PipeDream 4.50/23 now free to download

Gerald Fitton of Abacus Training has announced via the Archive-on-Line mailing list that he has now received permission from Colton Software “to make a version of PipeDream 4.50/23 available as Freeware.”

In his message to the list, Gerald explains his long standing history with Colton Software and PipeDream, which started in (or around) 1988, soon after the Acorn Archimedes first appeared. Gerald and his wife, Jill, were “invited by Colton Software to create a support service for their newly developed, integrated word-processor spread-sheet Program called PipeDream” – which they did in the form of a floppy disk, produced on a quarterly basis, filled with articles, information and examples of PipeDream in use, called PipeLine.

Gerald believes it’s unlikely that there will be anyone wanting to use PipeDream who doesn’t have it already – of which I am doubtful. I suspect there are still many current RISC OS users who have never tried the software before now, and who will gladly download and try it.

He also says he is equally sure that there will be many who have not bothered to upgrade to the most recent version which is 4.50/23, which is probably true. As an ex PipeDream user myself, I stopped upgrading many years ago – probably around the time Colton Software brought out FireWorkz, or perhaps not too long after.

However, it should be noted that in a subsequent message to the mailing list, Gerald does clarify that PipeDream 4.50/23 remains a 26-bit application. It will therefore not work on a 32-bit machine such as the IYONIX without Aemulor – and that in turn means it won’t work at all on newer hardware, such as the ARMini. For those running on older hardware, or an emulated RISC OS system using VirtualAcorn or RPCEmu, however, PipeDream comes highly recommended – download it now!

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