johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu (06/04/91)
Check out David Pogue's review of StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 in the July '91 issue of MacWorld. A direct quote: "StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 is faster than previous versions of StuffIt, and it's even generally faster than Compact Pro (Bill Goodman shareware)." Now, I'm a utility freak (I own and use both of these programs) and I even like many of the "feature-itus" symptoms of StuffIt Deluxe. Nevertheless, this review is both inaccurate and unfortunate for Bill Goodman; shareware rarely gets reviewed by the trade magazines. Letters to the Editor can be sent to MacWorld c/o their Compuserve account: <70370.702@compuserve.com>. Goodman deserves a fair shake, at least. Here is the letter I submitted: StuffIt Deluxe has some nice new features, but "generally faster than Compact Pro (Bill Goodman shareware)" isn't one of them. An informal comparison: compress/decompress a test folder containing HyperCard 2.0, a 16K Excel file, and a 40K Word file. Results: Compact Pro 1:53 to compress, 0:44 to decompress, 45% reduction. StuffIt Deluxe: 2:21 to compress, 1:23 to decompress, 33% reduction (using "optimal" compression mode). [SE/30 5/40, System 7.0] Compact Pro is faster AND more efficient. Does your reviewer test the software or just read the promotional literature? -- Bill Johnston (johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu) -- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949
ace@tidbits.UUCP (Adam C. Engst) (06/04/91)
I must agree with Bill's assessment of the situation. In the comprehensive tests done by Ken Hancock for the TidBITS special issue on compression programs (#42 - available on your favorite online service), Compact Pro regularly turned in one of the fastest times. When it came in slower than StuffIt Deluxe, the time lag was generally small and Compact Pro had smaller archives. Of course, all of this is moot now, what with DiskDoubler 3.7 taking the compression size honors and SuperDisk! taking the speed awards, but TidBITS will soon have another special issue on compression to add in the latest versions of all these programs. Keep an eye out. In article <55372@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu writes: > > Check out David Pogue's review of StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 in the July '91 > issue of MacWorld. A direct quote: > > "StuffIt Deluxe 2.0 is faster than previous versions of StuffIt, and > it's even generally faster than Compact Pro (Bill Goodman shareware)." > > Now, I'm a utility freak (I own and use both of these programs) and > I even like many of the "feature-itus" symptoms of StuffIt Deluxe. > Nevertheless, this review is both inaccurate and unfortunate for > Bill Goodman; shareware rarely gets reviewed by the trade magazines. > -- Bill Johnston (johnston@minnie.me.udel.edu) > -- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949 --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Adam C. Engst Editor of TidBITS, the weekly electronic Macintosh journal ace@tidbits.uucp The best way to predict the future pv9y@crnlvax5, pv9y@vax5.cit.cornell.edu is to invent it. -Alan Kay