Editing Acorn Archimedes (section)

=== Early applications ===

Following on from the release of Arthur 1.2, Acorn itself offered a "basic word processor", ArcWriter, intended for "personal correspondence, notices and short articles" and to demonstrate the window, menu and pointer features of the system, employing built-in printer fonts for rapid printed output.<ref name="acorn_nl1">{{ cite news | url=http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/NL/Acorn_NewsIss1.pdf | title=Available now...ArcWriter | work=The Newsletter | publisher=Acorn Computers Limited | date=January 1988 | issue=1 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=3 }}</ref> The software was issued free of charge for registered users, although Acorn indicated that it would not produce a "definitive" word processor for the platform, in contrast to the BBC Micro where the View word processor had been central to Acorn's office software range. However, Acorn did also announce a port of the [[1st Word]] package, First Word Plus, for the platform.<ref name="acornuser198804_wordprocessors">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser069-Apr88/page/n24/mode/1up | title=Wordprocessors on the way for the Arc | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=23 }}</ref> ArcWriter was poorly received, with window repainting issues demonstrated as a particular problem, and with users complaining of "serious bugs".<ref name="acornuser198804_arcwriter" /> Although taking advantage of the Arthur desktop environment and using [[Font rasterization|anti-aliased fonts]], complaints were made about "blurred and smudged" characters and slow display updates when changing fonts or styles on low-memory machines like the A305. An early competitor, Graphic Writer, was received more favourably but provided its own full-screen user interface. Neither were regarded as competitive with established products on other platforms.<ref name="acornuser198805_smith">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser070-May88/page/n139/mode/2up | title=Alright or All Wrong | magazine=Acorn User | date=May 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | last1=Smith | first1=Bruce | pages=138–139 }}</ref>

Several software companies immediately promised software for the Archimedes, most notably Computer Concepts, Clares and Minerva,<ref name="acornuser198708_risc_micro">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser061-Aug87/page/n8/mode/1up | title=RISC micro to star at show | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1987 | access-date=26 April 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref> with Advanced Memory Systems, BBC Soft and Logotron being other familiar software publishers. [[Autodesk]], Grafox and GST were newcomers to the Acorn market.<ref name="acornuser198708_risc_revealed">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser061-Aug87/page/n12/mode/1up | title=RISC revealed | magazine=Acorn User | date=August 1987 | access-date=26 April 2021 | pages=11}}</ref> However, in early 1988, many software developers were reportedly holding off on releasing software for the Archimedes until the release of a stable operating system, with Acorn offering to lend Arthur 1.2 to developers.<ref name="acornuser198801_arthur" /> Claims had been made of confusion amongst potential purchasers of the machine caused by the lack of available software, with Acorn having pursued a strategy of launching the machine first so that independent software developers might have hardware to work with.<ref name="acornuser198804_investment" /> In order to make the Archimedes more attractive to certain sectors, Acorn announced a £250,000 investment in educational software and indicated a commitment to business software development. Alongside First Word Plus, the Logistix [[spreadsheet]]-based business planning package<ref name="acorn_app127">{{ cite book | url=http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP127_Logistix.pdf | title=Logistix | publisher=Acorn Computers Limited | date=October 1987 | access-date=25 April 2021 | issue=1 }}</ref> was also commissioned by Acorn from Grafox Limited as a port to the platform.<ref name="acornuser198804_investment">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser069-Apr88/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Acorn invests in Arc software | magazine=Acorn User | date=April 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref> Autodesk released [[AutoSketch]] for the Archimedes in 1988,<ref name="acornuser198811_autosketch">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser076-Nov88/page/n131/mode/2up | title=Drawing the Line | magazine=Acorn User | date=November 1988 | access-date=17 May 2021 | last1=Harding | first1=Alan | last2=Hayward | first2=Mike | pages=130–131, 133 }}</ref> having launched the product in March the same year. Priced at £79 plus VAT, it offered the precision drawing functionality familiar from AutoCad but with "none of the frills" that made the latter product professionally suitable for various markets at pricing that could exceed £2500. On the Archimedes, AutoSketch was reported to run at about five times the speed of a "standard PC-compatible machine".<ref name="acorn_app145">{{ cite news | url=http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP145_EducationNewsIss2Jul88.pdf | title=AutoSketch — a precision drawing package for craft, design and technology | work=Acorn Education News | date=July 1988 | access-date=6 June 2021 | issue=2 | pages=1 }}</ref>

Although Acorn had restricted itself to supporting the use of its View word processor under BBC emulation on the Archimedes,<ref name="acornuser198803_editorial">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser1988Magazine/AcornUser8803/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Editorial | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1988 | access-date=14 August 2021 | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | pages=7 }}</ref> View Professional—the final iteration of the View suite on Acorn's 8-bit computers—had been advertised as a future product in June 1987 for November availability.<ref name="acorn_app119a">{{ cite book | url=http://chrisacorns.computinghistory.org.uk/docs/Acorn/Brochures/Acorn_APP119a_SoftwareAppsCatalogueJun87.pdf | title=Archimedes Software Applications Catalogue | publisher=Acorn Computers Limited | date=June 1987 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=3 }}</ref> View Professional, like the View series, had been developed for Acorn by Mark Colton, and a company—Colton Software—delivered the successor to this product as PipeDream for the [[Cambridge Computer Z88]].<ref name="acornuser198710_pipedream">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser063-Oct87/page/n12/mode/1up | title=Professional View is a Pipe Dream | magazine=Acorn User | date=October 1987 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=11 }}</ref> In mid-1988, Colton Software announced PipeDream for the Archimedes, priced at £114, following on from the announcement of a version for MS-DOS,<ref name="acornuser198806_pipedream">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser071-Jun88/page/n10/mode/1up | title=Archimedes has own Pipedream | magazine=Acorn User | date=June 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=9 }}</ref> establishing a long history of product development for the platform, leading to PipeDream 4 in 1992,<ref name="acornuser199203_pipedream">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser116-Mar92/page/n107/mode/2up | title=Summing Up | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1992 | access-date=25 April 2021 | last1=Burley | first1=Ian | pages=106–107 }}</ref> followed by PipeDream's eventual successor, Fireworkz, in 1994.<ref name="acornuser199403_fireworkz">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser140-Mar94/page/n58/mode/1up | title=The sum of the partz | magazine=Acorn User | date=March 1994 | access-date=25 April 2021 | last1=Burley | first1=Ian | pages=59 }}</ref>

Much early software had consisted of titles converted from the BBC Micro, taking advantage of a degree of compatibility between the different series of machines,<ref name="acornuser198801_arthur" /> with Computer Concepts even going as far as to produce a ROM/RAM hardware expansion for use with the company's existing BBC Micro series products,<ref name="acornuser198802_cc">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser067-Feb88/page/n12/mode/1up | title=Arc ROM add-on | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=11 }}</ref> and Acorn also offering such an expansion alongside a BBC-compatible interfacing expansion.<ref name="acornuser198805_podules">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser070-May88/page/n8/mode/1up | title=News in Brief | magazine=Acorn User | date=May 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref> Another element of Acorn's early marketing strategy for the Archimedes was to emphasise the PC Emulator product which was a software-based emulator for IBM PC-compatible systems based on the 8088 processor running "legal MS-DOS programs". Alongside this, plans were also made for the launch of a podule (peripheral module) hardware expansion providing its own 80186 processor, a disk controller and connector for a disk drive.<ref name="acornuser198710_pc">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser063-Oct87/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Multi-tasking for Archimedes | magazine=Acorn User | date=October 1987 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref>

The PC Emulator in its initial form shipped with [[MS-DOS#MS-DOS 3.x|MS-DOS 3.21]] and required a system with 4&nbsp;MB of RAM to be able to provide the "full" [[conventional memory|640&nbsp;KB]] of RAM for DOS programs, with early versions of Arthur only providing 384&nbsp;KB to DOS on 1&nbsp;MB systems, but with Arthur 1.2 aiming to provide the more usable 512&nbsp;KB to DOS on such systems. The emulator was described as having "very few compatibility problems" and was reported by diagnostic utilities as providing an [[Intel 80186#80188 series|80188]]-based system, but the performance of the emulated system was regarded as slow. Acorn reportedly acknowledged this by indicating the imminent availability of "an 80186 co-processor".<ref name="pcw_pcemulator">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/archimedes-pc-emulator-pcw-january-1998/page/n1/mode/2up | title=Archimedes PC Emulator | magazine=Personal Computer World | date=January 1988 | access-date=4 December 2021 | last1=Jones | first1=Simon }}</ref> The podule expansion (or "co-processor") was subsequently postponed in early 1988 (and ultimately cancelled), with Acorn indicating that its price of £300 would have been uncompetitive against complete PC systems costing as little as £500, and that the hardware capabilities to be offered, such as the provision of [[Color Graphics Adapter|CGA]] graphics, would be likely to become outdated as the industry moved to support [[Enhanced Graphics Adapter|EGA]] and VGA graphical standards.<ref name="acornuser198802_pc">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser067-Feb88/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Arc PC podule put on hold | magazine=Acorn User | date=February 1988 | access-date=25 April 2021 | pages=7 }}</ref>

Commentators were disappointed with the incoherent user interface provided by the software platform, with "Logistix looking like a PC, First Word slavishly copying GEM" and "101 other 'user interfaces'" amongst the early offerings. The result was the lack of a "personality" for the machine which risked becoming a system that would "never look as easy or as slick as the Mac".<ref name="acornuser198807_editorial">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser072-Jul88/page/n4/mode/1up | title=Editorial | magazine=Acorn User | date=July 1988 | access-date=30 April 2021 | pages=3 }}</ref> Alongside the introduction of visual and behavioural consistency between applications, personal computer user environments had also evolved from running a single application at a time, moved beyond "desk accessories" (or pop-up programs), normalised the practice of switching between applications, and had begun to provide the ability to run different applications at the same time,<ref name="byte198807">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1988-07/page/n276/mode/1up | title=Weighing the Options | magazine=Byte | date=July 1988 | access-date=1 May 2021 | last1=Glass | first1=Brett | pages=251–257 }}</ref> with the Macintosh having already done so with its MultiFinder enhancement.<ref name="byte198711">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/byte-magazine-1987-11/page/n156/mode/1up | title=MultiFinder for the Macintosh | magazine=Byte | date=November 1987 | access-date=16 April 2021 | last1=Williams | first1=Gregg | pages=123–126, 128–130 }}</ref> Computer Concepts, having begun development of various new applications for the Archimedes, was sufficiently frustrated with Arthur and its lack of "true multi-tasking" that it announced a rival operating system, Impulse, intended to host those applications on the machine.<ref name="acornuser198806_impulse">{{ cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/details/AcornUser071-Jun88/page/n8/mode/1up | title=Arthur at risk from Concepts' new OS | magazine=Acorn User | last1=Bell | first1=Graham | last2=Atack | first2=Carol | date=June 1988 | access-date=31 October 2020 | pages=7 }}</ref>