Author Archives: Lewis Rosenthal

How ArcaOS 5.0 licensing fits together with existing subscriptions

You’ve probably heard us discuss this topic in the abstract at Warpstock events over the past year or so. As we count down the final days to ArcaOS 5.0 release, considering how the purchase of an ArcaOS 5.0 license may – entirely at the option of the licensee – either work alongside or replace an existing Drivers & Software subscription, we thought a brief discussion was in order.

What’s included with ArcaOS 5.0 in terms of support and maintenance

ArcaOS 5.0 licensing includes either 6 or 12 months of technical support and drivers & software updates, depending upon whether the personal or commercial edition is licensed. Technical support includes the ability to open support tickets in the Arca Noae Mantis bug tracker, as well as telephone support (as available). Much of the driver & software update content overlaps with the existing Drivers & Software subscription, but licensed exclusively for use with ArcaOS. Support, however, is extended to include the entire operating system, and not just the drivers and software components distributed as updates.

ArcaOS 5.0 personal edition licensing includes 6 months of support and maintenance. ArcaOS 5.0 commercial edition, on the other hand, includes a full 12 months of support and maintenance, with priority technical support (these tickets are handled first).

What to do with an existing Drivers & Software subscription

There are really two options:

Keep it in force for one or more existing OS/2 or eComStation systems (as noted, drivers & software distributed as part of the ArcaOS support subscription are not licensed for use on non-ArcaOS systems), with an eye toward the changing licensing scheme for personal subscriptions (see below); or
Convert the remaining period to a credit against the cost of ArcaOS licensing. This can be done by completing an online form and submitting it to Arca Noae. We will issue a rebate, coupon, or credit to your account for the value of any whole or fractional months remaining on your subscription.Example:
You just renewed your personal subscription April 1 for $44.10, and on May 10, you purchase an ArcaOS 5.0 Personal Edition license for the introductory price of $99. You complete the online form, answering a few non-personal questions, and submit it. Arca Noae credits your account $40.23 (the value of 11 months remaining on your previously renewed subscription).The trade-off is that while any non-ArcaOS systems may continue to use whatever subscription content had already been installed on them prior to the point of subscription conversion, no new subscription content is licensed for use on these systems.

How the existing Drivers & Software subscription licensing scheme is changing

To better align the terms of the Drivers & Software personal edition with those of ArcaOS 5.0 personal edition, any subscriptions purchased or renewed after the official launch of ArcaOS 5.0 will be limited to one installed system, and no longer metered to cover an entire household. Thus, one subscription will be required for every system benefiting from the updated software and related support.

In keeping with Arca Noae’s commitment to fair use, any driver and/or software updates obtained prior to this change in licensing scheme are fully licensed for use on all systems where they were previously licensed.

How to handle a mix of ArcaOS and OS/2 or eComStation installations

There will be valid reasons for not replacing all existing OS/2 or eComStation installations with ArcaOS. ArcaOS does not provide extensive support for ISA or MicroChannel hardware, for example. Other reasons also exist. Our recommendation for such systems is to maintain a Drivers & Software subscription for each one, alongside a support subscription for each ArcaOS installation. Only in this manner can you be assured that you are always using the latest, fully supported drivers and software on all of your OS/2 systems.

How the ArcaOS support subscription will be handled when ArcaOS 5.1 is released

ArcaOS 5.1 is already in the planning stages, as are incremental updates to ArcaOS 5.0 (incremental updates to 5.0 will be included as part of the 5.0 support and maintenance subscription content). An ArcaOS support subscription is version-less, meaning that a subscription purchased six months after the purchase of an ArcaOS 5.0 license and still in effect when upgrading to ArcaOS 5.1 will extend the included support in the 5.1 upgrade license. Also, should you choose to stay with ArcaOS 5.0 and not upgrade to 5.1, your investment in 5.0 is protected, because Arca Noae fully expects to support ArcaOS 5.0 for some time after 5.1 and later versions are released.

ArcaOS 5.0: Blue Lion is coming

The final beta for ArcaOS 5.0 is due for release to beta testers within hours. We’ve spent considerable time nailing down the last of what we consider to have been critical issues (likely installation pitfalls) to ensure that our users are able to get the operating system installed and get on with using and enjoying the new version as soon as possible. While our intent was to provide more details along the way, our focus has remained on the software, and as we are all engineers here, in one form or another, we’ve all been engaged in developing and testing.

Meanwhile, some announcements:

Pricing for ArcaOS 5.0 will be in two tiers, set apart by the level and length of support and maintenance bundled with each. The personal license will retail for $129, with an introductory price of $99 for the first 90 days following release. This includes six months of support and maintenance updates and fixes. The commercial license is priced at $229, and includes one year of support and maintenance. Subscription services will be available for each version and it will be possible to bundle extended support and maintenance subscriptions at the time of ArcaOS license purchase.

Volume discounts will be available, as well, with different discount levels for personal and commercial licenses.

ArcaOS 5.0 to launch this week

ArcaOS 5.0 is slated for release this week. Please bear with us as we ensure that the ordering and delivery infrastructure is in place for this milestone release. Watch the blog each day, as we count down the final hours to release with bits of useful information.

ArcaOS 5.0 launch on hold for a few more days

Finishing touches can often take longer than expected. Because we want ArcaOS 5.0 to be the best that it can be, Arca Noae has made the difficult decision to delay release two weeks, with a new projected delivery date of April 15, 2017.

