Sunday 31 December 2017

Abandonware Revisited

Back in 2009 this blog posted a rant about abandonware for the QL. This is one of the most frequently viewed posts indicating a general interest in the subject. The good news about abandonware is that the situation has improved dramatically since 2009. This last year saw the release of even more formerly commercial programs as freeware including Qmenu, QLiberator, QDock, QTImage, QPTR, QBase, SuQcess, QLAWK, DISA as far as QLHeaven is aware. There are probably more including 292 games.

The QL scene has been particularly buoyant with the release of a new hardware QL, the Q68, and updates to SMSQ/E, SMSQumlator, and uQLx. The release of a new Qubide driver with also runs on the Q60, and a revamp of the ubiquitous Toolkit2. New software has also been forthcoming including QLWarz, QXLwinreader, sbtohtml, Hexa-puzzle, plus updates to other programmes including Photon, MediaManager, Quill, PCB Design, QcdEze and more.

All the above information has been gleaned from a quick run through of Dilwyn Jones site updates for 2017 of which there have been 72 update entries often with multiple updates.

It is amazing that a 1980s computer and it's OS that had a commercial life of 3-4 years is still evolving.

Felice Anno Nuove

Bonne annee

Happy New Year
 

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