sschneider@pro-exchange.cts.com (The RainForest BBS) (02/09/89)
Just logged off GEnie. Seems that the Librarian there (A2.DEAN) deemed the new packing/compression program ShrinkIt too radical for the system. I didn't copy his mail to me on the refusal to release the file to the system but he objected to the fact that since GEnie couldn't (wouldn't) support it, why bother leaving it where it could be accessed by someone that might actually like using it better than BLU which is their "standard"... I can not believe that a supposedly "open" forum on Apple IIs would reject new programming of ANY LEGITIMENT TYPE regardless of whether it was a standard they were using or not. I've seen the garbage in the Apple II area there which except for a few GREAT programs by Glen and a few others, mostly consists of FONTS, GAMES, MUSIC, PICTURES... God forbid a program that actually does something be allowed to be validated and co-exist. In short... those that may have tried to obtain ShrinkIt from GEnie after I left a message here that I had uploaded it, I apologize. I did my part... unfortunately they could care less.... and they just lost my business. /steve system manager ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- | UUCP: crash!pro-exchange!sschneider APPLELINK : sschneider | | ARPA: crash!pro-exchange!sschneider@nosc.mil COMPU$ERVE: 75166,2544 | | INET: sschneider@pro-exchange.cts.com GENIE : sschneider | | The RainForest @ 305-434-4927 / PO Box 841422, Pembroke Pines, Fl, 33084 | -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
lwv@n8emr.UUCP (Larry W. Virden) (02/12/89)
Compuserve will be the same way - you can submit the program to be available, but you cannot submit new files in that format. The problem is that 15% or more of the folks time is spent answering questions on how to get a program to break up the files, how to get that program turned into executable, how it works , etc. By adding multiple file archive types, all totally incompatible, it becomes a nightmare. That is the primary reason that I think that to get a new archiving program accepted one MUST be able to handle the currently supported file formats. There is no reason for a commerical service to use a new format, even if its better, if it cannot handle the existing database. Note that Don Elton had a pgm called ALU which handled BNY and LBR format files. It never really caught on - I dont think it handled the squeezed formatted entries (it extracted them as .qq's I think didnt it don?). Perhaps that is the reason that one never took off... I dont really know. I do know that Shrinkit has a long row to hoe by going off in its own direction. Its sort of like expecting a service to permit folks to upload .arc files with squashed entries - there are few, if any, programs for an Apple II to extract the pieces! -- Larry W. Virden 674 Falls Place, Reynoldsburg, OH 43068 (614) 864-8817 75046,606 (CIS) ; LVirden (ALPE) ; osu-cis!n8emr!lwv (UUCP) osu-cis!n8emr!lwv@TUT.CIS.OHIO-STATE.EDU (INTERNET) The world's not inherited from our parents, but borrowed from our children.
ART100@PSUVM.BITNET ("Andy Tefft 862-6728", 814) (02/14/89)
I agree, if ShrinkIt could undo .BNY files it would probably really catch on. then we could do away with BLU, since it's not nice to ask everyone to convert their archives to .SHK format.... By the way, I just downloaded the program and it's pretty nice. Only thing it's missing is something on the screen to tell you to select the files to extract with the space bar (after you choose the file to undo and you get a list of the contents). The first file I tried to unpack only had one file in it, and I didn't know this was a menu -- didn't know what to do, and RETURN kept putting me back into the main menu! I eventually tried another file, this one had 3 files in it, and I figured it out. This isn't mentioned in the docs... unless I missed it. Andy
SEWALL@UCONNVM.BITNET (Murph Sewall) (02/14/89)
>Note that Don Elton had a pgm called ALU which handled BNY and LBR format >files. It never really caught on - I dont think it handled the squeezed >formatted entries (it extracted them as .qq's I think didnt it don?). Perhaps >that is the reason that one never took off... There'd be an irony in that since the SQUeeze and USQueeze code in BLU is Don's! :-) As I remember ALU (and it's been awhile), it UNPACKED, but did not pack .BNY files (which was the reason I never adopted it). Murph Sewall Vaporware? ---> [Gary Larson returns 1/1/90] Prof. of Marketing Sewall@UConnVM.BITNET Business School sewall%uconnvm.bitnet@mitvma.mit.edu [INTERNET] U of Connecticut {psuvax1 or mcvax }!UCONNVM.BITNET!SEWALL [UUCP] -+- I don't speak for my employer, though I frequently wish that I could (subject to change without notice; void where prohibited) According to the American Facsimile Association, more than half the calls from Japan to the U.S. are fax calls. FAX it to me at: 1-203-486-5246