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- There's an awful lot of discussion taking place in Fidonet and elsewhere
- concerning compression techniques. It has proven divisive, too.
- Various bulletin board system operators have found themselves in
- conflict, taking differing stands on which compression techniques will
- be used for files stored on their systems. With this in mind, we feel
- it necessary to make some kind of statement to just let you know how we
- feel about this, as it pertains to BinkleyTerm.
-
- We prefer to use LHARC as our compression utility. It offers us many
- features which are of value to us, but not available in other such
- utilities. We acknowledge that in certain specific areas, some other
- compression utilities may have applicability or even display clear-cut
- superiority. But LHARC doesn't have what for lack of better words we'll
- call "emotional liabilities" which programs such as ZIP and ARC now seem
- to have, like it or not. It also is Freely Available, just like
- BinkleyTerm.
-
- At the same time, we acknowledge that we have no right to dictate to any
- individual system operator that he or she must have .LZH files on his or
- her system(s). This of course leads to a serious conflict: where do
- the rights of we, the authors, end, and those of the individual system
- operator start?
-
- We feel that we have the right to refer to the .LZH distribution as "THE
- distribution". We also feel that Paragraph 1 of the license agreement
- (contained in the file LICENSE.250) should hold, specifically the
- sentence that begins "You may copy and distribute VERBATIM copies of
- BinkleyTerm source and executable code AS YOU RECEIVE IT" (emphasis
- ours). However, under the terms of the license agreement, you may
- distribute other versions, as long as they are clearly identified as
- such.
-
- In the interests of harmony, we will consent to the repackaging of
- BinkleyTerm using other compression techniques, as long as this file,
- COMPRESS.TXT, remains in the distribution archive. To protect OUR
- rights, however, we must state here and now that we will not necessarily
- provide support for any version of BinkleyTerm that is so distributed,
- and we may respond to individual problem reports by referring the
- involved party or parties to the ORIGINAL distribution.
-
- In the case of BinkleyTerm 2.50, the original distribution is in files
- BEXE_250.LZH (executable and update doc), BDOC_250.LZH (documentation),
- BSML_250.LZH (small-memory executable and update doc), and BSRC_250.LZH
- (source code). All are available from Fidonet 1:132/491, and 1:104/501.
- We understandably can make no specific guarantees about other systems,
- although generally speaking, all systems carrying files with these names
- are in fact offering exact copies of the original. CRC's of these files
- and their contents will be published on occasion in the Fidonet BINKLEY
- echomail conference or can be obtained from the authors.
-
- Please understand our feelings in this matter. If you object to our
- position, then please do not distribute BinkleyTerm.
-
- Bit Bucket Software, Co.
-
- Vincent E. Perriello Alan D. Applegate Robert C. Hartman
- FidoNet 1:343/491 FidoNet 1:104/501
-