Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!n8emr!cmhgate!p2.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG!Adam.Frix
From: Adam.Frix@p2.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG (Adam Frix)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Re: Stuffit Deluxe
Message-ID: <68939.26E3FE9B@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG>
Date: 2 Sep 90 17:43:13 GMT
Sender: ufgate@cmhgate.FIDONET.ORG (newsout1.26)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:226/200.2 - Aurora Borealis, Gahanna OH
Lines: 56


Jim Matthews   writes in a message to Bob Daniel  on 08/31/90 ...

JM>  Not publishing the StuffIt! Deluxe format *is* a big deal, because 
JM>  it makes users of the format dependent on Alladin for tools. 
JM>   I don't think that  Alladin is out to get the Mac community, 
JM>  in fact I think the decision to  keep the format secret makes 
JM>  a lot of sense from a business standpoint.   But the community 
JM>  that has been using StuffIt! to archive freely distributed 
JM>  software would lose a lot of flexibility if it moved to a secret 
JM>  format. 
JM>  A couple of examples from personal experience:  
JM>  I have written a Mac FTP program that automatically de-binhexes 
JM>  and unstuffs 
JM>  files.  This feature saves me and my users a lot of time (since 
JM>  
JM>  unstuffing generally happens while the Mac is waiting for data) 
JM>  and hassle  (since they only have to run one program).  I couldn't 
JM>  have implemented this 
JM>  feature if the StuffIt! format wasn't public.   
JM>  I have also written a simple unstuffing application, and lo 
JM>  and behold  it's four times faster than StuffIt! 1.5.1 (about 
JM>  the same speed as DDExpand). No one (besides Alladin) will ever 
JM>  write a faster Unstuffit Deluxe, because 
JM>  no one besides Alladin will have the information necessary to 
JM>  do so....


Pardon me for sounding like Bill Gates, but...

There may be many things you WANT to do with archives, but no one has guaranteed
 
 you a right to do them.  You want to create tools to deal with archives.  Well,
 
if you can't, you can't.  This doesn't make the public archives any less 
accessible.
 UnStuffIt Deluxe will always be available for free.  (And if suddenly it's
not, THEN we can discuss the merits of using that archiving format for public
archives.)  You will ALWAYS be able to get at those files.  Just because you
can't get to them in the manner YOU'D like to, doesn't mean diddly.

I say, as long as the tool for getting at those public archives is publicly
and freely available, then there's no problem using that particular archiving
format.

--Adam--
 


 
 

--  
Adam Frix via cmhGate - Net 226 fido<=>uucp gateway Col, OH
UUCP: ...!osu-cis!n8emr!cmhgate!200.2!Adam.Frix
INET: Adam.Frix@p2.f200.n226.z1.FIDONET.ORG