Xref: utzoo comp.sys.ibm.pc:17898 comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d:649
Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ucsd!rutgers!cmcl2!phri!marob!manes
From: manes@marob.MASA.COM (Steve Manes)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc,comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: Re: PK361.EXE
Message-ID: <356@marob.MASA.COM>
Date: 9 Aug 88 08:19:32 GMT
References: 
Organization: ESCC New York Ciy, New York
Lines: 48

From article , by msmith@topaz.rutgers.edu (Mark Robert Smith):
> I'm gonna vote with my wallet.  I have destroyed all SEA programs that
> I have, and I am sending Phil some bucks.  In the docs for this, he
> requests the usual $20 if you like the program, and for $47 or more,
> he'll send you the new program when it comes out.  I'm sending in at
> least $47, maybe more.  From a poor college student, that's a
> statement.
> I urge you all to do the same.  I also urge Rahul Dhesi to switch to
> Phil's new standard as soon as it is available.

Uhhh... why should Rahul Dhesi feel compelled to switch to some
"standard" that Phil Katz hasn't even written yet?  That aside, ZOO is a
much more OS-transparent file archiver and PKARC is still wedded to MS-DOS
with its filename and case restrictions.  I need an archiver that can
talk to both my Unix system and my DOS system and PKxxx ain't it. 
Better, let Phil adopt Rahul's internal structure.  Fact is, while Rahul
was trying to tie together many operating systems with a "universal
archiver", Phil's program created a Tower of Babel in the .ARC arena.

> We need to show SEA that
> their kind of competition through litigation is unacceptable, and that
> competition through improvement is the only acceptable form of
> competition.

To a large extent, Phil invited the action made against him.  I'm sorry
it resulted in a lawsuit but there was bad blood between SEA and PKWARE
from the moment Squashing was installed and left SEA answering torrents
of irate user mail because its archiver was "broken".  Rahul Dhesi
managed to produce a wonderful (and public domain, with source) file
archiver that used the same L-Z compression method that lies at the base
of all these archivers without stepping on anyone's toes or confusing
users with an incompatible, proprietary file format masquerading as a
familiar, SEA .ARC file.  Speaking as both a software developer and a
sysop, and knowing to some extent how all these guys think (because I
had them all in a dedicated discussion on file archivers for several
months), Phil should have cut the thread with the .ARC file extension
when he ceased being a truly ARC-compatible program.  I side with Thom
Henderson on this.  Granted, PKARC is a better utility but "better"
doesn't give one the right to grab someone else's market by destroying
confidence in his product.

Besides, if "improvement" is all that matters, did you try the DWC
archiver?


-- 
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