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? -- Steve Manes Roxy Recorders, Inc. Magpie-HQ BBS UUCP : {rutgers|cmcl2}!hombre!magpie!manes (212)420-0527 Smail: manes@MASA.COM