The
never-to-see-the-light-of-day successor to
Acorn's
Risc PC, which was to run RISC OS 4.
In the days before the iMac, when (almost) all computers were beige, the Phoebe was to be a bright yellow colour, a style decision which was not welcomed by all but which certainly would have made it stand out on the shelves.
The Phoebe should have been released in 1998, but sadly, although the Risc PC was a fine computer, and could happily compete with other desktop machines at the time, the Acorn user base never grew enough for various reasons, (marketing, anyone... anyone?) and the Phoebe project was cancelled with Acorn's decision to quit the desktop market.
RISC OS, however lived on, licenced and developed by RISC OS Ltd and RISC OS 4 was eventually released in 1999.
However, with few new machines, the number of RISC OS users has dwindled and although development continues on the platform, now (2001) only a few enthusiasts remain and most consider RISC OS dead.