Popular Computing Weekly 13-19 Oct 1983
Oric joins up with Edenspring
ORIC Products International is to be become part of Edenspring Investments, the property and travel investment group.
The takeover by Edenspring gives Oric the additional finance needed to fund expansion.
Said Oric’s chairman John Tullis, “Because we are increasing our trade so rapidly and going into a number of new products in 1984 we have had to widen our capital base to finance the developments we would not have been able to fund that ourselves.”
John would not be drawn on the details of the new products: “We have new computers and peripherals and we also have products which are not in the computer field, particularly in the area of electronic optics.
“I intend to widen the cormpany product base and it is hoped that within two years computers and peripherals will form no more than 50 percent of our business.”
Under the deal with Edenspring, Oric will — through a shares issue — gain an initial 18 per cent shareholding in the combined group. If, in the two-year period from June 30 1983, Oric turns in a pre-tax profit of more than £2m then, through a further shares issue, Oric will increase its holding in Edenspring to 44.2 per cent.
Shares in Edenspring — suspended at 9p on October 4 — value the Oric takeover at just over £8m.
Additional share issues by Edenspring will satisfy Oric’s present outstanding loans of just over £1m and provide a further £750,000.
Another advantage of the takeover for Oric is that, although Edenspring will lose its full stock market quotation in the deal, shares will be available on an over-the-counter basis. John Tullis and Barry Muncaster will both join the board of Edenspring on the completion of the acquisition.
Edenspring Investments came into being earlier this year, rescued from Pennine Commercial Holdings which ran into financial difficulties.
Aquarius dropped but reappears
MATTEL is to drop the Aquarius computer.
But it will not disappear. Instead, it will be taken over by its present manufacturer, Radofin. At the same time, the price of the machine — still to be called the Aquarius — will drop to £59.95, possibly to be discounted by retailer down to £49.95.
Confirming the changes, Radofin’s managing director, Alan Leboff, said: “The deal we have done with Mattel means that they will bring the price down to this level and then, at some point, we will take over supplying dealers directly, rather than as at present where we supply Mattel, who in turn supply the retailers.
“We hope the price drop will have a dramatic effect on sales,” he added.
Mattel’s wish to ease itself out of its Aquarius commitments would appear to be a result of the heavy financial losses incurred by the US parent company. Mattel will continue to support its toy business and Intellivision console. In an increasingly competitive market, Mattel, being neither a computer designer nor manufacturer, would appear to have been squeezed out.Radofin, on the other hand, being both the designer and far eastern manufacturer of the Aquarius (and the intellivision), seems better placed to be competitive as indicated by the swingeing price cut which it has now imposed, effective within the next few weeks.By Christmas, it is hoped that Radofin will be the sole supplier of Aquarius computers.
Other prices are also to come down — the games cartridges (now licenced from Mattel) will come down to £12.95, home business packs will fall by about £30 to £28.95 and the data recorder comes down £10 to £39.95.At the same time, Radofin is developing a range of cassette software for the Aquarius and a light-pen will be launched in late November.
Mattel’s urgent wish to withdraw from the very competitive home computer market has been prompted by losses for the whole group of $156.1m for the quarter to July 1. For the same period, Mattel’s computer and video game division lost $166.7m.
No escape from Maggie
NOVEMBER 5 would seem an appropriate enough date to launch an adventure game which “gently knocks the political establishment”.
Roger Taylor, author of Denis Through the Drinking Glass, explains that his text only adventure program puts you in the role of Denis, trying to escape the Iron Lady.
The program understands about 300 words, and each of the 80 locations in the adventure is introduced with a small verse which Roger freely admits is pretty appalling.
The program is for the 48K Spectrum and will cost £5.50, available from Applications, 8 St Paul’s Road, Peterborough.
Official US launch
ACORN officially launched its BBC computer in the US lastweek. As in the UK, the machine will initially be promoted for use in education.
The BBC B will sell for $995 and Acorn is already claiming advance orders for 12,000 units worth $21m.
Acorn’s US subsidiary has so far signed agreements with 14 major American software publishers to develop material for the computer.
Microcare supports Flex system
MICROCARE’s decision, announced last week, to support the Flex disc operating system on the Dragon is a direct challenge to Dragon which has chosen to support the OS9 disc system (see Popular Computing Weekly, October 6).
“We have negotiated with Technical Systems Consultants for the rights to the Flex operating system for the Dragon,” said Microcare’s Eric Brook.
Any disc operating system — once tailored to a particular machine — allows standard software packages written for the system to be run.
Says Eric: “Flex is much better than 0S9, because it has been around much longer and there is more software written for it.
“OS9 has about five year’s catching up to do on Flex — 0S9 is more complicated than Flex and therefore more difficult to use and Flex is also cheaper.”
To begin with Microcare will offer the following range of software. Languages: TSC Compiled Basic, TSC Compiled Pascal, Dynasoft Tiny Pascal, TSC Basic Pre-compiler, Compusense Cobol, M&J Forth, Windrush PL9. Utilities: Super Sleuth processor disassembler, Windrush Mace, TSC De-bug. 0S9 simulator, cross-assembler. Applications: TSC text processor, Dynastar II word processor, Dynaform, Dynaspell, UDRI Inventory, UDRI Database Management System, UDRI Accounts, UDRI Ledger, RMS record management system, TSC Sort/ Merge.
Flex will cost £65 or £90 with an editor/assembler. It will be configured for the Premier Delta disc systerm, but a version to run on Dragon’s own disc system will follow.
Neither Flex nor 0S9 run on a 32K Dragon, but Microcare is offering to upgrade a Dragon 32 to 64K. Dragon has apparently issued seven different circuit boards for the Dragon 32, and the price of the upgrade depends on the board.
Flex from Microcare will be ready at the beginning of November — at the same time as Dragon’s 64K machine, but some weeks before Dragon launches its 0S9. Details from Microcare, 1 Oakwood Road, Rode Heath, Stoke-on-Trent.
Stalked and torpedoed by Interface
HUNTER KILLER is the first two-player interactive game to take advantage of the networking facility now offered by the Spectrum.
Edinburgh-based Protek began development of the game well before the ZX Interface 1 was announced intending to sell its own simple networking device for two 48K Spectrums. Now the game has been adapted to work with the Sinclair unit.
Set in the North Sea during the Second World War, the game is an elaborate simulation of submarine warfare.
Each player, using a 48K Spectrum, must try to stalk and torpedo the other. An accompanying 12-page booklet explains control of the submarines — steering, diving, diesel and electric propulsion, navigation and using the periscope, torpedoes, radar, asdic warning and depth sounder.
Protek’s Gordon Hewitt explained: “For the first time, using the networking, you are not tracking a tame target. Instead it is very much alive and each player must play a game of cat-and-mouse.”
During the play the positions, speeds and headings of both submarines are constantly exchanged between the players, using the networking on Interface 1.
Hunter Killer, written by Rod Hopkins, will be available before the end of October. The price of £7.95 includes both the one and two-player versions of the game.