Because we don’t believe in selling anything we are not ready to ship, we will not be taking pre-orders for ArcaOS 5.0.

Please be patient while we get the last few things as they should be, so that your experience installing and using ArcaOS 5.0 is as smooth as possible.

Blue Lion moves into beta testing

Per Arca Noae’s revised release schedule, and as announced at Warpstock 2016, Blue Lion (ArcaOS 5.0) moved into beta testing stage today. The first beta release has been made available to the test team, and we anticipate a rigorous round of installation, modifications, formatting, deletion, disk wiping, and all that other fun stuff which accompanies a healthy beta test.

We do not anticipate a public beta cycle nor are we planning a gamma release or an untold number of release candidates. Instead, we fully expect ArcaOS 5.0 to emerge from beta testing at the end of March and to become generally available at that time.

We wish to thank our loyal supporters, our beta testers, and our development team for their dedication to the Blue Lion project, and look forward to the next 60 days as we ready the next release of OS/2.

Pricing will be made available in the near future. Expect two tiers, much like our subscription service (Personal and Commercial), with the latter including prioritized support and a longer bundled maintenance period. Volume discounts will also be available.

A gift for all of our fans and supporters

‘Tis the season…for a new screensaver module!

While you may have to wait just a few more months for ArcaOS, you can enjoy the logo on your screen right now (with a special holiday surprise).

Please visit our Downloads page (scroll to the bottom) to get your free screensaver module (packaged as a WarpIN install) and have fun.

Happy Holidays from all of us at Arca Noae!

Current release timetable for ArcaOS 5.0 (Blue Lion)

As announced at Warpstock 2016, ArcaOS 5.0 (codenamed Blue Lion) is currently scheduled for general availability March 31, 2017.

The movement into 2017 was necessary to ensure a finished product with the slate of planned features, including:

New XWorkplace (just released) with ArcaOS exclusive branding and features (e.g., the new Arca Noae Removable Device widget);
New desktop productivity apps, including DVD Tools, Archive Tool, Dynamic Icons, ArcaBar, Lucide Document Viewer, and much more;
New network filesystem connectivity;
New operating system kernel, with fixes and enhancements to better manage today’s larger applications, including Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and Apache OpenOffice;
New kernel loader to address shortcomings in IBM’s last version, and to provide some useful new features, such as use of installed system memory above 4GB as a RAM disk;
New installer, completely built from the ground up for ArcaOS;
New installation options, better suited to today’s systems, both bare metal and virtual;
Integration of latest RPM-provided content;
Integration of latest Arca Noae device drivers;
Updated SNAP accelerated video driver;
Much, much more…

The above list is not final, nor are all components assured to be in the release of ArcaOS 5.0, but they have been in the plan and in the works for some time.

We know that everyone is anxious for this release, and we share your enthusiasm! All we ask is that you bear with us a little while longer while we get things fully assembled and tested to better assure a smooth installation and operating experience.

Many happy returns of the season from the team at Arca Noae, and best wishes for a truly bright 2017!

Arca Noae Package Manager: Spanish language pack now available and French refreshed

Arca Noae Package Manager has been refreshed to include support for the Spanish language pack (thanks to Alfredo Fernández Díaz for the translation). Note that this pack does not yet include a translated help file.

The French language pack for Arca Noae Package Manager has been refreshed to address a typo which caused the Preferences menu item to revert to English.

Arca Noae Package Manager is available in English with Dutch, French, German, Italian, Spanish, and Swedish language packs (more languages to be added).

This open source utility is available to everyone, free of charge, regardless whether you have an Arca Noae software subscription.

Please review the wiki for important first-time installation notes and other tips.

How’s your NetDrive?

NetDrive for OS/2 is an essential connectivity tool for OS/2 and derivative operating systems, including eComStation. This week, NetDrive 3.1.5 has been released, addressing a couple minor issues and enabling the use of the updated plugin for SFTP connections, now available from the Arca Noae store. NetDrive 3.1.5 is a free upgrade for existing NetDrive 3 licensees.

You may purchase new or additional licenses for NetDrive and a number of commercial plugins from our store.

Arca Noae’s support of open source projects: Ports and more by bww bitwise works GmbH

Following our last installment in this series which focused on Arca Noae’s commitment to Firefox development, we thought that pulling back the focus a little to give a broader perspective might be a good idea.

Development of various open source ports by our strategic partner, bww bitwise works, GmbH, enables building Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and many, many other modern and useful applications and components. While the Ports project is hosted at Netlabs, the bulk of the heavy lifting is done by bww bitwise works, with the resulting work product made available free of charge to everyone.

These packages are installable via YUM and RPM at the command line or via the free, easy-to-use, native OS/2 Arca Noae Package Manager (ANPM), straight from the OS/2 desktop.

Similarly, the Samba for OS/2 and OS/2-based systems project allows OS/2 to stay connected to the rest of the world – all for free, and this is just one more example of the great things this team is doing.

Sponsoring this critical work helps to ensure that new releases of Firefox, Thunderbird, SeaMonkey, and other cutting edge technologies are available on OS/2. If you utilize any of these technologies, and wish to see new ports, continuing maintenance for existing ports, or just want to say “thanks,” please visit our store and sponsor them.