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From: johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu (Bill Johnston)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps,comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.programmer
Subject: Re: PROPOSAL - Archive Standard
Message-ID: <48251@nigel.ee.udel.edu>
Date: 20 Mar 91 05:39:53 GMT
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In article <6008@crystal9.UUCP>, derosa@motcid.UUCP (John DeRosa) writes...

>I came to the conclusion that there should be a standard
>for how items should be archived prior to being placed 
>in the Sumex archives.  

Yes, indeed.  When this was last debated, StuffIt 1.5.1 was chosen
because the format is OPEN.  Many folks in the world-wide net.community 
rely on unix machines for which "sit" and "unsit" utilities are available 
as freeware.  Running "mcvert" and "unsit" on one's unix host allows the
user to download binaries, which are significantly smaller than the 
corresponding .hqx files (thus faster to download).  These open format
utilities are available in "shar.Z" format in the /mac/unix-utilities
directory of rascal.ics.utexas.edu [128.83.138.20].

Because the format is open, the files can be accessed and used by
non-Mac people;  for example, the PC-clone folks are now downloading 
sound files from the Mac archives!  These folks know about "unsit", 
but using Compact Pro, DiskDoubler, Diamond, and other "Mac-only" 
formats gets in the way of a good thing -- the beginnings of genuine
platform-independence for computer data.  This problem even affects
Mac users running A/UX; some of the "new, fast" compression tools
aren't 32-bit clean.  (The new StuffIt's are ...).

Yes, several of the new utilities run faster and compress files more
efficiently (on the Macintosh only) than do any members of the "StuffIt"
family.  But using them puts a wall up around the Mac community that we
don't need.  A similar situation exists in the PC camp.  Good archive
formats have been introduced like .zip and .arc, supported by powerful
shareware applications and rudimentary freeware dearchivers.

Nevertheless, the comp.binaries.ibm.pc group is sticking with the 
less efficient '.zoo' format because EVERBODY can use it.  

Why take a step in the wrong direction?  The future of computing
can't POSSIBLY lie in a host of incompatible and proprietary 
archival formats -- until the Deluxe's, the Compact Pro's, and
the DiskDoublers of the world realize that the whole world
doesn't have a Mac (or the time to keep up with forty million
formats), let's stick with something that WORKS for everybody.

Bill (johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu)