55 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
55 lines
2.8 KiB
Plaintext
Regarding Hacked versions of PKware products.
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and
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Regarding no new versions of PKware products from Pkware.
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by Bob Mahoney, Exec-PC BBS 12/11/92
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More and more hacked versions of the PKware zip and unzip programs are
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appearing on bulletin boards. This is a sign of the frustration we are
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all feeling with zip looking as if it is dead in the water. We are
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starting to wonder if perhaps a hacked version of zip and unzip might
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be better than the unapproved alpha versions PKware has allowed to float
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around for so long. To explain:
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PKware has set a new record in the computer industry. They have had an
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alpha test version of their zip and unzip software circulating on bulletin
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boards for more than a year. Typically, a company will distribute an alpha
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version to selected testers, then within a reasonable amount of time will
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distribute a beta version, then will soon release a real version after that.
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In late 1991 PKware distributed their PKZ193A.EXE, "A" for alpha, zip software
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and it immediately appeared on every BBS in the country. Fine, alpha versions
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are soon replaced by beta, then final versions. No problem. Well, here
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we are, just about into 1993. The old alpha version is still causing
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frustration and confusion on most bulletin boards.
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To quote a typical message received from an innocent BBS user:
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"Why does this BBS have so many files that don't work? When I unzip the file
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PKUNZIP tells me "I don't know how to handle this file". You should check
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your files more carefully. Many of my friends have the same problem."
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Recently, the messages have become more profane, with "pi????" and "f??? you"
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sprinkled in some of them, all complaining about files that do not work.
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What is the problem? The problem is PKware sitting on an alpha version and
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seemming to do nothing about it.
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I propose the following: We do some research to see what other compression
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software might be more appropriate for use on BBS systems, and discuss
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converting all collections from zip to whatever compression techniques looks
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like a logical successor to the confused zip situation.
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After all, if PKware ever attempts to release another version in the future,
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we can probably look forward to at least another year of version confusion,
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profane messages, extremely frustrated new users, and 30 or 40 messages
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per week from people confused about the lack of any zip standards. For the
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4 or 5 years we have been using zip format, one full year has been under
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non-standard formats with an alpha version floating around. I have not seen
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the same predicament with other compression standards.
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I ask for your input concerning conversion to other standards.
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I encourage you to distribute this file to other online systems to see
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if there is a consensus about this.
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Bob Mahoney
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