Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!pyrnj!dasys1!tneff From: tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc Subject: Re: New public domain archiving system development Message-ID: <6760@dasys1.UUCP> Date: 2 Oct 88 03:30:46 GMT References: <1297@micomvax.UUCP> <3218@ttidca.TTI.COM> <1068@lakesys.UUCP> Reply-To: tneff@dasys1.UUCP (Tom Neff) Organization: Independent Users Guild Lines: 32 In article <1068@lakesys.UUCP> mikes@lakesys.UUCP (Mike Shawaluk) writes: >...In any event, I feel it would be safe to say that the primary work of this >project is *NOT* to produce products which are "free" or "public domain", >since all of us who are working on the project are being reimbursed for our >time and efforts; however, I believe I can speak for Phil in saying that the >format itself, as well as example freely-distributable code, *WILL* be made >available and placed in the public domain, to allow other sources to embrace >and use this format to serve their needs. So far this sounds no different from what SEA did: release a shareware archiver and publish the C source. (Actually it is different, SEA released the full production code, sufficient to recreate ARC.EXE if you had their compiler, while the PK group talks about "example" source code.) > This is, of course, in contrast >with the policies of another company (hint: name starts with an "S" and ends >with an "A"), who has been resorting to lawsuits to prevent others from using >its precious file format without their approval... Sheerest speculation! Given that SEA released their code but later sued anyway, what assurance do we have PK won't do the same thing. (Hint: the answer starts with an "NO" and ends with an "NE".) I usually quiver over the "F" key when I read Ray Dunn's thoughts , but this time he has it pegged. There are no white hats in this episode except probably Vern Buerg and Wayne Chin, and there is too much posturing to take on an empty stomach. -- Tom Neff UUCP: ...!cmcl2!phri!dasys1!tneff "None of your toys CIS: 76556,2536 MCI: TNEFF will function..." GEnie: TOMNEFF BIX: t.neff (no kidding)