Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!julian!uwovax!16012_3045 From: 16012_3045@uwovax.uwo.ca (Paul Gomme) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: PK361.EXE Message-ID: <563@uwovax.uwo.ca> Date: 11 Aug 88 10:44:06 GMT References:<11792@steinmetz.ge.com> <4936@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU> Lines: 48 Organisation: University of Western Ontario, Canada In article <4936@pasteur.Berkeley.EDU>, browning@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Craig Browning) writes: > In article <11792@steinmetz.ge.com> davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen) writes: >>BTW: I think that the settlement reflects the legal issues perfectly. >>Both zoo and dwc invented new file formats, help menus, directory >>listings, and commands. PKware "borrowed" most of the above, with very >>slight changes. > > What a weird opinion: Speed is the difference. What's wrong with compatibility? > ... ARC and PKARC's compatibility helped make them, especially PKARC, > popular, yet you praise diversity of formats. I disagree. The first time I found myself using PKARC was when I had an .ARC file which couldn't unarc using ARC; it would unarc using PKXARC. Further, it's been pointed out in this newsgroup that there are other programs which have "improved" on ARC - for example NARC which provides a point-and-shoot layout (too bad it won't allow you to create .ARC files as well). > ... Yes, the ARC extension was apparently protected (more > craziness, how about ".DOC"? ".WP"? etc.? ) Yes, it does seem silly. But how about the three letters IBM? > ... but I don't see any problem with > re-writing code to get efficient storage, and what will happen to Vernon > Buerg's programs that use ARC format? I believe that Buerg's programs are written with the consent of SEA - which Katz never had. I've timed PKARC and the Buerg programs - they're pretty close, and Buerg's programs are slightly faster on a couple of operations. Unfortunately, they're rather less convenient to use than a program like PKARC. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- Paul Gomme E-Mail: Department of Economics University of Western Ontario Bitnet: p.gomme@uwovax.bitnet London, Ontario, Canada p.gomme@uwovax.uwo.ca N6A 5B7 ARPA: p.gomme@uwo.ca (519) 679-2111 ext. 6418 > Most of us use clones instead of IBM's that are compatible and much more > of a copy than Katz, but how many of us want to pay the extra to not infringe > IBM's copyright? > >> bill davidsen (wedu@ge-crd.arpa) > > Craig