Path: utzoo!utgpu!attcan!uunet!steinmetz!davidsen
From: davidsen@steinmetz.ge.com (William E. Davidsen Jr)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: Wake up and smell the coffee
Message-ID: <12312@steinmetz.ge.com>
Date: 5 Oct 88 16:19:54 GMT
References: <4574232@<KPETERSEN> <16800358@clio> <925@psu-cs.UUCP> <1988Sep <9685@cup.portal.com>
Reply-To: davidsen@crdos1.UUCP (bill davidsen)
Organization: General Electric CRD, Schenectady, NY
Lines: 52

In article <9685@cup.portal.com> raf@cup.portal.com writes:
| 
| >...big problem has been one Keith Peterson.
| 
| I find this *extremely* objectionable.  Keith has for many years been a
| significant contributor to public domain software distribution in general
| and to the network community in particular.  He's left little doubt as to

Amen! Even thought I totally disagree with Keith on SEA, he is a
responsible person who has performed many services in the past.

| 
| >...about the recent 2nd lawsuit filed by SEA:
| >...may yet get one Phil Katz thrown in jail.
| 
| The second complaint was not a lawsuit, and these are CIVIL not CRIMINAL
| actions.  That you believe Phil Katz might face imprisonment reduces your
| credibility in legal matters sufficiently to allow us to dispense with at
| least the next 15 paragraphs of your article.

That's a bit harsh. The second action is not really a lawsuit, it's a
complaint that terms of the settlement of the lawsuit are not being
followed. PK could really go to jail for contempt of court.

| SEA has never fostered anything but its own growth among MS-DOS computer
| users.  More than two years ago, I was bluntly told by Thom Henderson:
| "We don't support CP/M" (a direct quote).  From a practical financial
| standpoint, I can't blame him one bit, but let's not attribute to SEA any
| altruistic inclinations toward the "BROAD range of computer users."

I don't totally agree with that one, since ARC is free for personal use
and non-optional shareware for commercial use. PK want money from
everyone. I don't says that's wrong, just that SEA has shown the
inclination to let users have free use of the program, and has released
the source for use on non MS-DOS systems. I don't believe that PK has
released source code.

| With regard to practicality (entrepreneurship?), it has been argued that
| Phil Katz is no different than Thom Henderson.  But I've had conversations
| with Phil, and he has shown a genuine concern for the usefulness and
| portability of his products in non-DOS environments.  (PKware *does* offer
| a shareware archive extractor for AmigaDOS, and a VAX/VMS version was in
| the works before SEA's attorney came knocking.)  I sincerely believe
| we have a better chance with PKware for a UNIVERSAL, WELL-SUPPORTED, and
| TECHNOLOGICALLY-ADVANCED compressing-archiver system.

It's called zoo, and if it didn't have those restrictions I think the
whole issue of another archiver would be settled by now.
-- 
	bill davidsen		(wedu@ge-crd.arpa)
  {uunet | philabs}!steinmetz!crdos1!davidsen
"Stupidity, like virtue, is its own reward" -me