🚀 go-pugleaf

Howard Shubs writes
> Sounds to me like you've got more of a complaint with the programmers
> of these lesser utilities than you do with Aladdin.

As the author of one of these "lesser" utilities (Fetch) I probably should  
respond.  It is true that Fetch doesn't keep up with the latest and  
greatest compression formats; I have other features to worry about as  
well.  But it would be easier to keep up (and provide additional value to  
users of Compact Pro, StuffIt! Deluxe, etc.) if the creators of those  
formats were more open about them.

> Myself, I never
> create 1.5.1 archives.  If that means that you can't deal with it,
> that's your problem.  _I_ can deal with almost any archive intended
> for a Macintosh which someone sends my way.  Putting your head in the
> sand and refusing to deal with new superior technology is one of the
> attitudes that I refuse to respect.

Putting your head in the sand and refusing to deal with people who use  
different tools than you do is something I find hard to respect.   
Communication is a two-way street; if you want to promote communication it  
pays to be conservative in what you transmit and liberal in what you  
accept.

Bill Goodman and Alladin recognize this need to some degree; that's why  
they provide free Mac-based expanders.  But they can't seem to reconcile  
themselves to releasing the information that would make it possible for  
others to write expanders for other platforms (i.e. Unix) and other  
situations (i.e. expanding while downloading, as Fetch does).  Dik Winter  
has taken them off the hook as far as Compact Pro and StuffIt! Deluxe 2.0  
are concerned, by figuring out the formats and releasing source code; but  
now there's StuffIt! Deluxe 3.0 to deal with.  The net will be reluctant  
to take advantage of the progress made in SD 3.0 unless Alladin makes it  
easy for people to write their own expanders.

I for one am bailing out of this contest.  The next version of Fetch will  
not support any new compression formats; instead it will be able to  
automatically launch other programs (such as StuffIt! Expander) to expand  
downloaded archives.  This isn't as seamless a solution, and the  
decompression time can't be "hidden" in the downloading process, but it's  
a lot easier for me than trying to do what Goodman and Alladin don't want  
me to do.

Jim Matthews
Dartmouth Software Development