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From: peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.programmer
Subject: Re: An Amiga Conversion Facility
Message-ID: <1098@cbmger.UUCP>
Date: 11 Apr 91 07:31:20 GMT
References: <790@tnc.UUCP>
Reply-To: peterk@cbmger.UUCP (Peter Kittel GERMANY)
Organization: Commodore Bueromaschinen GmbH, West Germany
Lines: 39

In article <790@tnc.UUCP> m0154@tnc.UUCP (GUY GARNETT) writes:
>
>(1) Background
> 
>  Reason:  Current Amiga data exchange is based on IFF files. 
>Although this system works very well for bitmap data (thanks to IFF
>ILBM), and performs adequately for animation (IFF ANIM), and sound
>(IFF SMUS and IFF 8SVX), there are few other widely recognised data
>interchange formats.  "Multimedia" and "Desktop Video" (the things
>the Amiga does best) as well as more conventional "Productivity"
>applications (like word processors, spreadsheets, and databases)
>would benefit from the ability to exchange data in a wider variety of
>formats.

You sure should look a little deeper into the IFF definition! Then
you would learn that there are sure possibilities inside IFF to provide
the features you desire, see for CATs and LISTs, for example.

Though I very much appreciate this effort to get a powerful conversion
machinery, I strongly wish that this hopefully will NOT lead into
inventing dozens of new "standards"! This should NOT be encouraged,
as I got a little of an impression in part 2. I bet that nearly all
of these desired formats can easily be satisfied with IFF or at least 
in a way to expand the IFF definition in the proper IFF manner.

We should take all efforts to keep IFF *THE* interchange format.
It has already paid in the past, and should even more in future.
It already spreads to the PC world and I heard rumors that Microsoft
jumps on this waggon, too (though they are said to call it different?).

If you stick to IFF, we could even consider to involve good-ole
Clipboard in this project. Clipboard is until now sort of a sleeping
beauty, but perhaps its concept could be used with advantage here.

Aside from this, I wish good luck for this project.

-- 
Best regards, Dr. Peter Kittel  // E-Mail to  \\  Only my personal opinions... 
Commodore Frankfurt, Germany  \X/ {uunet|pyramid|rutgers}!cbmvax!cbmger!peterk