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From: kellogg@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: Big files & compression.
Summary: Discussion of StuffIt 2.0 (rumors) vs. PKZip
Keywords: StuffIt PKZip
Message-ID: <6171@ur-cc.UUCP>
Date: 28 Mar 90 19:54:49 GMT
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alex@grian.cps.altadena.ca.us (Alex Pournelle) said, in part...
[...]
>Oh, yeah, it'd be nice if the two could agree on a common format, or
>have one tool on both (yes, I know there are many other programs out
>there--do YOU use any of them regularly?  Pherhaps you do--and so do
>you--but most peeps use SIT and PKZIP.) 
>
>Comments?
>
>	Alex

StuffIt 2.0 will be able to UnZip files, as well as being able to decompress
.arc files.  The compression routines are rumored to be much better than in
previous versions of StuffIt.  I'm assuming they will compare favorably
with the compression routines used in PKZip.

Altogether, it should end up being quite a bit more useful than PKZip,
especially when you consider the difference in interfaces. Besides,
last I knew, Katz had no plans to (a) handle StuffIt files in some
future release of PKZip, and (b) to release a Mac version of Zip.

My only gripe is that StuffIt 2.0 isn't out yet...

It would be nice if they would simply agree on a common format, but I don't see
that happening - it would have to handle MacBinary style enconding, something
that most IBM users have no use for.  Still, some one should suggest it to
either Phil or Ray...

Lars
kellogg@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu