Path: utzoo!mnetor!tmsoft!torsqnt!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!att!chinet!saj
From: saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: GEM help needed
Summary: There's really only one MWC 3.0x
Message-ID: <1989Nov17.150634.982@chinet.chi.il.us>
Date: 17 Nov 89 15:06:34 GMT
References: <30200010@inmet> <46300063@uxf.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: saj@chinet.chi.il.us (Stephen Jacobs)
Organization: Chinet - Chicago Public Access UNIX
Lines: 16

I've spoken with Mark Williams tech support a few times.  One thing that came 
out was that the minor version number x in MWC 3.0x indicates distribution
channel, not software differences (I'm not exactly sure, but I think 3.05
is software store, 3.06 is upgrade from version 2 and 3.09 is direct purchase
from Mark Williams Co).  Other than that, their manual is full of enough
errors and omissions to choke the net repeating, but very few of them are real
show-stoppers.  The solution is to let them know when you find one, and NEVER
to use only a single source for documentation on TOS (which is where most of
the mistakes are).
   I strongly suspect that the effort needed to produce an ANSI compliant MWC
would be within the capabilities of the company.  It's mostly a question of
whether they could make a worthwhile amount of money on it.  I would almost
certainly purchase it, even as a new compiler rather than an upgrade, and
even with GNU C available.  Another thousand people as crazy would probably
be a good start.
                                        Steve J.