Hi Folks,
From: Bernie <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Sam Heywood wrote:
>>2. That it has some built-in disk-compression utility (which, BTW, the user
>>may elect not to use) that wreaks all kinds of havoc. The fact that such
>>poorly written software was ever released scares me away from it. I don't
>>even care that some patches might have been developed later to deal with the
>>problem. The problem was just so terribly serious that the software should
>>never have been released in the first place.
> The disk-trasher (as I prefer to call it) doublespace isn't built in, it's
> a seperate program. If the user wants to he/she can install it (and not
> uninstall IIRC). The program works (more or less), but it slows down the PC
> way to much to use.
> I think we have seen some user(s?) on this and the SurvPC list having big
> troubles with their computers after using double space (in time they all
do).
I have been using DOUBLESPACE for quite a few years now. No problems for
me, yet. :) BUT:
I have MS-DOS 6.20 - that's six-point-two-zero ! This is important.
The story, as it has been told to me, is that a certain software company stole
(i.e. obtained, used, and sold without paying for) a certain disk compression
software from another company that had actually written a good, relatively
bug-free piece of software. This was released with an operating system that
shall remain nameless, but shall be called (for convenience) MS-DOS 6.20. When
the software company of the second part found what the software company of the
first part had done, they sued - and WON ! The stolen software was removed
from the, say, MS-DOS 6.20, and all that software was re-called. All, that is,
except for some large numbers of copies that had already been shipped to other
countries, including Australia. Under the terms of the settlement, these would
not have to be recalled, and any already installed would be "legal' copies.
For a price that was not disclosed very widely.
The software company of the first part then had to re-jig a disk
compression utility, so they were forced to use the one that they had tries to
write themselves. This was released with, say, MS-DOS 6.2x. This IS the
buggy, disaster-prone version that some have come to hate with a passion. I am
told that the descendent of that utility is only now becoming stable.
Guess who lives in Australia, and has a "legal", trustworthy disk
compression utility. :)
Without it, I would have run out of room a long time ago.
Regards,
Ron
PS: Arachne 1.60 SR installed for me from the .EXE just fine.
I configured it with the Wizard(s), dialled and went off surfing for an
hour. Haven't been able to crash it, yet. I feel I've missed out on
something. :( Will have to keep on trying.
[System = 486, 133 MHz, 32 Mb RAM, Trident 2 Mb video card, VESA
compliant, MS-DOS 6.20, 56 K modem]
PPS: L.D., The icons on the Arachne Desktop and Utilities pages are
actually HTML encoded in. If you want them gone, you need to edit the
relevant pages. Is this what you wanted gone, or have I missed the
point ?
Ron Clarke http://homepages.valylink.net.au/~ausreg/music.html
-- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
-- This mail was written by user of Arachne, the Ultimate Internet Client
