Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!mailrus!nrl-cmf!ukma!rutgers!apple!voder!pyramid!hplabs!hpda!hpcuhb!hpindda!hardin
From: hardin@hpindda.HP.COM (John Hardin)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: ZOO availability (was: A Short History of Arching on Micros)
Message-ID: <4330109@hpindda.HP.COM>
Date: 10 Oct 88 16:23:44 GMT
References: <13593@iuvax.cs.indiana.edu>
Organization: HP Information Networks, Cupertino, CA
Lines: 25

>Many incendiary statements about the zoo copyright policy have been
>posted on the net  ...
>
>These provisions allow everyone, everywhere, to make and extract zoo
>files without making a monitary contribution or without fear of incompatible
>formats appearing.  I suppose reasonable people could quibble about some
>of these provisions, but compared to the alternatives, the choice is clear.
>
>Paul Homchick
>----------

I think a liitle understanding is called for on both sides of this issue.
This is not intended to be "incediary" and I hope it is not considered a mere
"quibble".  I can understand how those whose contact with the outside world
is exclusively via this network consider ZOO as a godsend, saving us all from
further involvement in the ARC wars.  For the many of us who also use
CompuServe (which does not meet the $8.00/hr @ 1200 baud restriction), however,
it becomes just another utility we will be forced to keep around for the 
ZOO-format postings we find here.  The choice for us is (1) zoo and arc
or (2) just arc.  Many of us consider a single archiving format preferable
to multiple formats.  The restrictions placed on ZOO prevent it from making
a bid to be that one format.  Too bad.  It looked promising at first.

John Hardin    hardin%hpindda@hplabs.hp.com
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