Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!yale!mintaka!spdcc!spt!mdc
From: mdc@spt.entity.com (Marty Connor)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc
Subject: Public Archive Format Issues
Summary: Proprietary formats for Public Data considered harmful
Keywords: encryption conversion issues
Message-ID: <6050@spt.entity.com>
Date: 15 Sep 90 19:45:16 GMT
Lines: 57

An issue for people maintaining public archives who may be considering
what format to store their archive files in:

    If you use a format that is not public knowledge,  noone can
    easily write a program to convert directly to a new format.

    For example:  It would be hard to write:
      STUFFIT DELUXE -> COMPACTOR conversion routines
    because both formats are proprietary.

    While it is possible to decompress and then recompress an
    archive, it is a lot more trouble than running a conversion
    routine that can simply create a new archive and delete the
    old one.

    It is also difficult to do the conversion on another platform
    because "free" decompression tools typically run only on one 
    platform.

I therefore urge people who keep public archives to resist using
proprietary formats for their archives as in the future conversion to
a new standard will be harder.

Proposal for the Macintosh:

Stick with Stuffit 1.5.1 format for now.  If a better format becomes
public knowledge, then wait for a 1.5.1 -> Better-Public-Format
program to appear.  Then switch to the new Public-Format.

In this way vendors will be encouraged to make formats public to sell
to all the people who use public bboards to download.

Benefits:

Programmers will be able to manipulate archives without permission
from greedy companies.

Users will have a choice in compression/decompression tools.

Companies will have incentive to give decent documentation and support
to make it worth buying a proprietary product.

Public Archive maintainers will be able to use tools to convert from
one format to another directly.

Request:

If you believe these concerns are valid, please post this message to
as many bulletin boards and online services as possible so that others
can help keep public data in public formats.

Thank you.

-- 
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