Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!pasteur!ucbvax!ULKYVX.BITNET!JDYARD01
From: JDYARD01@ULKYVX.BITNET (Jonathan D. Yarden)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: What about NOAH?
Message-ID: <8809082220.AA27609@jade.berkeley.edu>
Date: 8 Sep 88 15:52:00 GMT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: University of Louisville
Lines: 33

I am in the process, and have been for some years now, of writing a file
archiver which I call NOAH.   I originally intended this program to be
for TRS-80's, but have been converting and modifying my code for the IBM
and MSDOS world.

With all of this PK vs SEA garbage that has come up, I have decided to hold
off finishing NOAH until I am sure I won't get sued.  This really pisses
me off.  I used widely known data compression algorithms, which anyone can
find if they look in an engineering school library.  I made no attempt to
even duplicate SEA's file archiver, even though I am totally compatable
with their file structure (It IS documented, and is NOT proprietary!).

What specific legal rights would I have if I tried to sell this program?
Or has SEA done what AT & T tried to do and have a monopoly?  Yeh, I've
seen the settlement notices, but that's all legal garbage.  Phil Katz had
every right to make and sell his program; He wrote it.  Just because it
can read/write SEA compatable archives can't possibly be cause for him to
get sued.  If that were the case, Fox Software couldn't have written FoxBase,
Borland's Quattro couldn't read 123 files, etc.

I think that all these suits and countersuits against "look and feel" need
to stop.  If a company wants to stay in business, then they have to produce
a superior product.  I think that what SEA has tried to do is just plain
un-american.  Without competition, companies would have no need to update
their products and that would mean outdated (inferior) software.


Jon Yarden
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JDYARD01@ULKYVX.BITNET


The opinions expressed above are entirely my own.  If you don't like them,
don't read them.