[comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d] time for a comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows???

todd@pinhead.pegasus.com (Todd Ogasawara) (06/29/91)

Has there ever been any discussion about creating a
comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows news group? My guess is that with three
major new low-cost development platforms out (Borland C++, Turbo Pascal
for Windows, and Microsoft Visual BASIC), we are going to see a lot of
software for Windows flowing out into the shareware market and public
domain. 

We might even want to have a comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows.vbasic group. 
I just got my copy of Visual BASIC and was amazed to see how small the
EXE files sizes are (ok, ok, I know you need that 270K VBRUN100.DLL file
around too, but you only need one of those for all your Visual BASIC EXE
files).  You can write some pretty impressive stuff with EXE files sizes
of between 5K and 20K.  And, please, no religious wars about whether or
not Visual BASIC will cause a pletora of cr*ppy software to emerge in
the Windows shareware market.  I have both Borland C++ and Visual BASIC. 
Borland C++ gives me power tools.  Visual BASIC gives me "play" tools. 
It makes programming fun again. And those small Visual BASIC EXE files
would be easy to send out as uuencoded files.

If there is enough interest, I will be glad to put out the Request for
Votes for one or both groups and report the results.  We, would, of
course, still need to find volunteer moderators for the group(s). 

So, how do you feel about creating

	comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows
and/or
	comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows.vbasic

-- 
Todd Ogasawara ::: Hawaii Medical Service Association
Internet       ::: todd@pinhead.pegasus.com
Telephone      ::: (808) 536-9162 ext. 7

hz241pi@unidui.uni-duisburg.de (Andreas Pietras) (06/29/91)

In <1991Jun28.224447.1228@pinhead.pegasus.com> todd@pinhead.pegasus.com (Todd Ogasawara) writes:


>Has there ever been any discussion about creating a
>comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows news group? 


>If there is enough interest, I will be glad to put out the Request for
>Votes for one or both groups and report the results.  We, would, of
>course, still need to find volunteer moderators for the group(s). 

>So, how do you feel about creating

>	comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows
>and/or
>	comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows.vbasic

>-- 
>Todd Ogasawara ::: Hawaii Medical Service Association
>Internet       ::: todd@pinhead.pegasus.com
>Telephone      ::: (808) 536-9162 ext. 7

I think it's a great Idea, and I'm very interestet.
Ciao Piet


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 AAAAM M   M MPPPP   |     4100 Duisburg 1              |     ein Koenig,
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mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) (06/30/91)

In article <1991Jun28.224447.1228@pinhead.pegasus.com> todd@pinhead.pegasus.com (Todd Ogasawara) writes:
>EXE files sizes are (ok, ok, I know you need that 270K VBRUN100.DLL file
>around too, but you only need one of those for all your Visual BASIC EXE

Minor, somewhat unrelated question: Can VBRUN100.DLL be distributed freely,
or do you have to buy Visual BASIC to get it?  If the latter, I don't
think you'll see many freeware utilities written in Visual BASIC -- because
few people will want to go out and buy Visual BASIC just to run a few
utilities.

-- 
Marc Unangst               |
mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us  | "Bus error: passengers dumped"
...!hela!mudos!mju         |

chanel@mensa.usc.edu (chanel summers) (06/30/91)

In article <1991Jun29.220040.1064@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us> mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes:

>Minor, somewhat unrelated question: Can VBRUN100.DLL be distributed freely,
>or do you have to buy Visual BASIC to get it?  If the latter, I don't
>think you'll see many freeware utilities written in Visual BASIC -- because
>few people will want to go out and buy Visual BASIC just to run a few
>utilities.

VBRUN100.DLL is freely distributable and has been making the rounds on the BBS
circuit for a few weeks now.  It's available on cica.cica.indiana.edu and on
the MSLANG Forum on CompuServe (and probably on GEnie as well).

Chanel

todd@pinhead.pegasus.com (Todd Ogasawara) (07/01/91)

In article <1991Jun29.220040.1064@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us> mju@mudos.ann-arbor.mi.us (Marc Unangst) writes:
>In article <1991Jun28.224447.1228@pinhead.pegasus.com> todd@pinhead.pegasus.com (Todd Ogasawara) writes:
]>EXE files sizes are (ok, ok, I know you need that 270K VBRUN100.DLL file
]>around too, but you only need one of those for all your Visual BASIC EXE

]Minor, somewhat unrelated question: Can VBRUN100.DLL be distributed freely,
]or do you have to buy Visual BASIC to get it?  If the latter, I don't
]think you'll see many freeware utilities written in Visual BASIC -- because
]few people will want to go out and buy Visual BASIC just to run a few
]utilities.

Page 76 of the Microsoft Visual BASIC Programmer's Guide says:

	"To run your application under Microsoft Windows or Presentation
	 Manager outside Visual BASIC, you create an executable file. If
	 you distribute the file to others, they will need a copy of the
	 Visual BASIC run-time file (VBRUN100.DLL) that is in the VB
	 directory. No additional license or payment to Microsoft is
	 necessary to distribute copies of the run-time file."

So, to answer your question: Yes, you can distribute VBRUN100.DLL freely
according to my interpretation of the paragraph above issued by Microsoft.
If we have create a comp.binaries.windows.ms and/or
comp.binaries.windows.ms.vbasic, we could perhaps distribute VBRUN100.DLL
on some periodic basis (once every 60 days or so) to make sure anyone can
get it easily.
-- 
Todd Ogasawara ::: Hawaii Medical Service Association
Internet       ::: todd@pinhead.pegasus.com
Telephone      ::: (808) 536-9162 ext. 7

dwj@sactoh0.sac.ca.us (Daniel W. James) (07/01/91)

todd@pinhead.pegasus.com (Todd Ogasawara) writes:
>
>Has there ever been any discussion about creating a
>comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows news group? My guess is that with three
>major new low-cost development platforms out (Borland C++, Turbo Pascal
>for Windows, and Microsoft Visual BASIC), we are going to see a lot of
>software for Windows flowing out into the shareware market and public
>domain. 
>
>So, how do you feel about creating
>
>	comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows
>and/or
>	comp.binaries.ibm.pc.windows.vbasic
>

I for one am very interested in creating a .windows newsgroup.  I don't,
however, feel the need at this point for separate newsgroups relating to
the source files.  We would then have .windows.tpascal; .windows.c++;
.windows.vbasic; .windows.smalltalkV; etc, etc...

Perhaps at some point, the level of traffic will justify more newsgroups.


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