Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!yale!mintaka!spdcc!spt!mdc From: mdc@spt.entity.com (Marty Connor) Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc Subject: Re: Stuffit Deluxe Summary: DON'T POST SOFTWARE USING STUFFIT DELUXE FORMAT Message-ID: <5189@spt.entity.com> Date: 30 Aug 90 15:20:34 GMT References: <1990Aug20.075638.3276@rbdc> <6257@emory.mathcs.emory.edu> <2146@ux.acs.umn.edu> <1990Aug29.204448.23954@svc.portal.com> <5186@spt.entity.com> <44411@apple.Apple.COM> Reply-To: mdc@spt.UUCP (Marty Connor) Organization: Hacks 'R' Us, Cambridge, MA Lines: 53 In article <44411@apple.Apple.COM> anderson@Apple.COM (Clark Anderson) writes: >Many things came to mind when I read this mesage. I will share this: >Marty, perhaps a more productive solution would be for you to sit >down with a compiler and write a better software package than Ray's. >You would then be free to distribute the software, source code or >file formats in any way you wished. It would solve the problem, and you'd >have contributed a better tool to the Macintosh community. Clark, many things come to mind when I read your message. I will share this: PUBLIC TOOLS FOR PUBLIC ARCHIVES. Perhaps you should consider that there are other ways of doing good in the world than writing code, and working for Apple. In my message I suggest that people NOT DISTRIBUTE SOFTWARE in PUBLIC FORUMS using Stuffit[TM] DELUXE. I do not want to use a format that is proprietary and thus must be begged out of Alladin (with non-disclosure, I suspect). I should be able to write an MPW tool to unstuff Stuffit Deluxe archives by reading the spec, and writing to it. No begging, and not promises to Alladin, Inc. I could indeed write some HUFFMAN/LZ compression program that took into account different data types and produced smaller files. I have written code that compresses sound files before. I choose NOT to at this time. I can also try to get people to see that the solution proposed by Alladin is flawed for PUBLIC ARCHIVES of software. This is somewhat of a guess, but your message seemed to want to say that writing code was the only valid response to proprietary actions by companies. How strangely convenient for someone working for a company who is known for protecting their user-interface with law suits and suing companies whose screens look the same. I think maybe you need to get a little wider view of the world than the inside of Apple Computer, Inc. Marty >Just my humble opinion. --clark Which I respect, though I don't agree with. -- Marty Connor, Marty's Computer Workshop, "Specializing in Macintosh Training" 126 Inman Street, Cambridge, MA 02139; (617) 491-6935 mdc@entity.com, or ...{harvard|uunet}!mit-eddie!spt!mdc