powerful dynamic in the herd mentality which sustains the PC, Microsoft and Intel. To quote the otherwise disreputable Spanish writer Ortega y Gasset
"the commonplace mind knowing itself to be commonplace seeks to impose itself everywhere."I was much taken by a recent advertisement in the educational press for the new Mac G3 Power PCs, which says
"Attention: Misfits, rebels and innovators. Now you can break the rules faster."That sells effectively to its chosen niche. We too should dare to be different.
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