FATQW@USU.BITNET (02/08/88)
This is for all the peeples who ask why ANOTHER archive format. (This most
likely includes almost all of the Usenet people.)
I knew when I started this stuff that there would be lots of questions
about `what do we gain with ANOTHER archive format?'. This archive format
actually IS somewhat better than ARC, ZOO, PAK, LNX (C64), etc. since it
supports file splitting (recover part of a file if you can't get the whole
thing), even across volumes (hey, great backup utility...another issue).
However, I doubt that people would switch to IFF ARC just to gain a few
little features like this. This format was MOSTLY made to end the archive
race ( :-) ). We've already got lots of formats in the last few years,
how about the NEXT few years? People will have to have a whole diskette
for archiving programs! (Well, maybe exaggerated, but you get the idea.)
Anyway, if new archiving programs stick to IFF ARC, they will be at least
mostly compatible, if not completely. And that's basically the idea of
IFF ARC.
Bryan
Bryan Ford //// A computer does what \\\\
Snail: 1790 East 1400 North //// you tell it to do, not \\\\
Logan, UT 84321 \\\XX/// what you want it to do. \\\XX///
Email: FATQW@USU.BITNET \XXXX/ Murphy's Law Calendar 1986 \XXXX/