W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (Keith Petersen) (09/06/88)
[Thanks to a reader who pointed out that the signature date didn't
match the posting date of my original message offering evidence that
SEA's trademark on "ARC" is allegedly invalid. One reader said we
should get the ACLU to file a counter suit on behalf of the users.]
My signature date was wrong. Did you ever make out a check right
after the first of a new month and write in the old month name?
That's what happened to me. The message got out before I was able to
correct it. The correct date is September 4, 1988.
SEA is very unpopular right now. Looks like there is a mass revolt in
the MSDOS world. I wouldn't be too surprised to see a wholesale
change to whatever new compression method Phil Katz comes up with.
The software developers on CIS's IBM Forum are up in arms and there
are some VERY hot messages passing there right now. One of SEA's
lawyers is involved in the discussion and he's getting all sorts of
negative comments from respected names in the MSDOS world. SEA has
won the suit and lost the war.
--Keith Petersen
Arpa: W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL
Uucp: {att,decwrl,harvard,ucbvax,uunet,uw-beaver}!simtel20.army.mil!w8sdz
GEnie: W8SDZ
RCP/M Royal Oak: 313-759-6569 - 300, 1200, 2400 (V.22bis) or 9600 (USR HST)malpass@vlsi.ll.mit.edu (Don Malpass) (09/06/88)
In article <KPETERSEN.12428325287.BABYL@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL> W8SDZ@SIMTEL20.ARMY.MIL (Keith Petersen) writes: >.... I wouldn't be too surprised to see a wholesale >change to whatever new compression method Phil Katz comes up with. Please, Dear God: let us not have yet another scheme. One of the reasons that zoo is viewed with such favor is that there is a commitment to keep it upward and downward compatible. I could easily be persuaded that the sea/pk flap might have been avoided if pk had not implemented YET ANOTHER compression scheme to ring the last 0.001 dB of compression efficiency out of the resultant program but had simply been satisfied to blow away the older PC version because pk was so much faster. That speed increase alone was enough to give him a place in freeware history. The recent mail requesting new zoo features conspicuously does NOT include requests for other compression schemes. As has been pointed out elsewhere, the resultant .arc incompatibility forced everybody to keep several flavors around since not every .arc could be unpacked on all machines. That, and the NEED (not just desirability) to have a mainframe version will keep sea's arc - as well as zoo - around. We all lost this war; not just sea. I apologize for finally joining this fray which I so desperately wish would quiet down and go away. -- Don Malpass [malpass@LL-vlsi.arpa], [malpass@spenser.ll.mit.edu] My opinions are seldom shared by MIT Lincoln Lab, my actual employer RCA (known recently as GE), or my wife.